After a hundred miles of pedaling on today’s Harmon Hundred, I went to my Dad’s birthday dinner with the family. From the restaurant and back to their house for cake, I was treated to a beautiful sunset through the window of my car. The day’s ride was pretty much gray & gloomy. This was a nice ending to another beautiful day. Riding with friends. Birthdays with family... and lots of birthday cake!!!

Today was the Harmon Hundred… another 100-mile Century bike ride.
And it was especially fun to ride part of the journey with my friend Pammy, her husband Jeff and their friend Dawn. It was each of their first Century rides. After years of riding Centuries, I must admit that I had kind of forgotten how tough it is for “Century virgins.” But they were troopers and finished the ride… still with smiles on their faces! Congrats Pam & Dawn!!!

We’re one step closer to Jack O’Lanterns… at least now the pumpkins look like pumpkins!!!

Well, looky here… a pumpkin patch popped up in my studio tonight! Soon enough, these pumpkins will be “harvested” to become festive Jack O’Lanterns!

The cement foundation was poured today for the new Lillstreet soda kiln.
I’m sure it’s going to take some time for that chunk of cement to dry!!!

The morning sky was layered with saturated shades.
Beautifully rich colors streaking across the lower sky. As the sun continued to rise,
the saturated colors shifted to stunning oranges across the horizon.

When the sun got high enough, it ducked behind the low flying strip of cloud… and the sky took on a gorgeous golden hue as it played peek-a-boo through the cloud!

Lots of clouds. Everywhere.
Lots of darkness. Everywhere.
Very cool… Everywhere.

But where there’s clouds… there’s frequently a pretty cool sunrise.
And since these clouds were moving quickly, the sunrise was ever changing this morning. I especially liked it when they splayed out in a fan… and then even more when the sky became striped?!!!

Good thing I fired my soda kiln last weekend and unloaded Monday night.
The soda kiln I use was completely demolished on Tuesday!!!
Looks I got out just in the nick of time!!!

Yes, the soda kiln at Lillstreet Art Center was completely torn down yesterday so that they can make a newer & improved version. Everything is gone except for the burner system!!! The current kiln was having some”moving” brick issues… and the arch was pretty much flat and “non-arch-like” towards the end. So now we have a practically empty kiln room… except for the piles of sand, dust & debris.

There are pieces & parts everywhere. Trying to save as many bricks as possible.
As well as the steel framework from the floor… and the side & corner posts.
Might be reused… might just become a souvenir?!

And bricks pretty much stacked up everywhere… in the kiln room, on carts, on shelves…

This will all be cleaned up and a new concrete foundation will be poured. Once that cures, they will start building the new kiln brick by brick. It’s pretty exciting… but a HUGE amount of work. Oh, I remember… I was one of the ones who built the very first soda kiln at the new Lillstreet location along with my friend & potter Emily Murphy. Special thanks to all of the volunteers who are working on this kiln demolition & re-building project!!!

After a couple days of dramatic clouds, this morning was surprisingly clear.
Not a single cloud in the sky. Just clear skies everywhere you look.

There’s a lot of “crazy” going on in the Rogers Park neighborhood just north of me.
A lot of colorful characters & colorful art everywhere you look.
One of my favorites is this house painted with a full leopard skin pattern!
Too funny… and I’m sure their neighbors must be thrilled!!!