The calm before the storm. All set-up and waiting for my Summer Campers to arrive this morning. It’s Terra Cotta Day… wheelthrowing and making a gooey slimey mess!!! Buckets, tools, sponges & ware boards at the ready!!! To see a fun video of the “gooey mess” check out my INSTAGRAM feed!!! @firewhenreadypottery

With a low-flying layer of haze & fog, the morning’s marine layer lingered for quite awhile… as some dramatic contrails crossed the sky for a bit of added drama.

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A little mid-afternoon haze rolling through the City this afternoon.
It was very warm & steamy today… but still a beautiful day for another after-Camp bike ride!

So my campers remembered “almost” everything from yesterday…
Apparently the discussion we had about pulling your long hair back into a pony tail was missed by one of my Campers. Yesterday she was fine, today not so much.

So we were throwing some nice pots when all of a sudden her hair got caught
in her centered ball of clay as she was bending down over it.

Stick. Adhere. Spin. Twist. Clump. Twist. Dreadlock… this could be bad…
luckily she was still smiling & laughing!

She asked if I could help her fix it… of course I said yes…
and of course I told her to hang on a second while I grabbed my camera…
and the, and only THEN, did I help her get out of the mess.

When we finally got her extricated from the wheel, I took her to the sink
to do a little cleaning, scrubbing & de-tangling of her hair.
Surely she will remember to pull her hair back tomorrow, right?!

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Another fun day at Summer Camp… luckily they remembered what I taught them yesterday, and today they made a LOT of pots!!! Tomorrow is detailing, decorating, handles, trimming and finishing this batch of stoneware pots. Thursday we switch to terra cotta and Friday we glaze everything!!!

Clear skies. Gentle ripples. Beautiful reflections.
Simply stunning.

My condo backyard is a concrete courtyard. No soil. No dirt.
So I’ve had to create a garden oasis with potted plants… lots of hostas, bushes, flowers and trees I’ve gathered over the years… and of course, some rut pieces here & there!!!

But over the last couple weeks I’ve been seeing a new “resident” rabbit in the backyard. Every morning when I take my bike out, or water the plants, I keep seeing a small bunny hopping out from between the pots. At first I thought he was “cute.” A little slice of wildlife in our backyard. My next door neighbors have actually named him Monroe.

But now I see that this little varmint has started chewing on my plants!!! And I don’t like it!!! But to make it even worse, now it seems as though he’s making some “bedding” or just a beautiful “leaf carpet” around one of the pots??? So he’s not even eating the leaves… he’s just playing with them… just to taunt me even more!!!

Anyone have any suggestions on how I might be able to “encourage” Monroe to take up residence in someone else’s yard? Maybe some smelly flowers? Some pointy, prickly deterrents? Again, everything is on cement, so there’s really no way to stick in fencing. I don’t really want to wrap everything in chicken wire. But I also don’t want Monroe to chew off every leaf!!!

I’m open to suggestions!!!

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After camp, it was an OVAL kind of day!
Because some times round is over-rated.

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It’s another week of Summer Camp!!! This week I’m teaching Wheelthrowing again….
and the mud-covered shenanigans have started already!!!