A wonderful evening of musical theater to finish off the year. A beautiful rendition of the classic THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Lots of great voices, incredible performances and some really innovative & intriguing set designs & lighting effects… like the magical staircase that kind of appeared out of nowhere!!! Brilliant.

A beautiful way to end the year in a beautiful Chicago theater. Amazing architecture, design & craftsmanship. Always beautiful at the Cadillac Palace Theater… even with the big chandelier “still under wraps”… and then again after they had “repaired it and wired parts of it for the new electric light. Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago… with a little illumination.”

HAPPY MUGSHOT MONDAY… with Instagram greetings from friends in Colorado who were apparently snuggling down on a cold Winter’s night with a mug of something frothy & yummy! Thanks for sharing Kristin & Camden!

Yes, a wonderful performance of “OLIVER” at the Marriott Theater in Lincolnshire.
The little kid that played Oliver was great, Fagin was great, but it was Nancy whole stole the show!!! Her voice was AMAZING… piercing right through her songs making the hairs on the back of my neck stand-up. She was AMAZING… so yes, I would love some MORE!!!

Click here for the link to watch Nancy belt out her classic “As Long As He Needs Me.”

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Gotta love post-Christmas get-togethers with Talented Friends… specially when they make you “sweet” gifts!!! Like this handmade spoon from my friend Pam… who I co-teach a summer camp for kids with where they make a full placesetting in clay & utensils in metal! Kinda like this spoon…. but not quite so “refined” shall we say! And of course some of my favorite ice cream to help the spoon fulfill its destiny!

Two bisque kilns… two CPLT messages! Always a good sign to see with a lot of work firing in the kiln. Even if it was over a month ago, and I’m just now getting around to posting about them!!!

And it wasn’t just one kiln… there were a couple kilns leading up to the holidays. Here’s another bisque kiln that I fired prior to my last soda kiln firing. A lot of mugs, bowls & sgraffito pieces… as well as lots of ornaments, both mine and my student Christine’s!

Christine’s ornaments even got their own shelf!!!…
with a little barricade to keep them from rolling off.

Okay, so I’ve been a little busy… so busy that I never really had the time to post pictures of my bisque kilns prior to my Holiday Home Shows. So I’m just sharing the memories… as many of these posts have already found their forever homes! Not my tightest kiln pack, but I was rushing to get things fired before the deadlines… and a few things were still a bit damp!