Looks like one of my stamped & soda-fired mugs is off in the wilderness having a wonderful time camping & exploring the Eleven Mile Canyon Reservoir in Colorado! Looks amazing out there… have a great trip Kristin & Camden!!! Thanks for taking “me” along with you on a vicarious vacation!!!

I mean, if there’s a National Holiday… you’ve gotta celebrate, right?!
Well today is NATIONAL AVOCADO DAY!!! And what better way to celebrate than with a big pile of nachos from Big Star Wrigleyville?!!! Yum!

Yep, I’ll be pedaling that off tomorrow morning!!!

Studio plants still looking good. I gave my jade plant a bit of a trim a few months back… rooted the cuttings… and have now added them back into the same flower pot to make it fuller. So far so good… and the original cut stems are branching out well too!

Big sky. Big clouds. Big color… and therefore, a BIG PHOTO!

Hard to believe it’s already the last day of July?!
Where did May, June & July go?… oh yeah… that.

Luckily, we have Nature’s beauty going on all around us to remind us that “everything” is not ugly pandemic!!! Appreciate the beauty when you find it.

Meanwhile… THIS was going on behind me to the west…

My purple shamrocks are blooming nicely on the back porch. Pretty little pink flowers bouncing in the breeze on thin stems. Such a neat color to brighten the porch!

Tuesday night in my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class, I challenged one of my students to make ten mugs quickly. Ashley was concerned that she hasn’t been very focused or productive this session. And that she seems to be spending too much time on each piece. So we discussed how repetitive practice will help with her muscle memory… especially since she hasn’t been to class or on the wheel since our pre-Covid days! I told her that just cranking out some quick cylinders will help loosen her up, get her back at it… and get her over that hump. The other benefit is that she can work a little looser as now each of those ten mugs won’t be quite as “precious” as that ONE that she would have normally belabored.

She didn’t quite make her ten cylinders during the “un-realistic” deadline I had given her… but she DID get them all thrown by the end of class. So now it will be interesting to see how she finishes them… as she had the realization towards the end that ten cylinders means TEN handles to pull & attach!!!

I decided that since she was tackling my challenge, I should step-it-up and play along as well. So I made a batch of cylinders too… which have now been stamped up in my studio!

Mug #1 –

Mug #2 –

Mug #3 –

Mug #4 –

Mug #5 –

Mug #6 –

Mug #7 –

Mug #8 –

And for now they’re all stamped and back under plastic for the night.
This way I can come back and trim them and then add handles!!!

About four years ago I had a flat tire during one of my sunrise bike rides. Always a challenge to change a tire while on the road… but even more so when it’s still dark out. But I did… and this morning I had a chuckle to see that the punctured inner tube I wrapped around a fence post is still there just north of North Avenue Beach at Lake Shore Drive… and now host to a little morning glory fun! Mother Nature always finds a way to win!

GOOD MORNING morning glories!
These beautiful “weeds” are growing all around us…
up fences everywhere… blooming & greeting the day!

Stunning sunrise colors sweeping the sky this morning
if for only a few moments. Then it was back to gray, back to clouds.
But this morning’s sunrise was STUNNING…
and deserves a larger panoramic photo!!!