Roll out the lazy, hazy, crazy days of Summer! A bit of early morning haze on the horizon… that luckily burned off soon enough to reveal a beautiful orange sunrise as the heat wave continues today!

Squeezing in a last-minute MUGSHOT MONDAY!!!
Only a few minutes left or else it would already be Tuesday!!!
Just another stamped & soda-fired stoneware mug…
nothing too flashy, just kinda earthy & warm.

Also, currently available in my online pottery shop…
along with more mugs, bowls, vases, pitchers, berry bowls and so much more!! Click here to check out my online store… or you can always click on the tab up in the top right corner for Online Pottery Shopping.

Quiet & still. Warm & humid. Clear skies…
except for that one cloud to play with. So subtle. So serene. So beautiful.

A wonderful surprise every year… a crazy-cool spiked flower blooming in my front yard garden! It’s called bear’s breeches, sea dock, bearsfoot or oyster plant. It has really cool leaves and this amazing flower stalk. Such a cool addition to my garden… thanks to my gardening friends down in Peoria!

SO EXCITED!!!… Summer Camp starts today!!!

After far too many months of quarantine, sheltering-in-place and e-learning… it’s so exciting that we’re ready to teach kids again!!! My camp this week is a Sculpture Camp… sadly no field trip to the Art Institute this year, but we’ll make up for it with a lot of art history, clay projects & amazing sculptures made by the kids!!! So exciting to be starting up again… with a LOT of proper precautions in place. Fewer camps, fewer campers, lots of new guidelines, more cleaning and a LOT of social distancing!!!

Looks like the new Wheelthrowing Classroom is all ready to go… which is great because Lillstreet Art Center officially re-opens tomorrow with a lot of improvements & remodeling done for better social distancing to keep all of the students & teachers safe… and we’re all VERY eager to get back to making muddy messes on the wheels!!!

We celebrated the Fourth of July on the sofa watching HAMILTON on the TV with my niece Taylor & family. With all of the craziness going on in the world, it just seemed “safer” and oddly “appropriate” to be watching HAMILTON to learn a bit of history on The Fourth… and not dealing with the crowds celebrating everywhere without masks or social distancing!!!

And for the record… it was my first time seeing HAMILTON. I know, how did that happen?!… or NOT happen in this case?!

But THIS time… I WAS in the room where it happened!!!

And to make the evening even more “fun”… I decided to bring a little childhood flashback memory to the party. Mostly because it made me giggle every time I thought about it… and the fact that it was now referred to as SPAMILTON.

Yes, we had Spam Loaf for dinner!!!
Basically slices of SPAM alternated with slices of mozzerella cheese, and then topped with tomato sauce and baked. It was better in my memory of when Mom made it for us… but Taylor made it this time and it was good for the joke! And that was about it. Not too tasty… a little slimy… and still very SPAMmy!!!

Still on our bikes Friday… and yet another reason to STOP!!! I mean, how many times do you get to stop and see a flock of emu running around?! Crazy cool birds – so odd, pretty ugly & kinda prehistoric! All good reasons to stop my bike to see the emus!!!

I’ve always said that “the best part of biking is stopping!” So many people will just pedal the miles without stopping to see the surroundings! Well, not us!!! So Friday when Chris and I went out to ride the Madison IRONMAN loop… we had to stop at this crazy cool retro drinking fountain literally in the middle of nowhere!!!

Okay, so enjoy these…
cuz’ it might just be the closest thing to “real” fireworks we get this Fourth Of July?!

I know I can skip them this year…
if it keeps us all safer & gets us through to the other side of all this a bit faster.

Again… be safe, be smart and wear your mask!!!