Looks like my pals Allison & Terry were back at Illinois Beach State Park yesterday to continue their scavenger hunt for the “elusive” hidden fortune cookies… for their third time! Looks like they found three more “cookies” this time… which makes up for their second trip where they found none! Looks like it was a beautiful day for hunting… and much easier to find them before last night’s snowfall.

It might be freezing cold outside today, but it looks like Keith & Julie are staying toasty warm inside with a hearty meal of ham, beans & corn bread… in a large stamped & soda-fired bowl!

Looks like my friend Rosene has been in the kitchen again…
using her stamped & glazed pie plate… this time for MEATLOAF!!!

And I quote…“Yep, meatloaf… with some new light orange squash… yummy… I really don’t like to cook!!!! But I love playing with my pottery!”

Words to live by… WASH THE PLATE!
Especially when one of those plates is that handmade stamped green platter hidden in the far back corner!!!

Handpainted signage by my friend Merryn… a young design student & daughter of my college friends! Feel free to follow her artistic adventures on Instagram – @merryncreates

Looks like the fortune cookie scavenger hunt is well under way. Last weekend I hid twenty-two handmade ceramic fortune cookies throughout Illinois Beach State Park to spread some “good fortune” for 2022. Looks like my friends Allison & Terry have found three of them… which makes nineteen more to find… so maybe today is a good day to head to the beach for a little scavenger hunt fun?!!!

Apparently the bananas went a couple more days… by then successfully made a nice banana “bread-cake-pie?” baked in one of my handmade pie plates! Thanks for the photos Rosene.. looks YUMMY!!!

Always fun when your “friends worlds” collide!!! Like my friend Pam who has been using my friend Cory McCrory’s textured mug in her car… ‘cuz it’s cool… and ‘cuz it fits so well in the cup holder of Pam’s new car!!

One of the perks of working at Navy Pier so often is getting to play once & awhile… like a couple loops around the huge Centennial Ferris Wheel. Great views of the Pier… and the City from high above!

Spending some time with a few of my Holiday Elves!

Very excited to see the basement “greenhouse” in full swing last week when I visited my friends in Bartonville. Last year, their “pandemic project” was to grow colorful coleus plants in the basement and then sell them in the Spring. We had a great “Plants & Pottery Pop-Up” last May on their driveway. So much fun. So pretty. So colorful!!!

Well, since Covid is still going, Rosene has hunkered down for another Winter with her coleus garden in the basement… and we’re already planning another “Plants & Pottery Sale” for this Spring. She already has HUNDREDS of coleus plants… can’t imagine how many she’ll have come May for the pop-up sale!

Looks like Kristy is kicking off the New Year with a yummy bundt cake… lemon & blueberry!!! Of course it doesn’t hurt any to put a homemade cake on a handmade platter!!! A beautiful way to kick-off the New Year!

And here’s a fun New Year’s Resolution for YOU… when you use my pottery at home, be sure to send me a picture so I can share it with everyone here!… gary@firewhenreadypottery.com