After the rain… I love how the gingko trees are still standing strong with their Fall colors! While other trees have mostly dropped, these wonderful pops of yellow are a welcome sight. Especially on a dreary day like today!

Back at it… putting handles on & making more mugs!!!
My favorites!!!… no, seriously… I love making handles, I love making mugs!!!

And for those who just like to celebrate a beautiful Spring day… here’s one of my “old-school” ikebana vases filled with homegrown flowers brightening the day for my friends down in Peoria. So pretty!

As we near the “end” of Winter… with our first full day of Spring tomorrow… it was fittingly a chilly start this morning. Is it too soon to say I’m ready for Summer???

A little “seasonal confusion” around here! With crazy high temps in the low seventies yesterday… I have little green sprouts & early flowers in my front yard already! Too soon??? And then overnight with the storm that came through, our temps literally dropped by FIFTY-degrees!!! CRAZY!!! I know I’m confused by the swing of temps… and I’m sure my plants must be too!!!

I had to these ready for class last week on MLK Day…
but then classes were cancelled due to arctic cold temperatures in Chicago!

So I brought them to class last night. They are surprisingly good…
a little side-by-side harmony on a cookie!!!

As Jerry said to Elaine… “Look to the cookie Elaine, look to the cookie.”

For our final class tonight, my students had a challenge… to make a functional pie dish in class to “trade, exchange & steal” as part of our White Elephant game. Sadly, one of them didn’t get glazed in time… so it turned into a pitcher for the game. And sadly I missed getting photos of a couple as they got wrapped to go pretty darn quick!

I hate to say it… but I kinda want some clouds!!! Enough of these “perfect” cloud-free mornings. Sure, they’re pretty and all… but I prefer the morning drama of a good cloud being splashed with sunrise color! Enough of this “perfect” stuff…

Okay, so there was one high-point… a group of sunrise runners out there celebrating someone’s birthday – complete with party hats while they ran by!

Yesterday took my out to Elk Grove Village for a bike ride through Busse Woods. It was overcast, but clear, when I left the city. But by the time I drove out there it was already drizzling. I pondered it for awhile… but eventually decided to go for it. I mean, it’s just rain, right? And it turned out to be a beautiful ride through the woods. Fewer people & more wildlife…. elk, deer, great blue herons, egrets & more. So glad I decided to go for it. Pedal on…

Another beautiful sunrise… quiet waters, shimmering reflections & a moment with Keith Haring! Yes, there’s a beautiful huge Keith Haring sculpture along the lakefront at Belmont. A central focal point of the Chicago AIDS Garden to memorialize the HIV epidemic in Chicago and honor those who live with the disease today.