Homemade food always tastes better on handmade pottery!
And I’m sure Matthew’s pear tart was AMAZING!!!

The snow yesterday may have made it a bit tougher, but there are still people searching for my 2024 fortune cookies! Remember, I’ve hidden 24 clay fortune cookies all over Illinois Beach State Park on New Years Day 2024. Since then, people have been searching them out & making some great collections! Like Allison who is one of the most enthusiastic fortune seekers!

But don’t panic, I do know that some people prefer the “catch & release” version… searching & finding the cookies, photographing, but then leaving them behind for someone else to find! So some of these posts may make it look like they’ve all been found… but I’m pretty sure there are still several out there waiting!

Bundled up, but not broken down… looks like Leslie found her fortune for 2024!!!
Another happy hiker that found a fortune cookie out at Illinois Beach State Park!

Looks like another TWO fortune cookies have found a new home…

From Sherry: “We loved our hunt! Since we are geocachers, this was right in our wheelhouse, but had to find them without coordinates. 🙂 We found 2 – 1 in a picnic shelter and 1 in a downed log on the beach. Thank you so much for the fun on a beautiful sunny day.”

It’s been a long time coming, but one of my Advance Beginning Wheel students is finally coming towards the end of her “challenge.” Tessa is getting married in 2024… and decided in class a couple sessions ago to make a small “cutie-patootie” vase for everyone at her wedding. So Tess has been throwing off-the-hump to make a LOT of little vases. It started with a much smaller goal of a couple per table… but “someone” may have encouraged her to make MORE so everyone could get one! And luckily, Tessa took on my challenge!!!

Looks like Harper & Delaney had a great time at Illinois Beach State Park searching for my fortune cookies again this year! This is their third year enjoying the search. The first year they randomly “tripped upon” a couple fortune cookies at Illinois Beach State Park. And then their intrigued Dad Adam did some Google searching… and found ME… and connected here on Facebook!!! They’ve been hooked on my annual fortune cookie scavenger hunt ever since!!! Glad you had a great family adventure… and thanks for sharing again Adam!

In the studio tonight processing my reclaim clay… slicing, layering, wedging, blending in some fresh new clay… then slicing, layering & more wedging! And look what I found… I’ve been wondering where I “lost” that orange scoring tool?!

When bad things happen to good mugs… looks like Bill’s favorite mug went for a tumble. It was apparently his favorite mug… so he’s already looking for a good replacement. Gravity can be a terrible thing!

Looks like another fortune cookie has been found!
Congratulations Leslie… thanks for playing!!!

While cleaning up the “remains” from my Holiday Home Shows… I’m finally taking down shelves… and I’m finding that my neglected orchids have apparently been doing just fine without me! With my dining room window covered with shelves, my plants unfortunately get “wedged” in between the shelves & window and get very little attention for quite awhile! So imagine my surprise today when I found several of my orchid plants sending up new flower spikes already!!! So I’ve watered, cleaned, propped ’em up… and I’m now looking forward to some fresh new orchid blooms coming soon!!!