Another burst of rain passing through… hoping it might flush out some of the wildfire smoke from our Chicago skies. Fingers crossed.

This gray, smoke-filled mornings from the Canadian wildfires are really putting a damper on my sunrise morning rides!!! Can’t wait to see clear skies again!

HA!!!… this is just a gray color swatch… but it “feels” like the skies in Chicago!!!

Always fun to be trimming in the studio with some great pottery tools… like my trimming tools from DiamondCore Tools & Giffin Grip. The perfect combo when spinning & trimming!!!

Last night my Wheelthrowing Beginners trimmed & added handles to make their first mugs with me! Not bad for their second class of the new Summer session, huh?!

Getting ready to tackle another batch of “hybrid mugs” with some of my favorite MKM Pottery Tools. Great hand rollers for making textured slabs before I turn them into fun mugs!

Looks like it’s TOTEM TUESDAY! And it looks like Gerry & Rosene’s garden is doing great this summer… beautiful flowers all around their totem pole. Stamped & soda-fired pottery is always a nice addition to the garden!

Celebrating a fun & natural Texture Tuesday with these great globe thistle “flowers.” Thanks to my Cousin Kim, I now have a patch of these thistles growing right there on my city street corner!

Looks like it might be MULBERRY MONDAY?! Often overlooked… but these mulberries are always tasty! That is if you can pick them off the trees before the birds get after them… or even worse, they fall off and stain the sidewalks & car hoods with their purple juices!

It was a dark & moody start to the day… with a lot of sunrise potential. I was really hoping for some dramatic sunrise colors this morning… but instead I just got clouds. And I as I pedaled towards the City, you could see a bunch of dark rain clouds moving in!!! Abort!!!… turn around and pedal back FAST!!! Luckily, the rain seemed to stay south of the City and I made it home dry! Sweaty, but dry!