So the commission geometric mugs made it through the soda-firing. I’m very excited about the results from Catherine’s kiln firing. She got some wonderful results, good flashings, nice soda-build-up & none of that crusty grayness. I’m confident the Groom is going to LOVE his commission gift mugs! Perfect for another MUGSHOT MONDAY!

Along the way while pedaling Old Route 66 last weekend, I took a few moments to “smell the roses” so to speak… or at least admire the wildflowers blooming on the side of the road.

While riding without a plan, my bike ride down Old Route 66 took me back to my alma mater last Sunday… Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. It was weird being back… so much has changed… and yet everything was still the same?! The trees were bigger. The buildings seemed closer together. The classic buildings are still there… but they’re now mixed with newer & larger buildings. It was a great turn-around rest stop for my bike ride, but a little eerie with no one wandering around the Quad… as it was Summer, a Sunday & and holiday! A great stop with some great memories!

Last Sunday was the Fourth of July… and I went down to celebrate with my friends Kel & Kelly in Chenoa, Illinois… the middle of nowhere in Central Illinois. Since the parade & festivities didn’t start until the afternoon, I decided to bring my bike along for a beautiful ride along Old Route 66. It was a little hot, humid & breezy… but still a great ride through a little slice of American history!

This past week of Summer Camp I was upstairs on the third floor in one of the Painting Classrooms for sculpture camp. In the room there’s a large bookshelf full of props & pieces for them to build still-lifes for painting & drawing classes. It was fun to see one of Emily Murphy’s old soda-fired pots in the mix. Sure, it may have a small chip on the rim, but it still looks pretty darn good considering Emily left Lillstreet and moved to Minneapolis several years ago!!!

Well, the rain is here… and it looks like it’s sticking around for the next few days! At least the lilies on our street are loving it. There’s a condo building 1/2 a block away that has these amazing & fragrant lilies in their garden every year! Even more beautiful with the raindrops lingering on each of the petals.

Along the way, we biked passed a LOT of fields of corn & soybeans today. But the coolest “farm field” was a small strip of sunflowers blooming along side of the road. Not your normal everyday sunflowers, but beautiful hybrids in dark rusts, browns & oranges! The flowers were beautiful… and the un-opened spiky buds were pretty darn cool too!

Today’s bike ride with Chris started out in the west suburbs… and headed out even further west into the farmfields & rural small towns. Kinda far away, but very little traffic on the endless roads – so it’s easier to get the longer mileage in! For our turn-around spot, we decided to stop off at a farmer’s estate sale where they were auctioning off so many cool things!!! LOTS OF RUSTY METAL!!!

We really stood out of the crowd… in our brightly colored spandex jerseys & bike shoes!!! So many cool things… that we could never buy and bring home on our bikes!!! As it was, we had just a little rain for the last five miles as we were pedaling into the wind!!!

This afternoon we set-up our Sculpture Gallery Show for my summer campers’ last day of SCULPTURE CAMP. A great way for them to show-off their oversized sculpture masterpieces for their parents, guests, visitors & other summer campers! They were so cute acting as artists, docents & greeters… a great way to end another fantastic week of Summer Camp!!!

Today was the final day of my week-long SCULPTURE CAMP. My campers were great, and worked so hard all week… okay, so there may have been a few “diversions” along the way… but all in all they did a great job! Their terra cotta birdhouses came out of the kiln just in time for today’s Gallery Show… and they looked AMAZING!!!