These rainy Fall mornings are definitely putting a kink on my sunrise biking addiction!!!

Last night in my pottery class, I did a handles demo – both pulling & attaching. I did two mug attachments in class… but I had another eight to finish today!

Pretty Fall colors & yummy sliced berries in their new handmade berry bowl! Such a colorful & pretty display… and healthy too!!! Thanks for sharing Trish!!!

Another photo entry for Texture Tuesday. In a strange kinda way… the colorful sumac I just posted photos of “reminds me” of this colorful stamped & soda-fired handbuilt vase. I think it might be the nice ombre range of colors?!

Another grey & dreary day in Chicago… so it’s always a welcome surprise to find a splash of color like this sumac bush in my front yard! Loving the range of colors and the natural overlapped textures created by jagged leaves!

Tackling the bottoms of some new stamped platters in the studio today. To trim a clean footring across such a wide expanse, it helps to have sharp trimming tools… like this favorite from DiamondCore Tools!

Yesterday was another great chance go get out of the City and enjoy the rural landscape. There’s something so calming about driving through farm fields & prairie lands during Fall. A little bit sad knowing that these colors will soon be gone… especially with the gusty winds yesterday.

Cloudy & cool… but not cold… and luckily the gusty winds have subsided. We never got an actual sunrise this morning, but it was good to see that some of the colored leaves are still on the trees after all the wind yesterday!

So I was just driving home late tonight north along Lake Shore Drive… and I was concerned when I got downtown and traffic stopped to a halt with far too many blue light police cars, firetrucks & ambulances all in one intersection by the Yacht Club. Traffic STOPPED!!! We sat there… and then big plumes of smoke came up!!! Concern increased… something big & tragic must be going on ahead. Several of us carefully turned around and detoured through the City to get back on Lake Shore Drive further north of that intersection.

As I was driving north on Michigan Avenue, I was struck by even MORE blue lights & police cars on every block. I assumed it might be the “new normal” after all the the rioting we’ve had. Sad that THAT is the thought, right?!

But when I got home…
I found out that it was all for a MUCH cooler reason!!!
Kinda exciting… I feel much better now.

Click here to see what was going on downtown tonight!

With the temperatures falling, feels like Fall is here in full force… and it’s time for thick yummy soups! Even yummier when served in handmade pottery! A stamped & soda-fired bowl… and a “vintage” mug from before I started stamping!!! Looking good Rosene!