To say that I've been a bit lagging behind on blog posts for this blog is like saying World war 1 was just a little skirmish! My last post was October 2011, so for this blog, I missed all of 2012 without boring or exciting any readers with my latest gardening or culinary efforts.
2012 was a bit of personal life changing time - family illness, selling a home and moving the contents of a home and studio cross country. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say, it was life changing to the max!
Jim and I and our two furry kids Bonnie kitty and Bodhi our little Jack Russel are now firmly settled into our new home and new life. Bonnie still hides under the bed the second Bodhi's barking may indicate a strange presence. She is now a house cat and adjusting, but not particularly thrilled about it. Like us, her life has changed a lot! Bodhi, on the other hand has found other dog friends at our sons place where he can run free for a time with his much larger golden retriever cousins Tank and Bianca, and a neighbors door who often joins in.
I no longer have 11 acres of fruits trees and flower and vegetable beds. Those have been replaced with a postage stamp lot in a golf community. The back yard is 99% swimming pool and concrete; but I have managed since we arrived last May, to garden in containers and two very deep 4x8 foot planters that I had made late summer. In addition, I've had my son and daughter in laws large garden to play in when they aren't here in Oregon. As for my studio space, it's been halved. My large soda/salt kiln is gone, gifted to a couple of newly married, very talented potters. Other large equipment and large amount of raw materials were either sold for a song or gifted. I had 30 days to pack house and studio, a daunting task even with the help of our son and daughter who flew out and gave me a lot of help in a short period of time.
My current studio space is half of a two car garage - very tight, but doable. Jim insisted I put a heater/air conditioner in there, so I won't be a slave of the weather. Since this is a retirement space, the old, big kiln, gone, I decided to explore earthenware and will be using my old bisque, electric kiln for any new work I make. I brought a small gas test kiln with me so I could finish up some pots that were made for the old kiln; but that will have to wait for spring when we are through the rainy season, since there is no covering over that kiln and I need 3 clear days for loading, then firing and cooling.
Our new, old home in Oregon, a place we left in the late 90's, feels good again. I'm still adjusting to less studio space and definitely, much less storage space. There's no room for a spare fridge or freezer, so my level of cooking and planting has changed drastically but appropriately for this house and garden. Fortunately there is a lot of good, local food and other shopping and many decent and very good restaurant choices.
I'll try to post a bit more often now that we're pretty settled. As for today, there's still the Anthony Bourdain's book "Medium Raw" to finish, on this, my last self proclaimed, vegging out day to catch up on email and snail mail after a lovely post Christmas wining and dining trip to Napa followed by more of the same with family and friends back here in Southern Oregon.
2012 was a bit of personal life changing time - family illness, selling a home and moving the contents of a home and studio cross country. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say, it was life changing to the max!
Jim and I and our two furry kids Bonnie kitty and Bodhi our little Jack Russel are now firmly settled into our new home and new life. Bonnie still hides under the bed the second Bodhi's barking may indicate a strange presence. She is now a house cat and adjusting, but not particularly thrilled about it. Like us, her life has changed a lot! Bodhi, on the other hand has found other dog friends at our sons place where he can run free for a time with his much larger golden retriever cousins Tank and Bianca, and a neighbors door who often joins in.
I no longer have 11 acres of fruits trees and flower and vegetable beds. Those have been replaced with a postage stamp lot in a golf community. The back yard is 99% swimming pool and concrete; but I have managed since we arrived last May, to garden in containers and two very deep 4x8 foot planters that I had made late summer. In addition, I've had my son and daughter in laws large garden to play in when they aren't here in Oregon. As for my studio space, it's been halved. My large soda/salt kiln is gone, gifted to a couple of newly married, very talented potters. Other large equipment and large amount of raw materials were either sold for a song or gifted. I had 30 days to pack house and studio, a daunting task even with the help of our son and daughter who flew out and gave me a lot of help in a short period of time.
My current studio space is half of a two car garage - very tight, but doable. Jim insisted I put a heater/air conditioner in there, so I won't be a slave of the weather. Since this is a retirement space, the old, big kiln, gone, I decided to explore earthenware and will be using my old bisque, electric kiln for any new work I make. I brought a small gas test kiln with me so I could finish up some pots that were made for the old kiln; but that will have to wait for spring when we are through the rainy season, since there is no covering over that kiln and I need 3 clear days for loading, then firing and cooling.
Our new, old home in Oregon, a place we left in the late 90's, feels good again. I'm still adjusting to less studio space and definitely, much less storage space. There's no room for a spare fridge or freezer, so my level of cooking and planting has changed drastically but appropriately for this house and garden. Fortunately there is a lot of good, local food and other shopping and many decent and very good restaurant choices.
I'll try to post a bit more often now that we're pretty settled. As for today, there's still the Anthony Bourdain's book "Medium Raw" to finish, on this, my last self proclaimed, vegging out day to catch up on email and snail mail after a lovely post Christmas wining and dining trip to Napa followed by more of the same with family and friends back here in Southern Oregon.
