Good news (I hope)

 My Facebook friends saw this photo and heard me proclaiming I'm going back into the studio in February.

I thank them for the congratulations.

First I'm working so that my hands won't cramp when holding tools. So I don't plan to throw, but will hand build things. I may have given away most of my tools, but I have a box sitting somewhere that's still got a few things. A sponge, a bucket, a stained apron from the red clays around here.

So this is an experiment to see if I can actually work with clay without pain. Believe me, cramps between digits, various ones for some strange reason, is not fun. I found I had to stop completely whatever I was trying to do. The last episode was eating in a restaurant trying to cut chicken. Knife in right hand, fork in left, and they both seized up. I asked my friend to cut it for me.

So my goal when I see an Occupational Therapist later this month, is to find more effective exercises than just squeezing the rubber ball. I have in the past seen an OT who gave me little foam sleeves to put on my tools for working in clay. They helped on the tools I used them on. They didn't help when I had cramps! The referral says I need some appliances to help. So we may have different goals for the session.

I'll let you know. 

My friend, Cathy gave me some clay, which I'm reconstituting and hope to work with a bit  in the next several weeks, before going to studio. 

Incidentally, they now limit how many people can be in the open studio at a time. I can only sign up for 2 spots, and maybe a third. I will also be wearing a mask to keep dust and mold as part of the clay process from bothering me.

This old lady isn't finished yet! Remember Beatrice Wood, who looked like this in 1985, and was still making pottery her whole life!

Wikipedia tells us this:

Beatrice Wood (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) was an American artist and studio potter involved in the Avant Garde movement in the United States; she founded and edited The Blind Man and Rongwrong magazines in New York City with French artist Marcel Duchamp and writer Henri-Pierre Roché in 1917. She had earlier studied art and theater in Paris, and was working in New York as an actress. She later worked at sculpture and pottery. Wood was characterized as the "Mama of Dada".

She lived to be 105, and when asked about her longevity she said:

 "I owe it all to art books, chocolates, and young men." Wood was a lifelong vegetarian who abstained from alcohol and smoking.

I've got the books and chocolates...young men are welcome to apply!

Some art and some words...

 

Marc Chagall's frescoes painted on the ceiling of Opera Garnier, Paris

"[Artists] live at times in their rare moments of happiness with such strength and indescribable beauty, the spray of their moment’s happiness is flung so high and dazzlingly over the wide sea of suffering, that the light of it, spreading its radiance, touches others too with its enchantment. Thus, like a precious, fleeting foam over the sea of suffering arise all those works of art, in which a single individual lifts himself for an hour so high above his personal destiny that his happiness shines like a star and appears to all who see it as something eternal and as a happiness of their own." 

Hermann Hesse, 1927  Steppenwolf 

I found this on Facebook...

The Homecoming by N, C, Wyeth

Andrea Kowch

I love these, which seem to have a lot of Germanic words. Goodness, do Germans experience all of these emotions? One typo is in number 11, which should read "photographing."

No need for a quote today, as you've already had some!

New to me restaurant

 Well, here I was last Saturday, meeting friends at the Loott House in Swannanoa. It's in the same building and set-up as Native Kitchen was, which died with Covid or there-abouts. The old restaurant had good reviews and loyal customers, but the food is much the same in this new-edition. (I heard the same chef is in charge in the new restaurant.) The building has been painted black, now visible from Hwy 70, a two story black block all by itself. 

There's this strange wall hanging, which would probably be fun for young sticky fingered kids to tear apart, but I liked the tactile quality of it. Soft stuff, besides the plastic ferns.

We had a nice lounge room to ourselves ( probably because not heated)...but as we left we saw the high tops and bar were all busy with hungry people. 

Simple menu, but each serving was prepared with eye pleasing piles of food.

My Falafel Burger was delicious, though I deconstructed it to eat it with fork. Sweet potato waffle fries were good, but of course got cold by the time I finished them (and being an avid fan of them, I ate them cold anyway!) My friends got the crispy chicken sandwich which she didn't rave about (perhaps because she skipped the sauce), and another friend had the Loott Salad with added chicken...it looked really good and she ate every bite.

All in all, getting there early (11:30) on Saturday was a good thing, and we wouldn't have minded others in our area, but we sure could hear kids in the next dining room...they were having a lot of fun!

I hope if you're ever in the area you might want a lunch there. I'll definitely be back.

Today's quote:

Like a tree, our growth depends upon our ability to soften, loosen, and shed defenses we no longer need.

Bulgarian traditions for New Year

 Yes, I'm interested in the old European cultural traditions which have pagan roots, and certainly are colorful.

The caption on the photos said, "Bulgaria’s New Year tradition is that of the west Bulgarian survakari, bands of masked men who tour the villages over the New Year period (14 January, old calendar) performing ritual “playlets” (mumming), dancing," 

I'm amazed at all these men who wore the costumes in parades and then different rituals...mummers, dancing! And I think of how they were created, with probably some skilled women's fingers as well!

I found these wonderful costumes posted on Facebook last week. Apparently in Bulgaria the New Year was celebrated in the old calendar, after the full 12 days of Christmas.

That last photo with the soldiers looking at the costumed man gave me pause. Bulgaria is in the EU, and NATO, but we don't hear much about it these days. I would imagine that when it was communist until the 1986 Soviet Union's demise, that photo would have been more likely. Unfortunately, none of these photos were dated.

A difference was that in eastern and central Bulgaria, kukeri - wild male masked dancers and mummers - performed their ancient ritual masquerades to drive away evil spirits and bring fertility with plowing themes!

Today's quote:

Whenever books are burned men also in the end are burned.

 -Heinrich Heine, poet, journalist, and essayist (1797-1856)

The movie I watched last week

 Well, it came in second on my list of movies on Prime that I'd have to pay for. I watched Barbie and was fine with the low charge for it. 

This last week I saw Oppenheimer. (I wrote this before the Golden Globe awards, where it won 4 categories.) I see why so many people were not happy with all the various hearings and committee meetings after the fact of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, and Japan's surrender. The hearings dragged on and on. Yes the beginning of the cold war was happening. Yes we had to see Oppenheimer's thought process regarding Communism, the H-bomb, the possibilities of future nuclear wars. But hey, enough was enough.

A lot of that could have been cut, in my humble opinion as an editor of writing, not films.

I told people I wanted to see it on the big screen so I could see the shots that were taken historically of the early tests. My friends told me not to bother. They were right. No historic footage was used. All just actors and flashing flames.

I've worked at Oak Ridge TN, and am familiar with radiation and other side effects of working with uranium...psychologically you see alcoholism and addiction in the scientists.

I've seen lots of news casts about the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb, including seeing areas hit by them in Japan.

What's going on with Hollywood in this film that nothing, absolutely nothing that was real was included in the movie?

Interesting to see how the various scientists had different opinions which wove throughout the film. I honestly lost track of who was who, all white men in white shirts with dark ties!

Interesting to see just a bit of how Oppenheimer was thinking...but leaving out his own thoughts and feelings for all the women. They just appear suddenly and have no meaning to him! Why do you think he wanted them? Geese, maybe some thought of his might have focused on that. I guess I want some psychological motivation to show in his life...but not in this film.

Nope...just a matter of passing interest, in order to show he was a womanizer. But lets spend about an hour extra focusing on the Communism/spy questions. It was mostly politics!

I give it a thumbs down, or maybe 2 out of 5 stars.

Not one I can recommend.

Waterfowl along my way in Florida last month

 Sharing with Eileen's Saturday Critters

One gull was much bigger than the others...so...

After much waiting and refocusing, I looked this up in my Bird ID app. My guess is a juvenile...

I was so pleased to see a brown pelican flying by. 

Though the store may sell liquors and fine wine, I think this might be a great blue heron.

Goodbye dear pelican...enjoy life!

And while I got all 10 toes into the Gulf of Mexico, another gull photobombed me!

Thanks to my son, Marty for this last photo, which shows my extreme pleasure at simple things in life!

Today's quote:

I try to remind myself that we are never promised anything, and that what control we can exert is not over the events that befall us but how we address ourselves to them.

JEANNE DUPRAU

Just saying...

 The ABC's of life

by Lori Roberts

Some beautiful Florida skies, sharing with Skywatch Friday.

Downtown Tampa, and one of the mid-size buildings in the middle was designed by the architectural firm I worked for, and I did preliminary interior design for the board-room. That was in the 70s.

Among the views I recognize in St. Petersburg FL, this movie theatre's plaza (and shops)..

Wish I knew what kind of tree this might be, blooming in December in FL.

Many many apartments/condos going up in St. Pete FL. Fence pic shows what it's supposed to look like when finished.

And a bit of bare knee to show the circle of teeth marks from the dog which bit through my slacks this morning when I walked closer in hopes of getting to know my new neighbor, while his dog continually barked. It was a tiny little thing, white with black nose and eyes, and on a leash. I reported it to the management. He's (dog's owner) been living in another apartment and just moved across from me, and the dog barks constantly when he's outside. My peace and quiet has a limit now. I am surprised by how shook-up I felt from this small creature's attack.

I found out after reporting this to the management, that the dog used to belong to someone else here before, who had died.  I remembered the dog would mostly obey her and sit at her feet on her electric chair, but if it got off the leash it would be really hard for others to catch. And the dog's name is Barkley. I was cautioned to just stay away from the dog.

Hope you have a wonderful peaceful healthy weekend!

Today's inspiration (perhaps having to do with Christmas shopping)

We all want to provide our children with a good and happy life, but most of us know deep down that material possessions play a very small role.

Looking around me

 

The window painting at Pepperoni's Pizza.

I go up and down these stairs to the dining room at the Lakeview Center for Active Aging

Town Center Square in Black Mountain. The tower behind the buildings on the left serves the fire and police departments, and the little hut in the center of the park offers public bathrooms. 

----------------and to continue the thoughts about other kinds of intelligence I offer this:

 "In Nature Needs a New Pronoun, Robin Wall-Kimmerer says, “By learning from other species, we learn humility.” 

• • From what non-humans do you learn?
  • How has your relationship with Nature led you from self-centeredness to humility? 
  • How does that humility influence your work for climate justice? 

I’ve been asking myself and others these questions over the past week or so. Here are some things I’ve heard: 

• If you plant tomato seedlings too early, they get spindly and don’t survive. They teach me to not get too far out in the future.
• Honeybees thrive by relying on decentralized and collective decision-making. I want to do that in my work for justice. 
• Blue Jays teach me about protecting that which I love. 
• Still water teaches me that even in what feels like stagnation, water still gently flows. I need to remember that as I work for climate justice. 
• I learn from trees. They root down and rise up. That’s what I want to do. 
• I’m humbled by the cosmos. It’s so mysterious, and I remember I don’t know everything. 
• Maple trees teach me that there is a season for growth and productivity, and a season for rest and restoration.

 P.S. Check out this video that I keep replaying because I love it so much!  Woyaya recorded by Wiyaala"

---------------------------------

Thanks 

Rev. Kelly at Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (UUMFE)

Today's quote:

There’s so much joy to be felt in slowness and softness.

RA AVIS

Words on Wednesday and Signs2

 Made it through a wet Tuesday, did sort most of my photos into files, staying inside, and didn't lose elec.

From a wonderful movie "The Help" 

Serious construction stopping device...all automated!

When I stopped for gas and a break from driving here, I laughed. I remembered I'd named my car when I got it the "Blue Ridge Roadrunner." It's been running just fine.

The following came from a Facebook post...pretty good info I think.

"Why should we pay cash everywhere we can

with banknotes instead of a credit card?

- I have a $50 banknote in my pocket.

Going to a restaurant and paying for dinner with it. The restaurant owner then uses the bill to pay for the laundry. The laundry owner then uses the bill to pay the barber. The barber will then use the bill for shopping.

After an unlimited number of payments, it will still remain a $50, which has fulfilled its purpose to everyone who used it for payment and the bank has jumped dry from every cash payment transaction made...

- But if I come to a restaurant and pay digitally - Card, and bank fees for my payment transaction charged to the seller are 3%, so around $1.50 and so will the fee $1.50 for each further payment transaction or owner re laundry or payments of the owner of the laundry shop, or payments of the barber etc.....

Therefore, after 30 transactions, the initial $50 will remain only $5 and the remaining $45 became the property of the bank thanks to all digital transactions and fees.

Small businesses need your help and this is one way to help ourselves too. Pull small draws of cash out at a time and use that instead of tap, credit, etc.

When this is put into perspective, imagine what each retailer is paying on a monthly basis in fees at 3% per transaction through their POS machine.

If they have, for example, $50,000 in sales & 90% are by Card, they are paying $1500 in fees in ONE Month. $18,000 in a year! That comes out of their income every month.

That would go a long way to help provide for their family."

That last article is being shared on my other blog today as well...in case you think you're seeing things double!

Sharing with Signs2 over at Tom the Backroads Traveler