bye bye bloggy! out of memory....

This is this blog's last post. I had to reset everything: Please follow this link to my new blog :)




(pottery by Gary Rith)
I wanted something EXTRA GROOVY for this blog's last post. Don't these boxes look faboo? And Kathy asked for a big mashed potato bowl and gravy pitcher and I was like "can do!". This is post 1,609 for this, my second blog, which is 14 months old. The new blog has been created, twice now, and is available for your perusal.
Dig the Folk Implosion, eh?

le hawt date

Me and the missus went on a HAWT DATE last night to see NO IMPACT MAN, a documentary about a NY city family that stops buying stuff, turns off the power, reduces, reuses, recycles. Great flick--esp. the funny little daughter who is always having fun, and the wife is such a good sport about the whole thing. We live a fairly pared down life her in this house, but we don't launder our stuff in the bathtub.
Then, of course, we went to VIVA where we made a minimal impact but ate a maximum of hawt sauce....

"that is very silly"

Is what the wife said when she saw this pic.....

BLOG MOJO?

Sure, I was out and about making pots at the Cornell potshop, and then, believe it or not, I did NOT go with plan A, which was to make more pots at home, but you know, I fell asleep, and then we went out on a BIG DATE, more on that Sunday, but crapola guys, ZERO comments on my 2 previous blog posts today? I know I haven't been around to visit your blogs today, but its sorta like I lost MY BLOG MOJO for a minute here.
I know I never do anything or say anything interesting, but zero comments today?
OK, updates all around: I think Sunday will be the end of this blog. I am nearly out of memory. I really have no interest in keeping it, I am the sort of guy who likes the end of the school year, likes the end of the year, likes emptying all the crapola out of my closet and taking it to Salvation Army: I like new beginnings. This blog is 14 months old, and I think a new blog will be fun. It will also be my third in 3 years and 3 months. I post a lot of junk, don't I?
SO, these pics, are, as you see, our various cats biting each other in the kitchen with a beagle helping, and I was trying to take pics of the bell tower at Cornell's library at night. Its pretty striking alright....

yaaaay!

(teapot by Gary Rith)
Yay because this teapot looks so groovy and YAY blooger is letting me post pics again! I really need to start the new blog.....

groooooove....

Blooger won't load my pics darnitall....
anyway, I'll try later Happy Saturday!
Now do some dancing :)

Norah + Chapterhouse = !!!

You know how Fridays go: you make the pots at the Cornell University Pot Shop then slide on down the hill to the Chapterhouse for the happy hour beers and popcorn with your disreputable friends and spouse (the fun part is that the whole damn university has the same idea and TIS A RAUCOUS good time...). My best buddy Norah was lurking around looking for trouble, and you know, we gossiped about YOU.
I carved Tasty Cake '09 into the bench by the demon lamp in honor of my Missus Tastycake....just above where we carved Gr + MR.............

for Mairead and Julie and maybe YOU TOO!

(pottery by Gary Rith)

Julie orders the owl and pussycat stuff and then immediately orders MORE owl and pussycat stuff. She has the right idea: give your friends my pots! Then get this, Mairead in Dublin, the real one, in Ireland, wants 3 penguin mugs for her pal here in the states, no probs, but she is so clever she mails me a bag of penguin chocolates from Ireland to add to the package. Now that is treating your friends to a surprise!
See the piggy mug here? Just listed at my etsy gallery. Make your friends happy too :)

coming to an end.....

Every time you load pics on blogger, the little message tells you that you have used 44% of your memory or whatever. September last year I reached 100% on my first blog. Today I am at 98+ percent of my memory on this blog. Gonna start a new one in the next day or 2.
Here are a few favorite pics from the last year.
A new blog feels like a chance for a new look. I may trim things down, streamline the appearance, something like that :)
Last night I went to a photo club meeting and took worthless pics. I tried getting a shot of the moon too. NOPE, no good. I guess I could use some tips, eh? I would REALLY like to learn photoshop techniques.
THEN, of course, I dremat that me and my friends were discussing joing the Hell's Ang3ls. But then we imagined it was probably more than good friends playing poker and pool. Plus none of us had motorcycles....

gun nuts AGAIN

Saturday we were walking our dogs, as I said, and I saw 3 dudes in camo in my neighbor's yard, close to their house and the kids' swingset, and as we went to tell our neighbors, they shot in our general direction. We got plate numbers and the sheriff came over. Don't know what happened then, but at 1:10 today there are AGAIN shots in my neighbors' yard, screaming, dead deer, dead ducks, all of this excitement, and this time the sheriff and troopers both arrive and talk to everybody. No sign of the shooters, but the troopers were using the plates to go visit the accused.
This is a VILLAGE, a neighborhood full of HOUSES, people and kids. Yes, there is a creek back there, but it is posted, and there are thousands of acres elsewhere that is legal to hunt in, and NOWHERE in this village is hunting allowed, but shoot, what are they doing in our yards?
I would suggest a small cell shared with a large inmate for these numskulls.

the secret giraffe project: not quite as secret

Me and Becky Jo in Iowa were cooking up ideas, as people do, for a secret surprise swap for Christmas. Potters may not be millionaires, but we have pots and its fun to trade. So I was like "gotta be smaller than a shoe box" and she is like "gotta be a giraffe!" and we're off to the races.
Becky Jo of course is a part-time potter and full-time trucker (how cool is that?) and currently hauling the bean harvest and I had my idea and jumped on it and sent it to her---kinda early for Christmas. And Becky Jo got it and is using it...giraffes on the outside, giraffe on the inside. Next chapter, of course, is when she finishes hers :)

7-3

(our hero in Toronto at a Yank's game, and at home, acting smug and superior)

We are Winners! Thanks Stacey :)

Stacey had another contest, I won another prize :) Last time it was groovy little paintings she had done, this time mega warm knitwear! Stacey, did you know snow is expected tonight? Thanks!

just relax and breathe deeply....

I am down at Ludgate Farms, an exotic farmer's market nearby who also sell a boatload of my pots, and I am talking with my old pal Mike Ludgate about hot sauces. He is excited and takes me in back and shows me this newly arrived shipment. We're talking HOT sauces, and he offers me one for free, and I take this thing, habanero + mustard and dump some on my sandwich at lunch. Holy cats! Hot dawg! GET SOME!

you know its going to be a good day...

...when there is an extra few minutes for the triple espresso and chocolate peanut butter cookies. The thing with the time change is: it is totally dark in the afternoon, but you have a little extra time in the am.
I did NOT share anything with Emily kitten...

le beagles....

(mugs on sale now at my etsy online gallery)

A local business was looking for office help. They put a sign in the window, stating the following: "HELP WANTED. Must be able to type, must be good with a computer, and must be bilingual. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer." A short time afterward, a beagle trotted up to the window, saw the sign, and went inside. He looked at the receptionist and wagged his tail, then walked over to the sign, looked at it, and whined. Getting the idea, the receptionist got the office manager. The office manager looked at the beagle and was surprised, to say the least. However, the beagle looked determined, so the office manager led him into the office. Inside, the beagle jumped up on the chair and stared at the manager. The manager said, "I can't hire you. The sign says you have to be able to type." The beagle jumped down, went to the typewriter, and proceeded to type out a perfect letter. He took out the page and trotted over to the manager and gave it to him, then jumped back on the chair. The manager was stunned, but then told the dog, "The sign says you have to be good with a computer." The beagle jumped down again and went to the computer. He proceeded to enter and execute a perfect program that worked flawlessly the first time. By this time the manager was totally dumbfounded! He looked at the dog and said, "I realize that you are a very intelligent dog and have some interesting abilities. However, I still can't give you the job." The beagle jumped down and went to a copy of the sign and put his paw on the words "Equal Opportunity Employer." The manager said, "Yes, but the sign also says that you have to be bilingual." The beagle looked at the manager calmly and said, "Meow."

The Wonder Years

(Kevin and Winnie from the TV show THE WONDER YEARS, me and Wendy now...)
The neighborhood I lived in from elementary to high school was full of houses and full of kids. Two of my very best pals back then lived in my neighborhood and we had a lot of classes together, going back to when we were 11 or 12 or 13. My oldest friends! Two sisters, Mary Beth was my age, Wendy a year younger. I lost track of Wendy after high school but Mary Beth and I exchanged letters through college up to about 1987 when we lost track of each other.
The two sisters (and the youngest Rebecca, who was much younger and I suppose I ignored) were absolutely brilliant and creative, smart and fun. We talked about all kinds of stuff and walked around and complained about school and other kids or whatever...
a lot like Winnie and Kevin in the TV show (except, of course, in a way, it was Kevin and Winnie and Winnie because there were 2 sisters)
and then 20-30 years go by, and thanks to facebook last year we all reconnected. Have not seen Mary Beth lately, but have seen Wendy a few times and she lives about an hour away and came on down for the lunch and the pottery and to rub Penny's belly and gossip about other kids we went to school with, and you know, YOU TOO....

"Iz gunna getchoo sucka"

Spike is a very friendly and clownish cat. He likes to hide and ambush the other cat and dogs in the house, just like a little kid on Halloween "BOO!". His favorite is hiding under the carpet and then LEAPING upon someone passing.
None of us is fooled, despite his, ahem, clever hiding place, because he has a big Po Po. Plus he always falls asleep....

what I did this morning.....

Other than gobble chocolate-peanut butter cookies and coffee: voted! You should too!

Stevie has this advice:

(pots by Gary Rith)
I am going to a RAKU party in a couple of weeks and wanted to make some totally textured pieces. RAKU is a very direct ceramics firing process: using tough clay, you quickly raise the firing temps to melting, then reach in with metal tongs and grab the hot piece and then smoke it with sawdust etc, then dip it into water like a hot horseshoe. Havn't done raku since 1986, probably try to get a bunch of my buddies together for the party.....

ANYWAY, Stevie writes yesterday, re: Blogging for Dummies chapter 9--
Want people to read your blog? Visit other blogs and sprinkle comments around. You would think it would be obvious, but nothing gets attention faster than leaving comments. I seem to follow 100 blogs, and it has become a somewhat slow process, following them all, but I enjoy trying :)
And speaking of Stevie, comment forms.
Blogging for dummies, chapter 10: Stevie has the absolute WORST comment form. People should really SIMPLIFY commenting. Steve is my absolute best pal, but I hate Stevie's comment form, it takes forever....

Love my way :)

you GOTTA...

(pots by Gary Rith)
...getta somma my potsa. These babies on sale now at my online gallery. Click here or look over on the right.

movie time

Blogging for dummies chapter 8: Blog movies into a discussion! Everybody loves wasting time during the work day discussing movies.
Quentin Tarantino is a little funny looking somehow, but his movies kick azz don't they? I mean, KILL BILL = The GREATEST.
Just saw, speaking of greatest, RESEVOIR DOGS. He doesn't connect the dots, you don't really know what happened, and it is full of bizarre and offensive dialogue. BRILLIANT. He seems to love the junk movies we watched when we were kids, kung fu, crime, action, horror etc, and he does them brilliantly....
and your take on his movies?

this way and that

(teapot by Gary Rith)
SO, kinda thinking about, you know, textures and bands and patterns, and this teapot got them going several ways at once, esp. the spout.....

Dead Weather.......