cute pet pictures

(Penny and Buster, SPIKE at his toilette)

POST SECRET: not exactly my cup of tea

Post secret: morning edition

(pots by Gary Rith)
I spent Saturday in a brain fog. Too much coffee? Too little coffee? Little green men in my head?
The missus was gardening and I tried not to interfere too much with my black thumb (plants: stay away from me!), but worked through the fog on some GOOD stuff (see dinosaur down a couple) and Mary is coming over soon and I better make pizza and cake and do some cleaning...

Camera Obscura

Oh, I adore these guys and you will too. They make me so happy, a bunch of nerds from Glasgow, here is their new video 'French Navy', and below that 'If looks could kill' which I promise you will play over and over.

dino-monstrous!

(cups by Gary Rith)
So Sean sez, quite brilliantly, "hey, could ya make a dinosaur cup for little kids? There would be little bumps like on a stegosaurus on the handle, and a dinosaur head?". And really, I had to give it a go, and so I threw a pair of cups and dried them in the sun and finished them all quite quickly and they look great, and will be green with blue spots when glazed, and I have a slightly different idea for a dinosaur cup to try tomorrow...
Hope your weekend is a good one!

POST SECRET: TMI edition

(me, Emily and Spike cats, Penny the beagle)














A package arrives at the PO yesterday, and SOFIA sent me a package, yay!
Sofia is 4, and an accomplished artist, and she made me a tile and drawing...WOW! Her father Jim is a potter and pal o' mine...

Now let's talk Barry White....it is kinda funny, actually, all the women in the string section with the tiny little cocktail dresses.....

PSYCHO BABY!

So I say to the missus:
me: pita pit?
she: falafel Friday special?
me: fine! Chapter House after?
she: Yeah baby!

So you know, get the wife at 4:30, go on down to the pita pit for Friday falafel special except the dude at the register (remember Wayne's world, with the hairnets, joe jobs and name tags?? that was this dude) sez "It has been a terrible day. No falefels. How about hummus instead?" and that's cool, plus they pile on all the veggies including double peppers and pineapple then we're happy and done and wander down the SUPER STEEP hill to the Chapter House for beers and to meet up with Carl, and we slide down the hill and Carl is at the bar with TWO CHICKS (Go Carl!) and we're like "Carl man, we'll get a table in back, but we'd, um, understand if you were busy here..." but he comes back after awhile and he's talking about marriage and having two cute babies with her (which HER??????) and we get home and hop out of our car and Richard and Nancy from up the street are walking by with Oscar the St Bernard and their newborn BAYBEE!!!!! A real one! Named ZOE!
Zoe is an angel, apparently, except for between 12-3 am when she goes psycho baby......

POST SECRET: bullshirt edition

A wee little joke:
So out in Arizona there's a dude ranch and all these city slickers are out for a ride with Tex, one of the resident cowboys. The group stops for lunch in the shade, and walks toward a pretty stream, Tex leading the way.
Tex: 'hold on thar! WHAT'S THIS HERE?' he says pointing to cow patty
Tex: 'sure LOOKS like cow patty!' and he reaches out and grabs a handful
Tex: 'sure feels like cow patty!' and he puts it to his nose and takes a big sniff
Tex: 'sure smells like cow patty!!!' and he opens his mouth wide and takes a big bite
Tex: 'sure TASTES like cow patty! Glad I didn't step in it!!!!!'




(oval gargoyle pot--the first of 2 new ideas!--- by Gary Rith)

five favorites for Friday plus tunes o' the day all in one tidy little package!!!!

(Pottery by Gary Rith and seal by Lynda)
So my buddy Lynda is like (as you see) how about a seal??? And I am like I have made a walrus, let's try a seal, on an especially elaborate decorated sugar bowl, and if I may say, it looks stunning.........not fired yet.
Lynda has the 5 Friday favorites going on, SEA CREATURES this week so my 5 are:
1. well SEALS! Why not? Me and the missus went at dawn to Salisbury Beach State park on the Mass-New Hampshire line January 1, 2000 to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic and it was unusually sunny warm and mild, and there were all these seals playing on the rocks!!!!
2. everybody loves dolphins
3. and killer whales
4. and polar bears
5. but I especially love penguins, like in March of the Penguins, all those little penguin families!!!!

OK, in other news, Brodie asks for a return to consistant tunes o' the day and I can try to make Brodie happy.
I don't have a TV and generally assume I would hate American Idol. I ignored the whole thing.
But on the radio yesterday they were talking about and loving Adam Lambert, calling him a 'gay Elvis, just what America needs right now' and they played circle of fire and it is a rather stunning song (click here live video).

POST SECRET, shocking confessions!

Ditto pre-calculus. Twice.
Math is hard!

Kinky in the kitchen

(saucer, cup and coffee by Gary Rith)
SO my buddy Becky Jo, who we all know is cool, sees my peanut noodle recipe there and tells us that her HUSBAND AND FATHER PUT PEANUT BUTTER in their COFFEE.
As with many first experiences in your adult life, at first you are mildly repulsed, then you squeal 'I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!' then you start to think about it and get mildy turned on by the idea and before you know it, you are heating up....the coffee. And then with hands fumbling and trembling, you carefully finger the ...spoon.... slick with peanut butter, and then slooooowly glide it INto the STEAMING hot coffee and start to move it around...then you move the spoon faster and FASTER and FINALLY YOU TAKE THAT FIRST SLOPPY SIP....
and then the dog starts to lick the spoon, and you fall back, satisfied, because it isn't as horrible as you thought it might be. Then at the bottom of the cup? This sort of sludgey mess to scrape off .....

tunes o' the day: update

Brodie asks where my tunes o' the day have gone. WELL, I am wondering if this is Brodie, my buddy in Ontario? The only Brodie I ever met.
Well, the thing is, I am the flake o' the day, and sometimes post 4 music videos in one day, lately, then none for a few days...
So, Brodie, you know, consistancy from me? I'll try...
Here's Nick and Miri's totally AWESOME suggestion (sorta has that 80s new wave vibe a little bit...)
Suede, we are the pigs...

a pair of big jugs

(pottery and figures by Gary Rith)
;-)

Jayhawks, Blue

Many of my readers hate my music selections. EVERYBODY can love this, everybody. Sweet and wonderful.

Pottery in action: let's talk peanut noodles

(pots and peanut noodles by Gary Rith)
Somebody recently said 'hey Gary, when ya gonna post recipes to go with your pics of food?'. I like to keep my secrets, but since I was asked so nicely...
I think I could write a cookbook of favorite peanut butter recipes. I have at least 3 or 4 recipes with peanut butter--these noodles, peanut butter-chocolate cookies, homemade peanut butter cups, and I once shared a recipe experiment for peanut butter and jam muffins. Yum!

If you go to the Thai place, you get the peanut sauce with the satay, or maybe you get the peanut noodles. You're like, 'OH MAN, I wish I could make that!'
So, I may be totally useless for fixing stuff around the house, but give me an apron and spatula and I am CHEF MAGNIFIQUE

Peanut Noodles a la Gary
boil 8 oz pasta

Chop up veggies and whatnot, like onions and garlic, this has cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and fake chicken strips from Morningstar, saute in olive oil and add a little sesame oil if you have it, plus other stuff in your fridge, like soy sauce, lime juice, hot sauce, plenty of black pepper, whatever, maybe some honey and BBQ sauce too, keep it warm as the noodles are boiling

If you have a little blender thingy or something like that toss in:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup lime juice
2 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 teas hot sauce
1 teas sesame oil
lotsa grated ginger
2/3 cup olive oil
lotsa garlic gloves

Turn it on! Mince and mix.
I always substitute ingredients in this recipe, just do what you want.
When the noodles finish, drain them, top with peanut sauce then top that with veggies, and top that if you want with nuts or sesame seeds, Oh lord! So tasty!

FACEBOOK and 7th time is a charm

Hey, I have a lot of groovy friends on facebook, how about you? ADD ME!!!!!!
Please use friend finder and type in my email garyrith at yahoo dot com and I'll confirm and you can be another one of my far flung imaginary cousins! I mean friends!!!!!

Plumbing is my new hobby. I fixed the darn sink for the 7th time in 2 years. (this time--no leaks!!!) Buy Kohler like we did--superb and easy to put in products if you don't mess it up like me----and our friends at Home Despots, as you will recall, gave us FREE replacement parts.
I am studly, I am macho, I am the bee's knees, I fixed it!
You can see Spike and his catnip mouse helping. The dogs were behind me tearing through the kitchen garbage can..............I may go back to Home Despots and get more gutter pieces, to repair the stinking crummy job I did on the roof yesterday....

let's take a trip to the moon baby

(cups and saucers by Gary Rith)
Or maybe just from my PO to my purple house (video below). I endeavor to show you every little detail of my silly little life, like driving around the block from the PO over the bridge on Fall Creek, left onto Main and up to the purple house (I was returning from the store, otherwise why drive around the block?). Sorry, btw, too late, the house across the street sold in one week....
Above? I was sorta trying out the idea of squares and circles in cups and saucers. Tres good.

so milady sez to me...

(red elephant teapot by Gary Rith)
So milady sez to me:

"Hey you're with a babe. I'm high maintenance, but I'm worth it."

This rather stunning red teapot came out of the kiln yesterday, an order that is destined for Ireland, along with 5 mugs. Shipping will probably equal the purchase price!
Milady is muttering something about me fixing the sink theis morning. Hoping that the 7th time I will actually FIX it....

so the phone rings and...

...D. calls yesterday needing a fish mug for his dad's birthday but I am tied up, can he meet us for happy hour at the Chapter House TODAY???? D. is a prominent local politician, he really is, we helped him get elected TWICE, so we'll keep his name at D., and so we meet up and have the free popcorn and make some wild faces and on our way out I almost skewer CARL with my umbrella and although tempting to go back in for more popcorn and beer instead we plan our next visit to happy hour....

FIVE thumbs: portrait of a potter in one hour

So basically, I am an ARTISTE living in my own little bubble, never noticing or caring if faucets leak or paint peels or shingles fall off.
I am, however, married to someone who DOES notice.
OK, so my 6th kitchen faucet repair made things worse darnitall and so I finally throw in the towel, argue with the missus and agree that we shall bring the product booklet to H0me Despots (buy Kohler plumbing fixtures, just do it, they can't be beat) and see if we can replace this HOSE except it turns out the hose is unique and welded on, so they have to give us a whole new handle setup, have I mentioned I love Kohler? And H0me Despots can be pretty darn nice, at least this lady helping us was, so while we're there I get that dang gutter piece I need and I shove it into the car and get home and Lauren across the street is NOT like me, in that she IS handy around the house, helps me get the ladder up and gives me a saw thingy to cut the gutter with and I go up there and down and move the ladder and generally fart around for an hour making a mess of things, but in the end? There is a serviceable pair of gutters over the door, and the shingle above the door is refastened. Not well, but serviceably, and I didn't get hurt, and some day soon I will tackle the small Niagara that is my kitchen sink...
BUT in the middle of this rather unsatisying hour of crummy home improvement near-failures I unload the cooled kiln and it is AWESOME baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gorgeous firing. More on that later kids...
Point A) I am not handy, I am not a gardener
Point B) I suppose it is useful that my wife is vigilant on house upkeep, otherwise I would be living unawares in a damp dump
Point C) My household strong points are I kick azz in the kitchen with baking and cooking every day, I clean the floors and bathroom and litter box all the time, and keep things fairly tidy DAY TO DAY
Point D) my wife tells me I am goog at other things too, ahem
Point E) I am a potter! Yay!