today my little mellifluous melon said to me:

Today my little melon said to me:
"I'm glad its Friday. Now I can devote all my time to you."

to which I replied:
"Ooo! I'm gonna owe you!"
I might have to make those triple chocolate cookies she likes...

Sniff n the tears

Driver's Seat.

super stinky cheese: a regular guy beer review

So I try out Wolaver's organic brown ale. If I was talking with my buddy Gord, we would agree that Newcastle brown is a favorite. Well, this Wolaver's makes Newcastle brown taste like Budweiser, it is SUPER STRONG. I have recently enjoyed Brooklyn brown and felt it was perfect, and was thinking last Friday as I enjoyed an Ithaca Brown Ale (YES, our town brewery) that it was somewhat stronger and heavier than what I was in the mood for. So, we're thinking about browns a lot lately.
Wolaver's, I am sorry to say, strikes me as one of those fancy and super expensive stinky cheeses that get pricier the stinkier it gets. One of those macho things, the stronger the better might be the thinking. The flavor is like a pumpernickel loaf of bread, except somehow concentrated a hundred fold. And then there is the organic thing. Do I need an organic beer from Vermont when I can get a brown I like better HERE in New York?
So, basically, the regular guy gives this beer a 6 out of ten thumbs up: it is trying too hard.

rather pretty sunset

I was lurking about the Cornell campus after doing some glazing at the pot shop and before meeting the missus and the sunset was HUGE. It gets dark not long after 4 these days, but on the right winter day you get your money's worth. Cornell's campus is arrayed across a very steep hillside with Ithaca's downtown and Cayuga Lake below (take my word for it!)

GORILLA Pottery advertising

(OK, it should be guerilla, I know, but gorilla is funnier--bowls by Gary Rith)
So this early am just after walking the dogs in the SNOW and dumping the recycling on the curb, and before taking my cupcake to the store and work, I got an IDEA.
My cupcake works in a huge dept with zillions of students and faculty, and her desk is in SPOT NUMBER ONE, just like in the Office? Pam???????? On TV?
OK, Pam has a candy dish, and what if my wife had a candy dish, a CUTE ELEPHANT FULL OF CHOCOLATE and everybody who was taking a chocolate and admired the bowl, she could say (we rehearsed this repeatedly)
"oh, my husband is a potter and a teacher here, he made it and you can buy his stuff at the upcoming sale!!!!!"

I bought a few bags of chocolates and my plan is HATCHED and I may have to switch bowls around to keep interest heheheheheheheheheH!

every morning another....

....guy jumps into bed with my wife!!!!!!!! Really! Spike Cat hears me getting out of bed with Penny and he comes running and leaps into the arms of my beloved Cupcake. There are cuddles, there are purrs and a little love talk. Then, I go out into the snow with the dogs, make the coffee and the dogs breakfast and ours, and TRY to get them out of bed. Finally, cat and wife get out of bed looking satisfied and well-rested and with large appetites.....

TODAY my little cupcake tells me:
"OK, this guy says 'doctor doctor! everytime I drink my coffee I get I sharp pain in my eye!!!" and the doctor tells him
"try taking the spoon out of the cup when you're drinking!"

POST PUNK GOODNESS: Switching to Glide

Or This beat goes on by The Kings. Oh so perfect, 80s goodness.

life during wintertime: movies and pics!

Penny, Buster and the missus at the playground. We got a few inches of snow last night. Feels a wee bit Christmassy here, and check out Penny lovin' the snow in the video below!

Penny totally digs snow.

"Won't my love cure your hunger?"

(pots by Gary Rith)
My little love dumpling tells me today:
"Won't my love cure your hunger?". Sure thing baby, but I still want some of that pizza. She tells me that when she was a girl she said that to her cat Tiny whenever she was looking for tuna. Cats wouldn't be amused by that either.

I did a count down on the right yesterday? I am up to 58 blogs that I am reading PLUS all the ones I visit occaisionally PLUS the secret ones, like _______ and _______.
I absolutely DO try to keep up with all of them, they're all so good, but I am most grateful that none of them posts as musch as me or I would be exhausted!

Lastly, we have some rather nice pots above here. It is a fact of life that I do NOT always put a little pig or dog on things, and that I like a nicely shaped woman, I mean a nicely shaped pot, with no bells and whistles. Except usually I add a lot of bells and whistles.
Mother of invention had asked for a ducky pitcher, wonder if she is still interested? So had Mary Lee. Took forever to get these fired, I shall see what they have to say. The liquid pours out of the mouth HAHAHAHAHA! Sure it does. That is the idea, but my tests show that the liquid dribbles all over the place. Maybe something like this is best used as a cute dust catcher or flower vase...

FORGET POTTERY: I QUIT!

Ima gonna be a heavy metal drummer instead! Where did I go wrong? When I was making bowls and piggies I should have been learning bongos and trying not to spontaneously combust.
Godsmack live, dual drums first then I stand Alone.

TOday my little apple crisp said to me:

(Penny gettin' down...)
Today my little apple crisp said to me:
"If we can keep on laughing, we'll be OK"

Amen baby....

dear baseball mom and catcher dude:

Dear Baseball Mom and Catcher Dude:
I enjoy your posts, but I can never make a comment or even find your email! Is it just me??????
gr

le pup and le Lollypop in le snow

I was driving home a minute ago in a snow squall? Do you know what that is? One big cloud dumping snow on you for s short period of time and you can't see the road or the 18 wheeler that wants to eat you for lunch. It is the driving that makes people HATE SNOW. So the cloud passes and the sun comes out, blah blah blah, dreaming of a white Christmas yadda yadda yadda....

It is my wife (Lollypop!) and dog's misfortune to be followed everywhere by ME and MY CAMERA. The shot with the fence shows you the river and the woods behind the house. The road shot? The sunrise was so gorgeous, pink and blue, but I don't seem to have captured it very well....

my sweet little donut said to me...

(my little pastry at her Cornell office, high above the snowy quad)
Yesterday my sweet little donut said to me:
"...listen, your lovemuffin is not gonna say that to her studmuffin in public...."

and if you can figure that out, clue me in.

The little dream hamster introduced my dreams last night, and I am so sorry to say this but it is true, wearing an Elvis white jumpsuit and little pompadour hair. It really did. Then I dreamt I was a bar manager trying to get the place open in time and holy cats it was hard work and I am lucky I don't have a real job, esp. a real job like THAT.

Let's talk Christmas

Cornell is an old campus with old buildings. Williard Straight Hall is the rather huge building devoted to student food and fun. There is an ancient and beautiful movie theater in the lower level, dining rooms, an art gallery and the Pot Shop, where I teach ceramics, in a lower dungeon. The Christmas tree has just been put up in the lounge above the main entry, and it was just turning twilight last evening and it started snowing very hard and I think this is a very Christmassy scene (can you believe I am so lucky as to be able to make and teach pottery in this beautiful place?)

le petit cups

(by Gary Rith)
I was messing around with shapes and such and I thought these were a bit odd but the blue really brought them together. I am an experimental potter, yes I am...

London calling

By the Clash. Can you believe embedding is disabled? Oh well. Click it and watch, TUNE O The DAY.

of Mooseheads and Piggy heads: a regular guy beer review

(pot by Gary Rith)
Needed to get a gift for the dogsitter so I happened upon Moosehead and hadn't tried it in awhile so I got some for the sitter and some for me!!!! You could say 'why does he need a beer from Canada, eh?' BUT I LOVE ALL things Canada, and I find courtesy of wiki that they are sort of the last Canadian owned brewery and also the oldest Canadian brewery, plus CM is from New Brunswick, so I had to try Moosehead again. (CM would pronounce it ever so sweetly as "agaaan" in her particular version of the cute Canadian accent)
It was, last time I tried it, 3 something bucks a six pack, but now twice that, and it is a quite good beer for its type of lager. Plenty of suds and foam, so I am happy, especially since it also has a fetching moose upon the label.
We'll give it a rollicking 8 of ten stars because we love Canada and moose are cute.

a wee little exhibit in December

My pal Nancy and her gallery are hosting me in a group exhibit! YES, there will be a party, please come!

my beloved pickled beet said to me today...

Today my beloved pickled beet said to me:
"...make me late to breakfast............"

followed by: "NO DON'T BLOG THAT!"

Blogging gets me into trouble sometimes, yes indeedy, and I am sure that when she see this later today I will have to sing love songs and pour her a tall glass of wine and draw her attention to something interesting I heard on the news....and hope that I can distract her. My parents (remember their dog last week?) look at this blog once or twice a year and were NOT amused about my joking about their dog. I tried very hard to be positive and keep the dog happy, but my jokes were not appreciated by them. The only thing to do is tell MORE jokes.....