NOT CSI: TMI????

Ever been on a road trip and you have waited a little too long to pull into a rest stop? Or been too lazy at midnight to trip over the cat and go to the john?
Some people, yes, men too! Are susceptible to UTIs. You may think vigorous male-female relations are either the cause...or the cure, but in that you would not be correct.
For me, Monday had its ups and downs. The pain in my (not azz!) was somewhat excruciating at times, as you may know if you have had a UTI.
Today, however, is a new day, and I am feeling most relieved and healthful, thanks for asking....

le mugs!

(mugs by Gary Rith)
I have pots coming and going. A big load here at the home studio comes out looking good, and over where I teach pottery classes at Cornell, a big load comes outta there too. Little Christmases!

Psychedelic Furs....

mmm, tasty!

Spike the cat has a few pet peeves....

Because, as everybody knows: "I would hope that a wise cat with the richness of their experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a bunch of dogs."

Let's talk pet peeves, shall we?
--those little subscription cards that fall out of magazines
--trying to make 'socialist' sound like 'axe murderer' (gimme some of that socialism, baby!)
--dogs that hog the bed

And you on this quiet, stinko Monday (today has been a wee bit challenging at times...)
what pet peeves can you share with us????????????

cannot say I am full of energy on Monday morning...

(cat-dog jar by Gary Rith)
So yesterday I am making these wide bowls with wide rims, because I want a nice place for nekkid people to stretch out. On the rim of a bowl. And I realize that these are 90 % on their way to being chip-dip things, with nekkid people, but I am like
"how am I gonna sell nekkid pottery?" and I think of Nance.
I make the phone call "Nance, would you really be willing to sell nekkid pots? I mean, you know, will people at your store be upset?" and Nance is like
"Gary, I have to tell you, your nekkid people are too cartoonish and ugly to offend anybody"
and I immediately agree with her point but then I mention
"but Nance, the guys, you know, have PARTS"
and she is like
"maybe we'll cover up the guy's parts"
and I was on it
"Nance, we can put the price tags over the parts, and the buyer can go home and undress him!"

If you like Chuck Prophet, and I do, you'll enjoy this silly video here which some folks made unprofessionally to go with his song....

at Kasey's suggestion....

(owl mug by Gary Rith, drawing by Kasey Baker)
My buddy Kasey Baker, sometimes known as Reverend Kasey, sometimes known as Captain Awesome is an artist in Iowa. She sent me this sketch wondering if I could make an owl cup, and whereas I had not before, I do now--tres fun, tres cute, yes?
And below? The missus got a couple of pics with Buster and Penny before I had my hair cut and then there is my potted morning glory.....

90s music nostalgia!!!!!!

As we come to the end of the oughts, you realize that 10-15 years ago there was some mighty awesome music.
I love being generation X. We are just so cool. And so is our music.
Catherine Wheel with super cute Tonya Donnelly


And The Breeders

you missed it.....

...but you could have joined us at the Chapterhouse. Carl, the missus, Norah and Tommy joined me. You like the feeling of "I have been working hard all week and now I want to go to a ratty bar and enjoy some of that kosher popcorn and some beers with my roguish friends...."

le fish in a teapot

whereas horses are cool....

(teapot by Gary Rith)
...zebras are even cooler....
sorry, am I allowed to say I love this teapot?

mmmmm

There is a rather fantastic small brewery up the road that makes beers with pigs on the can called PORKSLAP. Looks good in a glass with a doggy on it, yes????

le par-tay!

Nance opened a new gallery last night, woo hoo! There was a little party....no, actually, it was so big and crowded we got squeeeezed out the door....

mmmmmmmmmmm, 80s GOODNESS

Icicle house....

further frolicsome fun with my flamingos

Penny and 2 little stuffed dogs foolin' around with the flamingos.....

IF you see a shark.....

(shark bowl by Gary Rith)

Enough with picking on those dirty dog republicans and my overactive flamingos.
Dig this poem by Kipling: (although depending on whom you ask, Kipling was a bit of a macho fool....)

Rudyard Kipling
If



If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The Donnas!

AND THEN my flamingos....

(Buster is somewhat alarmed...)
Then the flamingos kissed and you know, life got back to the ordinary....

I moved my flamingos

TRUE STORY!
A pair of missionaries was coming down the street and so I moved my flamingos. (see pic above!)
They didn't stay long.

It later occurs to me that they might have been thinking:
"artsy little dude, BRIGHT purple house, 2 pink flamingos..........?"

Wonder if the missus will notice later?

a letter from Spike the cat to the obstructionist, elitist and out of touch Republican Party

"Dear Republican Party:
Just get out of the Obama's way and let him do his work. BECAUSE, as the old joke goes:
-a liberal is a conservative who has lost his job
-a liberal is a conservative who has lost his health insurance
-a liberal is a conservative who has lost the health insurance and is SICK
-a liberal is a conservative who has lost his house

And one last thing: you people are lucky he won, because he is gonna do some good for EVERYBODY, even grumpy Republicans

Have a nice day! :)
Spike"

the WORST dream

I have a lot of vivid and fun dreams, and you hear about some of them. Oooph, last night everything collapsed, a la The Road Warrior or like Cormac McCarthy's The Road or any number of nightmare-society-has-collapsed stories.
In this case, it was only day 2. People everywhere were dead and militias made up of rednecks and aggressive types with weapons were looking for suvivors. On my way out of town I passed a child who needed help and I did not help, I passed a woman who needed help and I didn't stop, I was just too scared.
I was holed up in a house gathering some supplies and met up with a like minded friend to run with but when I went out to check the car I was alone and trying to play possum when a car full of .... yes, that was when I awoke, and my heart beating so fast that I can see how somebody could die in their sleep--of terror.

But I didn't, and I am fine of course, and some people think that a scenario like this is likely. Maybe not very possible at all, because all of us are invested in our work, family, and homes, but society and civility is tissue thin, isn't it?