Grammy's, Shammy's.....

Day; 256. Sunny and gorgeous again!

Temperature on outside kiln; 50 degrees!
kiln firings; none
Music in the sudio; Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter

Monday and Tuesday spent in the studio doing chores; mixing glazes, scraping shelves... etc...

Since it is sunny and almost warm outside, I am in the backyard scraping and kiln-washing my shelves. This is an arduous task that should be done after every firing and I think the last time it was done Pepe-the-intern thankfully did it for me, so that puts it at about 9-10 months ago! No wonder they are a veritable mess! It had gotten to the point where I had no clean shelves left and could not fire the kiln without completing this task... Bad, bad potter!!








Listening to a wonderful singer/songwriter named Josh Ritter today, it took me forever to find some music  recorded in the last twenty years that I wanted to listen to...  After watching the Grammy's last night, I came away with the same feeling I have every year, where-oh-where is all the good contemporary music? Why must I go back to Motown and the Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's to find anything worth listening to??
Most of the music performed last night I couldn't understand the lyrics or wished I couldn't, it all seemed so insipid and shallow... But when you grow up on Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell (my generations' best), where can you go from there?!..
I was happy to see that they did a one song tribute to Glen Frey and the Eagles with Jackson Brown singing lead, Joe Walsh playing guitar, and Don Henley of course on drums... I am sure none of the young people in the Staples Center last night really grasped the significance of that, they must have thought it was just a bunch of grey hairs singing Take It Easy. And well, it was that, but so much more... How does one explain what happened in So. Cal musically in the late 60's-80's if you weren't there to live it? Joni, Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Jesse Colin Young, Mamas and the Papas, the Eagles, Kenny Loggins, the list goes on and on...
Growing up 60 miles south of LA in Orange County at the time, I saw some pretty incredible concerts in my high school years... a lot of the music had a very strong social and political bent and really had a pronounced effect on the person I am today.. Everyone played their instruments well and could sing in harmony...

Ach, I sound like my parents bemoaning the passing of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.. I can just hear my father groaning as Jethro Tull plays  on the radio.....

Like Magic...

Day; 255. Sunny and WARM!

Temperature on outside kiln; 50 degrees!
kiln firings; none
music in the studio; none

Non-studio day today.. spent the morning in the Farmers Market Pavilion doing a trunk show at my friend Karen's tea shop. Lovely woman, lovely shop...

Well, if you want to see all your friends in one day, go to the farmers market on a  Saturday, they are all there..!! I realized anew how small Santa Fe really is, seems like  I knew half the people walking by and the other half I recognized at least... I had a wonderful time seeing old customers and greeting old friends I had not seen in awhile, a nice way really to spend a morning and selling work as well, I am a lucky girl!

The highlight of my day was seeing an old friend/potter who is also a transplant from Colorado, we both have old friends in and around the mountains of Boulder.. Mary brought house guests with her, one of which runs the ceramic program at Boulder High School. When she saw my work she got really excited.. apparently she has been wanting to do some image transfer with her students for awhile and just hasn't had the time.. When I told her I was looking for more workshop opportunities we suddenly clicked and realized our meeting each other was very co-incidental and serendipitous...  We have tentatively set late March/early April as a date and discussed money and accommodations as well.

I have a good feeling about this...! Just yesterday, not 24 hours ago, I was walking to the mail box and thinking that this year I would get up to Colorado and visit my good friend/mountain climber Tamara Jenlink. We go back 20 years almost to Nederland, Colorado... We have lived together twice and I believe we both think of each other as our sister. I have not had much contact in the last year with her so when I was offered an opportunity just this morning to teach very near to where Tamara lives,  I knew the Universe was doing what it does best... serendipity!!! On top of that, another friend from Boulder who now lives in Santa Fe also walked by.. I have not seen Linda in at least 6 months. When I told her about possibly teaching in Boulder later this spring at the high school, she said she knew the woman who runs the studio there too and confirmed the connection. It was like the Universe handed me this wonderful opportunity and then sent another person by just to make sure I got the message/connection. Gosh, I love how things come together sometimes, it is so magical! Put the thought out there that you want to go to Boulder and visit friends, and boom!, the next morning the ways, means, and a place to crash fall into your lap, I LOVE IT!!!!
Keep it coming baby, keep it coming..... !

The Magpie's Fly....

Day; 254. Warm and sunny, absolutely beautiful!

Temperature on outside kiln; 54 degrees
Kiln firing; decal firing of teacups
music in the studio; Van Morrison


Maggie and the Magpie's rise again! A lovely Wednesday in Feb., back with the girls singin' our songs!
Just a casual get-together/jam to start anew and get my voice back in shape, Although I felt like I was screeching, I at least was able to sing for a lot longer than last week and I didn't even cry once! Funny how progress is measured these days! Anne was there as well with her harmonica and that was great fun. I guess my voice will just get a little better every week until I no longer feel it complain after singing for 2 hours.

Home again in the studio and just loading a kiln for the two markets this weekend. Looking forward to getting out in the world and selling some of my stuff.. Terrible cabin fever after over 2 months of holing up inside. I sure hope it is in the 50's again this weekend, I love the warmth..it feels so good on my skin. It is Valentine's day this weekend so I think the markets will be good. I made a lot of little tea cups with my version of valentine's on them, so I am anticipating a prosperous 2 days..  Here is where I will be on Sunday...

My fellow Magpie and potter, as well as Uke player, Mia Endo will be there as well, so I look forward to hanging out with her and sneaking in a few of our own songs,  between sales of course!

Warm Weather/warm heart...

Day; 253. Sunny, spring-like!

Temperature on out side kiln; 52 degrees!
kiln firings; glaze firing of tea cups
music in the studio; I-Pod mix

What a gorgeous day! Amazing what a 20-degree temperature spike can feel like!, there is a big difference between 32 degrees and 52 degrees, I prefer the latter...

Spent the whole day glazing tea cups for the trunk show at Artful Tea this Saturday... trying to fill the kiln, so put in a few plates as well, sure hope they are come out good, no extra day to re-fire of course! Always down to the wire! Well, I guess that is a potter's life!

In the afternoon, after affirming  out loud to myself and ?, how much I love to pay bills, and most especially my husband's ( love to  support  him after all his support of  yours truly... ), I heard one of those little beeps on my phone.... Another hit on my decal tutorial but this time from Etsy.com (my on-line shop) instead of directly from my website... After jumping around a bit, I calmed down and acknowledged that the passive income stream seems to be a good idea! And that the Universe is supporting it... Wow, that made me feel like I was on the right track and all I needed to do was keep going in the same direction, what a great feeling! It almost made glazing the rest of the day a fun activity, almost...
In any event, I was so buoyed by the seemingly effortless income  that I floated through the rest of my day on a tide of good feeling/good music... Just keep going Maggie Mae!

Momentum is my favorite word!

Day; 252. Sunny but bitterly cold with frosty wind blowing through.....

Temperature on outside kiln; 34 degrees
kiln firings; none
music in the studio; Shawn Colvin

Happiest moment of my day; seeing my friend Karen at her tea-shop Artful Tea in downtown Santa Fe

Two very great days after months of struggling and squirming around.. I finally feel like I have some momentum going in the right direction, that is in a positive flow instead of circling the drain..... Just in the nick of time if you ask me...

 Yesterday I FINALLY got my digital tutorial on laser-toner decals up on my website. Well that only took me about a year, but better late than never. After solving software, uploading, and other various technical problems, I got it up and listed on magpiepottery.com. ,

I was feeling so satisfied with myself that I decided to take a nice warm bath before going to the first Eldorado Studio Tour meeting  later that night. As I was getting out of the bath, I hear an email beep on my phone and decided to check it quickly before leaving.  Lo and behold some angel in California had seen the post I put up on Instagram and purchased a copy of the tutorial.  I was dumbfounded that the passive income stream from this idea only took about an hour to pay off.... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry so I promptly did both at the same time... while also jumping around in the air. All 4 dogs thought I was crazy and did one of those really cute doggy head tilts.. you could just see them thinking, "what's up with the human now?!"

I just really needed some forward propulsion/momentum  in my life and this was it. Any little thing would do.. Just something to get me going and feeling positive so that I could take another step, and then another, and another. For two months I just couldn't find anything positive beyond, "gee, my bed is soft!", which yes, is positive, but does not have a  lot of forward momentum riding on it. I subsequently went to bed last night feeling pretty good for the first time in a long while.
 As I was getting ready to leave for town this morning, the same thing happened... My phone beeped, I checked it for emails, and lo and behold someone else had also purchased a tutorial... !! I love having money sent to my Paypal account while I am brushing my teeth!! No firing the kiln, no loading the truck, no driving 300 miles to a show, just put on your underwear and people send you money while you are getting dressed! I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! I am sure I have never written that sentence in my life but I am suddenly enamored.

To add chocolate sauce to the ice cream, the technical problem which was preventing me from listing the same tutorial on Etsy.com, was solved while I had a casual conversation with Karen at Artful Tea. I feel bad though, she was telling me all about her technical difficulties with a new website, and we ended up solving mine instead! Serendipity is alive and well and living in Santa Fe... Thanks Karen! (hope you get your technical difficulties figured out soon..)

Lean On Me

Day; 251. Really cold and blustery. A February kind of day...

Temperature on outside kiln; 15 degrees! + wind chill. Ouch!
kiln firings; glaze kiln cooling
Music in the studio; Mix of soul music

In the studio on this very chilly winter day making a few more tea cups for next week's trunk show...  Listening to music and wishing my voice wasn't so raspy still, trying to sing along with Michael McDonald... good thing he is a raspy baritone himself!! Mentally giving my body a lot of love and having to make peace with where it is at, I cannot force my voice into ranges it is not ready to go to...

However, I did  go to the first band practice with the Magpie's in 2.5 months yesterday and  oh boy, I could barely croak out a verse..! But I gave it a shot and really enjoyed seeing all the girls again. The most beautiful moment of the day and I would say the year so far, was the singing of  Lean On Me by the surrounding Magpie's  while I just sat and let tears stream down my face... I hadn't realized until that moment how much emotion I had been holding in my body these last two months as I chart a new course for myself. I haven't shared with family or friends the depth of the changes I have been working to manifest, nor have I allowed myself a good cry to let out the stress... I tried not to be too embarrassed as it all streamed down my face right in the middle of rehearsal.
What I came to understand later that night was that laughing/crying are always just a release of resistance and that as I let more and more of it go, I come into closer proximity to who and what I really am.... No shame there at all, so I am giving myself credit for being willing to travel this road and I am spending the day looking at all the things around me that I am appreciative of. Hoping I can sing a bit more next week but not putting any pressure on myself, maybe it is finally time I learn how to play the cahon!?

Relax, Everything is Fine.

Day; 250. Overcast, snowing. Cold.

Temperature on outside kiln; 25
kiln firings; none
Music in the studio; Mary J. Blige

The perfect day to be in the studio, I love days like this... It is nasty outside so I am content to be glazing in the studio instead of pining for the out-of-doors.. trying to get some cups done up for the truck show at Artful Tea next weekend and also a dinnerware set for the la Mesa show in KC next month. Feeling a little slow as I make glaze and color decisions, but that is good, slow and careful wins the ceramic race...

Thinking about yesterday still and the on-going happenstance of serendipity.... I went over to take some Clay Class flyers to the coffee shop and stopped at Utopia on the way home to talk to the owner about something else. She was not there but her helper Margaret was and she is someone who has wanted to get back into clay for some time. We ended up really connecting and are now talking about getting her into my studio to get her hands dirty again.  I am always struck by "co-incidence" and how it isn't really... I was thinking about following my muse/divine inspiration actually on my way over to the shops and whammo! serendipity strikes!I just love how this particular Universe is set-up that way, it makes me feel hopeful and expectant. Like good things are just a moment away and I can chill out, relaxxxxxxx, and just watch the unfolding with awe... Everything is fine!