My pocket balcony

If there's been a gully washer the night before, our mornings are cool and damp, and all my windows and doors are flung open.  The posters on the wall cringe and warp with humidity, but they'll dry again soon when I close up for the afternoon and turn the air conditioner back on.  I have to be sure to run the fan in it daily, because otherwise I fear the moisture and heat will grow some lovely black fuzzy stuff.  And being allergic to mold, I kind of want to avoid that!

There's one hanging plant that kind of catches the sun, but maybe not quite enough for the geranium to be happy.  The coleus is doing fine however, at giving me something colorful to look at through my balcony.  I shift this plant to the cooler shade of my front porch ever so often, and then don't have it's cheer outside the balcony for a while.

I frequently see hummingbirds at the feeder. I only put out a cup of nectar at a time, again because the heat and sweetness wants to grow mold inside, which isn't good for the birds. The purple shamrock is very happy not to have full sun, but the little Christmas (?) cactus right below the feeder is less happy in this shady spot.

But the Kalancho is happy as a lark, especially since it can lean up against the wall.

Today's Quote:

To this day I believe we are here on Earth to live, grow, and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.

Rosa Parks

Gift pod boxes sharing the love

 The end ones are done with white stoneware clay...the red is just a bit brighter on them.

The center one, with a cut that isn't a heart for the lid, is speckled stoneware, and has a few of the speckles showing through the red glaze.

They are all unglazed on the interior, waiting for cotton or tissue to wrap a special gift.

I started making these last month (see Here.)

I've decided to price them at $22...and would be happy to see these go to new homes. There are 7 more coming out of the firing soon!  Additional shipping fees might cost a bit more, but multiples can go at lower rates when shipped together.

TODAY'S QUOTE:

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Hacked by Canadians!

So my stats tell me some interesting traffic here.
1157 page views yesterday.


From where? Canada?

Canada

1158

So I'm a bit concerned.  They are mostly from Facebook

http://m.facebook.com	108
https://www.google.com/	23

The number 1157 came from the top graphic image but doesn't show on the second graph.  So I think I won't be sharing my blog over on FB any more. I did report it to Blogger, which has never answered anything I've asked for help with.

The rest of you people, who probably don't have any connection to the (Canadian?) hackers, I hope you will take the effort to come over to the blog without that connection.

And I hope the hackers enjoy looking at geese and pottery and mountains.  If you're interested in my money, you are going to just get geese and pottery and mountains.  That's it folks.  I'm of the poor elderly these days.  Not that I want you to help yourselves...but listen, what's the point of bothering me?

I won't post links to my blogs on Facebook.  I will just post direct photos.

Guess I'll only hear from my FB friends how they like them. And I hope you all who read the blogs will keep on coming over and sometimes commenting.  The rest will just miss out.

What a shame.

The geese are back!

Walking from a parking lot, which soon was completely full of swimmers at the Lake Tomahawk pool, (not in the lake)...I did a double take going by the picnic pavilion.

Well these are probably very big ducks, or maybe geese.

 I wasn't going to be bullied by a bunch (herd? gaggle? flock?) of Canada Geese.

So I kind of made little beep beep noises to let them know I didn't plan to wait for them all to walk across the path.  It worked, they made way for me.  The Recreation and Parks people used to have a dog which patrolled and keep the geese away, but now they are back in full swing, including leaving lots of droppings along their way.

 A week later, the same white ducks are begging for crumbs (which children often toss to them) at the side of the pool.

As I drove away from Lake Tomahawk, twice I had to stop for ducks crossing the road.  The wildlife is pretty demanding around here!

Today's Quote:
It is easy to laugh when we feel good, but it is when the world appears dim that we most need laughter in our lives. Madisyn Taylor "Daily Om"

Mugs with poppies GALORE!

I like a design, so I go with it EVERYWHERE!

From the first 4 mugs, to now 2 more different sizes and shapes...there are now a dozen with hand painted poppies a la Georgia O'Keeffe designs.  I am thrilled with them, because I like her paintings.  They aren't decals, they aren't even drawn on first, but just brush after brush of different colors of Mayco Stroke And Coat glazes, red, black, orange, turquoise and yellow.  That's it.

The white is studio satin white.
The black liner is studio matt black.

Which shape or size would you prefer?

Jumbos on left are straight sided.  Curved shaped mugs (on right) start medium size and go up to a large!  All my mugs have Celtic Cross thumb knobs.

 We're the curvy girls. Sizes from 12 oz to 20 oz.

 And we're the straight sided differently sized ones!  Holding from 14 oz to 20 oz.

Straight? Curved?  Your preference...or maybe a bit of both!

The first medium size mugs look even a bit different - see HERE. (10 - 14 oz.)

Contact me at blackmtnbarb@gmail.com to purchase, just pay by check or credit card, and I'll ship them your direction (the shipping fee and insurance is about $15 per box for flat rate Postal Service shipping.)  Purchase price each mug is $30, so a couple get the same rate of shipping (or close to it).

Smaller mugs don't cost less, because after all, the same amount of effort goes into making them.
The clay is the least valuable aspect of the mug...so another ounce of clay might cost $0.01 or less . And larger mugs don't cost more for the same reason!  It's the various steps to make something collectible for you that counts.

Don't miss the vase which I posted earlier, and soon there will be a pitcher also with the O'Keeffe style poppy.

Quote for today:

Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. -Hal Clement, science fiction author (30 May 1922-2003)