7 days!

Until the Memphis Farmers Market opens its season. I've spent this week finishing my first batch of herb markers for it and the Trolley Stop Market, glazing and firing ware, tinkering with the layout of this blog (that was a wasted afternoon. I crashed it and spent 4 hours getting it back into shape), throwing, trimming, and reaching the point that I always do before a big event or season of feeling completely overwhelmed. The house is a wreck, the lawn needs mowing, laundry has morphed into a mountain of needs-to-be-done and needs-to-be-folded.

Instead of flipping out like I usually do, I'm stopping. It's Friday night. My kiln is loaded with the last of what I'll take to the Market next Saturday. I'll glaze it on Monday. Since I'll be there every other week until the end of October, there's really no sense in my trying to have everything all at once, is there? I am happy that I have enough to fill my shelves, with more on the way.

In my basement, on the photo table, I have almost a dozen of my "hope" vases and bowls. I plan to shoot and list them Sunday or so. 60% of their sale price will go to support St. Vincent's Orphanage, Hospital, and School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, via West TN Haiti Partnership. I'll let y'all know when they're up on etsy. There are also about 15 berry bowls down there, ready to go. I think that I'm not taking orders on these this year, I'll just list them as I have them. In years past I've made myself (and my family) quite nuts trying to make them as quickly as I could, breaking many of them, not being able to fire because we lost power for a week due to a freak summer thunderstorm. This seems to be how I operate- over-commit and make everyone at my house crazy. Not this year. I'll have what I have.

This photo has nothing to do with any of this, really, except that my friend Melissa called me around lunchtime to let me know that she had lots of ferns popping up and that I should come get some. So I did. A bouquet full of fiddleheads sure makes me happy. I also stopped at a house in my neighborhood with a glorious bed of tall ferns that grow happily in the sun (you might imagine that this is a rare thing) to ask if I could have a piece of the plant. The nice lady of the house told me that the fern escapes into the yard and that I could dig all that I wanted. I plan to head over tomorrow with a shovel.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. And I appreciate that you are reading what I have to say about my pottery, garden, and life. Thanks for your thoughts and support.