The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

I'm digging these animal prints by Sharon Montrose. Sometimes I convince myself that I need to live on a farm again. We could have a pig and a small cow and a pygmy goat and a dog and a lamb and a...

Feather Bed: Fruit Bats

15 hours a day in dreamland

{that's an abstract clown our 6 year old niece made for us!}

a beetle shirt

last week we screen printed wee beetle shirts for 2 wee ones

Edward Sharpe + The Magnetic Zeros in Concert

AMAZING performance
their energy is amazing
one of my favorite shows

{see their NPR Tiny Desk Concert and their Take Away Show!}

TOAST Autumn Winter 2010

beautiful clip by Nick Seaton of TOAST's Autumn Winter Collection

the hens + potting adventures

For the past few months I have been taking a beginner ceramics class at Northern Clay Center. I have slowly learned how to throw on the wheel and trim bowls and cylinders. Class is coming to a close much too fast. Just when I'm really getting a hang of it the clock is running out. It has been fun to try something new and meet new people. I will miss spunky Kate and Manhattan Kim and lots of other peeps who made the class the mix that it was. Everyone has been so friendly and kind.



These are two of the first pieces I threw and glazed, which husband sweetly named 'the hens'.

I started out by making little cylinders, but the tops were dreadful, so at the last minute I created little spouts. The shiny white glaze pulled iron oxides(I think) out of the clay during firing and left tiny green speckles here and there. There are little indents in the glaze from my fingerprints and the bottom is ever so slightly indented, with a heart carved in it, but not trimmed, as I didn't yet know how to trim when I made them and the bottom wasn't really thick enough to remove clay anyhow. Now they are wonderful little creamer or maple syrup pitchers and I love the imperfections and the story that accompanies it.

My fabulous teacher Kate looked at the hens and told me that in some cultures imperfections in ceramics, and lots of other art, are highly prized. The imperfections show the handicraft that went into each object and tell a story. They are regarded as life's little miracles to be cherished. So true.

'touch' exhibition

These life-like cacti paintings by Kwangho Lee are awesome. The 'touch' exhibition in Seoul is appropriately named as well; the paintings are so life-like it makes me yearn to feel the texture of the cacti. I want to study each one up close.

These would look so good in my house. I especially like the first one. I have a hairy cactus similar to the second one pictured and she's known as Grandma. We love our succulents around here and have managed to keep our jade plant alive for quite some time. It's gotta be the terra cotta pot.

Sunday Funday

Yesterday we ventured out to Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm,where we get our CSA share from every week, to their Mid-summer Festival. We enjoyed a hayride, home-brewed beer and wine, iced tea, stir fry veggies, curious animals and were able to cut fresh flower bouquets. I even found out that one of the owners of the farm is my fourth cousin! Crazy, right?!

After the farm fun, we explored Franconia Sculpture Park. They have some fun stuff. We climbed and explored and tried out the swings and explored some more. The time spent outdoors was perfect and we came home happily exhausted.

Saturday morning scones

coffee + fresh scones to start the day and say goodbye to July


Saturday Morning Scones

4 c flour(I use 1/2 all-purpose + 1/2 white whole wheat flour)
1 rounded tsp baking soda
2 rounded tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
9 T unsalted, chilled butter, cubed
1/5 c sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/8 c milk or buttermilk(you can make buttermilk by adding a splash of lemon juice to the milk)
optional:fruit(cut into small bits)(I used manilla mangoes for today...mmm)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar in large bowl. Cut in butter with forks or pastry blender until you have small lumps the size of tapioca pearls.
Set aside 1/4 of the beaten egg and add the rest to the milk. Add vanilla to milk and egg mixture. Add egg/milk mixture(and fruit if using) to flour/butter mixture and stir with a fork just until the wet ingredients are incorporated.
Turn out onto a floured surface and roll or pat to 1 inch thickness.
Cut into rounds with a cutter or simply cut into squares with a butter knife. Place on parchment or silicone lined baking sheet 1 inch apart.
Add a Tablespoon of milk to reserved egg and mix lightly. Brush over the tops of scones and sprinkle with sugar. Raw, coarse sugar is really tasty for this.
Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until slightly golden.

after the rain