I try to write a blog. I see things that are funny or interesting and I want to share it here. However, as you from the frequency of my entries, I’m not that good at finding the time, or making the time to talk about my day. I have added a couple of video blogs. It’s fun and a lot easier to stand and talk than sit and type.
We will unload the kiln today and I will post the results here.
My last blog I talked about aging. This blog I start off by making reference to a Led Zeppelin song that came out in 1971, back when I was a girl, 44 years ago. So that’s how it happens. You get busy, take a moment to look up and over 40 years have gone by. Scary stuff.
It takes me so long to write a blog. I’m not sure why. I guess because I am a potter and not a writer. I have been blogging on YouTube,
It’s easier to stand there a just talk about what I have been doing and to find, take, make the time to sit down and write about. There is also the easily distracted side of me that once I am on the PC, I have to check my email, Facebook, then have a game of candy crush …….. There goes the computer time window.
I have been spending some time organizing the first craft show here in Coutts to run in conjunction with Coutts Days. In June, Coutts has a town fair with Pancake Breakfast, Parade, Rodeo, Slo Pitch and now the First Annual Art, Craft and Trade Show. Life is sure change. When we living in Edmonton and doing retail shows, I would have never done a little craft fair with Tupper Ware and home made Barbie Clothes. Now, not only am I doing a craft fair juried by cheque, I am organizing it. All proceeds from the show go to CRAS, Coutts, Recreational and Arts Society. The old school needs some work. We hope to raise enough money to have all the chinking done. The mortar is coming lose from the bricks. I have donated a place setting for 4 for a raffle. We have 2,000 tickets printed at $2 per ticket or 3 for $5. We have room for 35 tables at $25 per table. Chinking is about $6500. If we sell all the tickets, all the tables, have a donation jar, and remain pathologically optimistic, we will get there. CRAS isn’t depending on the show for the mortar, it would just be nice to be able to do itl We have a grant to replace the roof. With a new roof and the a new skin, the old girl will stand there for another 80 years!
Here is the dinner set.
Place setting for 4 in Prairies Glaze. First prize in draw for a donation of $2.
The draw is June 20, 2015. Buy a ticket and you too could win. For the price shipping, you could have the dinner set. It’s only 2 dollar donation and a great cause.
Coutts AB is a village of about 250 people. Last week a customer wanted to mail me a cheque to pay for a bowl and she asked for my address. I sent her the address, but what I didn’t tell her was that she could just send it to ” Pottery Cindy, Coutts AB” and I would get it. There are only two Cindy’s living in Coutts. I am Cindy-Lee and the other is Cindy-Lou. We are both friends with the lady in the Post Office and Tracey, the post office lady, would know which one is Pottery Cindy. If for some reason Cindy-Lou got mail for Cindy-Lee, she would walk over to my house and give it me. There are only about 15 streets and avenues in total in Coutts, so walking all the way across town to deliver a letter is not a problem. Being new town, everyone knows where the new people live.
We have been busy in the studio making pots and making videos. Here are the next two episodes in the saga of Studio Life in Coutts.
Winter has returned. Last week we were out walking in our shirtsleeves and this morning I woke to -18C with a nasty wind. Dang….. I am looking forward to spring. I am hoping for a cloudy start to the day tomorrow and that little smelly groundhog does not see his shadow. Fingers crossed! No more winter.
The video blog is so much easier and quicker than writing a blog. When I write the blog, I will write, and then go back and read, change a few things, and then think about it a bit more and maybe do a rewrite. It can take me long time to get to the point where I hit “Publish”. The video blog is completely off the cuff. After I am done, I often forget what I have said. It is fun, fast and then finished.
Here is Episode 9.
Yesterday we were in Lethbridge selling raffle tickets for a shiny red Corvette. It is a local fund raiser organized by the Milk River Kinsmen Club. Towns that participate get a portion of the money the car raises. Coutts will use their share for community events. We like to do our part.
Today was a beautiful day. The sunrise has moved along the horizon so can see it again from my living-room window. This morning I watched the sun come up on a day that warmed up to fourteen glorious degrees Celsius, or about 60 Fahrenheit. We live in Coutts, as far south in Alberta as you can get ad still be in Alberta. However it is Alberta and it is January, and temps in the teens is wonderful gift. I left the studio early this afternoon so Jim and could go for a walk. A walk without cold, wind, ice, coats, hat or a scarf. Just a lovely walk in the warm sun in our shirtsleeves. It felt good to be out and about.
This morning we shot the next in our blog series, Episode Nine, and how to throw a casserole. Yesterday we shot Episode Eight.
We have been creating videos and them putting up on YouTube for a few years. It is a little odd and uncomfortable to see yourself up there. Over the years I have gained, lost and gained weight, aged and have gotten better at speaking. I have often said that I am much taller, thinner and younger than I am in real life. This next venture or adventure is exciting. Recording my day to day life in the studio will be something that I, if no one else, will find fun to follow. To be able to look back a week, month or in time, years, and see what I was making and how I made it, will be, again, for me at least, interesting. To be able see how much work I do, or don’t do. We will include town people, friends, and anyone else who will let us aim a camera at them and talk. The interview with Sharon the Librarian was only the start.
How does it feel to be shot? I guess the best word I can think of is flattering. I am always sensitive to how I look, not being tall, thin or young, but we get new subscribers daily. People must like what we are doing and what I have to say. We all want to be liked. “They” seem to like the videos. It feels good to be shot.
Here is Episode 7.
Friday afternoon the kids came and we made Garden Gnomes. It’s not quite spring or gardening time, but we will be ready with Gnomes when it is.
They made wonderful gnomes! It was a fun afternoon.
Brook’s train
Brook
Mr. Clay
Abby
Jordan
Kieran
Autumn
Chase
Sample for the students to follow.
It was a good weekend. Winter left with temperatures in the teens and high winds to blow all the snow away. I am glad to see it go. I am sure it will be back, but tomorrow is to be another day of temps in the teens. I will enjoy the warm days while they are here.
Jim posted the first few videos we shot and I have let a few days slip by and I a few videos behind. Here are episodes 5 and 6. Please keep in mind, I am much taller, slimmer and younger than I am in real life.
For more information about the library, here is a link. We have episode 7 waiting in the wings. I will post that soon with pictures of the gnomes the kids made Friday afternoon.
Here is the latest video blog. As you can see I did some trimming yesterday. First order of business will be to clean that up! We did walk a mile this morning just to get the blood flowing.
I’ll add some more about the weekend and today’s activities later when I get home.
