Well, I think it's trying to be Spring. I'm not sure about that. Day
after cold day of clouds and rain can keep the perspective in limbo, but
the last time I checked the calendar, it was late April. Someone needs
to bring the date up with the Powers That Be and tell them that the
thermostat is long overdue for a cranking.
We had a
long and very cold winter here in the hinterlands. You come to expect
that when you live in Maine. All the same, it gets old by mid-February.
And when March comes along, people start looking forward to the return
of warmth and light. I think the colder the Winter, the greater the
expectation of Spring's relief.
It doesn't work that
way, though. We forget that April tends to be pretty chilly - and that
it snows at least once in April (we've had that this year, so I think
it's over). Actually, I remember once in my teenage years when I was
mowing the lawn in May and suddenly found myself in the midst of a
snowstorm. It didn't last very long, but you can imagine the emotional
trauma.
The point is, Winter doesn't let go easily
here. We tend to forget that as March turns to April, but as Garrison
Keillor once noted, that April, May or early June blizzard comes along
to teach us all that lesson we have learned so often. Winter leaves when
it's good and ready.
Personally, I think we have
earned a nice long Summer season. I would really like to collect on that
even though experience says it may be warm - even hot on occasion - but
it's not likely to be long. Even as the days grow longer, they seem to
go by faster. Still, I can hope.
Oh yes...pottery. There is news along those lines.
The
water finally got turned on last week and I have been in the pottery
doing some cleanup. There is a lot to do before I can start production
again, but things are pretty much where they are at this time of the
year. It is cold in the building, of course, and that will need to
change. I'm waiting for a couple nice warm days so that I can open the
doors and windows and heat the place up. For now, I'm pretty much
restricted to cleaning and straightening things up. Good enough.
The
tile project continues to move forward slowly. Nothing like this ever
moves quickly and I think that's just fine. I'm in no hurry. But early
indications are that there will be tiles this season. Not bad since I
first thought I'd have tiles in Summer of 2012.
I am
looking forward to working in the glaze lab as well. Goals there include
developing an improved clear glaze (I like the one I have but it's
tricky to use in the raw state), finishing development of the new
Seagull Gray, tweaking both the Evergreen and the Duckshead glazes and
who knows what else?
The Kickstarter project is still
in the works. Like any other creative work, it takes time to do well. I
can't thank my friend Evan Jones at RBY Productions for his help in
producing my "ask" video. I hope the project will be up and running very
soon, but it won't go up until I think it's ready. Please keep an eye
out for it. I need a new studio space that I can use year round. Right
now, I'm focused on producing as many of the premium items as I can so
that they will be ready for delivery when the project starts. That's a
whole lot of mugs! And dinnerware! And vases!
But for now, the cold wind and rain are whipping at my windows. It's dinnertime and I'm hungry. Check back for more news soon!
