Fabulous Friday

A great afternoon with the creative grade eights and then to come home and find this treasure awaiting me....

I am a 'slow unwrapper', in that I like to hold the present for a while, then slowly unwrap it to see what wonderful gift awaits me...(yes, at Christmas, I       taaaa- kkkk --e    my       time ;)).

so first, the big package and then the inside wrapping....

Then...  this beautiful mug and pendant...from Meredith Heywood at Whynot Pottery, North Carolina...THANK YOU SO MUCH, Meredith!

Meredith hosted a generosity chain 'event' last Fall, drew names from her blog comments and I was one of the super lucky winners.  Now it is my turn to do the same.  Meredith drew the names on December 22, her birthday, so I think I will carry the birthday date idea and do the same on my birthday of April 22.  I know it is almost two months away, but...I want to include my pottery friends here who are not bloggers as well as the commentators on this blog and I want to encourage more artists to start their own sites..  So, from now to April 22, I will keep a list of the people who comment on this site and the artists that I meet/visit with in person and put 'you' all in a hat on my birthday and draw three names.  Those people will each receive a gift from me.  So please make your comments...all welcome.

So then, you ask...WHAT is this mess on my counter?? Well...we potters like to prepared, right??
This little collection is drying bits of organic matter that I will use in the next barrel firing..:)  We were not able to do a firing last weekend, Family Day, as it was to flippin cold, and, the fact that, yes, I was not prepared...do not have any pieces ready for that barrel!..anyways, I have been collecting 'stuff' for when we can have a firing..so besides orange peelings, onion skins, banana peelings and greenery, the mish mash on the plate is the herbal bath aromatherapy cold infusion that I enjoyed last evening..(yes, another head cold!!what the heck!)..I realized that it contains bath salts  that could lead to some exciting colours on  pots..:).. so,just getting ready..you should see the tray of dried coffee grounds I have in the garage!! hahah..

and maybe we will get another lovely piece like this one when all of this organic matter is wrapped and laid around the pots..will keep you posted...

Now..a cup of herbal tea in my beautiful new mug which will help ease this crazy head cold...Thanks again, Meredith..   Bon nuit.