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May 1
    There were only a couple showers today, so I was able to mow for the first time this year... In celebration of May Day, I made lemon meringue tarts and brownies... The local flower club dropped off a pansy in the tradition of May Day (they bring them to all the businesses), which got me onto the idea of celebrating May Day. Tra la! It's May! Unfortunately the baking kept me from getting down to the lake to check the latest in spring wildflowers. However I get a trip to Seattle and back tomorrow to get clay, so I hope to see a few flowers and birds en route...

May 3
    It was a good trip to get clay, with a bonus of visiting friends who are having to move, and gave us some blueberry, blackberry, and huckleberry plants (which I planted today).
    Our grocery is celebrating 40 years in Spirit Lake this week, which reminds me that we probably opened up for business in Spirit Lake around this date 30 years ago... At that time we had two toddlers and were adjusting to living and working and selling pots in 3 rooms. That was a lot of the reason I built a sales kiosk out front--not enough room for us and the pots inside... 30 years is (barely) over half of my life... During that time we did go away quite a few winters for seminary and church work, but the pottery business was here every summer, and it represents a family centering place for us...
    It rained another 0.7 inch today again, with more rain (and snow) predicted. Mostly it was drizzle, so I could even wheel-hoe the garden today, to put down the early weeds. If the weeds are coming up, the peas, carrots, lettuce, and spinach can be planted, but they won't do much without some warmer weather (which is currently predicted for next week)...

May 4
    We got another 0.75 inches in a couple hours last night--things are really greening up...
    I assembled the 80 or so pots I threw yesterday, then took the afternoon off to see the Avengers movie with my son... I have mixed feelings about some of the Marvel comics character movies, but I like almost all of Joss Whedon's work, and he directed and wrote the screenplay so it was a treat...
I do get a bit tired of the "saving the world" thing, as always in the Big Apple... Maybe next time it could be a serious threat to Keokuk, Iowa...

May 5
In spite of all the recent rain, I was able to burn a large pile of fresh green branches cut off the elm tree felled a week ago. It felt like the Old Testament story of pouring water on the sticks before they were consumed. It actually worked because I started a hot fire and the branches had a lot of airy space and held up the other branches while they cooked dry enough to burn... All this was preparatory to planting the small garden at the pottery, as the branches were covering most of it.
    I also glazed a kiln load mostly of canisters, and a few mugs which I tried wax resist decorations on, in preparation for a workshop here next weekend...

May 7
    I remember a month or so ago remarking that we didn't need to heat. That was for one or two days--since then we've had a fire every morning until today, when it reached the mid sixties outside. So of course I did a lot of Spring work today like putting on screen windows, cleaning the chimney, and raking and hauling leaves. At the end of the day I'm feeling like I did as a kid trying a new sport or activity--stiff and sore. Unfortunately that feeling doesn't recede as quickly now as it did then...
    In the pottery I glazed a couple kiln loads and fired them... The mugs that I put wax resist on came out, not looking particularly great, but hopefully illustrating some ways to use wax resist...
    The swallows finally got back to Spirit Lake, and a pair is checking out our one birdhouse...

May 9
    Some of my groaning about Spring work probably was related to a plague which has worked through the rest of the family and finally hit me--the upper respiratory crud... Today my voice is gone, which is troublesome since I agreed to do two hours of music at a garden fair this Saturday. It may be mostly instrumental...
    In spite of the illness, I was able to work in the pottery and even dig some in the garden... It was a warm and windy day today, so it was nice to be outside...

May 10
    I managed to get the old pottery garden (10 X 40 feet) turned today, and planted peas this evening... This garden hasn't benefited from manure for several years, so we're planning to plant mostly legumes here, that produce their own nitrogen. But it's supposed to frost tonight, and beans don't like cool weather for germination, so we'll probably hold off on planting more stuff for a while, and work on getting the big gardens ready to plant... A neighbor has peas coming up, and some years we would have planted earlier, but it usually doesn't matter as long as the seeds and plants go in by Memorial Day, since our Springs tend to be cool...

May 11
Regular readers by now are probably aware that I have a lot of days where nothing much happens (except pottery). Then there are days like today. I knew there was a group of CAGNI potters coming at 3 in the afternoon, so I started the day making a tea ring (and loaf of bread). I knew Jonathan and I were scheduled to play music at the Garden show in Spokane, so I made some CD's that we had run out of, on the slight chance someone might buy one... Then I headed into the garden show...
    It was a perfect blue sky day with a high in the mid 70's. When I got there I found that our playing location (one of probably 4 musician locations in the large festival) didn't include electricity, so I left the mics and amp stuff in the car. This was slightly disheartening, since I'm on my 3rd day of laryingitis, but it was okay, since we found a shady spot to play and people mostly don't listen at these events anyway. We had a good time playing for two hours, with a lunch break provided for free by a nearby stir fry booth...
    Then I drove back to the pottery, just in time to greet the first of the 4 potters who came to glaze the 40-50 bowls which had been made last month. We ate some tea ring, had a brief business meeting, and spent a couple hours glazing...
    After supper I planted two long rows of green beans... It was a good full day...

May 15
We've had two days with highs in the 80's, and have been pushing hard to get our garden ready to plant. There are still some large manure piles to be distributed, and it's too hot to work in the afternoons, so I've rearranged my pottery schedule to work in the late morning and afternoons on pottery so the cool of the day is available for gardening...
    The pots are coming out rapidly--four glaze firings in the last two days... I do regret not having time to enjoy the nice weather with a walk to the lake...

Books read and other media of note: (unless otherwise noted, books are free Kindle books)

Force of Nature by C J Box (library hardcover). More a suspense/adventure novel than a mystery, this isn't a book to help you get to sleep at night. I had a bit of trouble suspending disbelief about some of the motivations, or (spoiler alert) how and why the Brueggeman character went from hightailing it to the lair to totally blindsiding Joe Pickett, but it still was an exciting bit of fiction.

Movie: The Avengers (2012) A tour-de-force for Joss Whedon, great fun for us fans! Takes itself seriously enough, but not too seriously...

Sondahl blog index

January 2012	February 2012	March 2012	April 2012
January 2011	February 2011	March 2011	April 2011	May 2011	June 2011	July 2011	August 2011	September 2011	October 2011	November 2011	Deember 2011
January 2010	February 2010	March 2010	April 2010	May 2010	June 2010	July 2010	August 2010	September 2010	October 2010	November 2010	December 2010
January 2009	Febr. 2009	March 2009	April 2009	May 2009	June 2009	July 2009	August 2009	Sept. 2009	October 2009	November 2009	December 2009
Jan. 2008	Febr. 2008	March 2008	April 2008	May 2008	June 2008	July 2008	August 2008	September 2008	October 2008	November 2008	December 2008
J an. 2007	Febr. 2007	March 2007	April 2007	May 2007	June 2007	July 2007	August 2007	Sept. 2007	Oct. 2007	Nov. 2007	Dec. 2007
January 2006	February 2006	March 2006	April 2006	May 2006	June 2006	July 2006	August 2006	Sept. 2006	Oct. 2006	Nov. 2006	Dec. 2006
			April 2005	May 2005	June 2005	July 2005	August 2005	September 2005	October 2005	November 2005	December 2005

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