Full Circle

Tonight, I feel both very old and very cool. I watched the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards with my sweet daughter, Julia. They had a big deal about the "world record sliming" that they were going to do at the end of the show. I told Julia that I was watching Nickelodeon back when the show that started the whole sliming thing was on. It was my favorite show; it was called "You Can’t Do That on Television."

I can’t believe I am old enough to be watching TV with my eleven year old daughter; not to mention being old enough to have "back when I was your age..." stories. Somewhere in my brain is a 22 year old, pre-childbearing, partying college girl who is saying "what the heck happened??? When did I start driving a family car??"

Julia sometimes doesn’t want to admit it, but I think that she thinks I’m pretty cool. As long as I don’t try to dance in front of her friends. It’s good to have a kid that likes me. Most kids love their parents; but it’s not as common for kids to like their parents. Julia seems to like me as well as love me, and that is a real blessing. I like her, too!

Pottery Class

Well, I just got home from my Monday night pottery class. I am enjoying it so much, and I’ve actually created some pieces that I think are quite nice. We glazed our fired pieces tonight, and put some more greenware in the kiln. I’m really excited to see how my finished pieces turn out. I’ll take pics of them and post them here for everyone to see.

My first piece was one I made from a pattern the teacher had available to us; it allowed me to get used to working the clay, learn how to attach pieces together, and get the feel of how the clay reacts to different techniques. It is going to be a pretty piece, but I don’t consider it one of my pieces of art, because I don’t feel like I really "created" it.

The rest of my pieces are original works. I got ideas from pottery sites, books, and articles, but I modified everything to such an extent that I truly feel like they are my own. Some are really good (I made a slab teapot tonight that I am really proud of); some are pretty awful (my first thrown bowl is a tragedy to rival Shakespeare). I’ll take the bad with the good, though, for I have found a new love, and her name is clay.