Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Can't Shake It Off

1. We went last night and unloaded the bisque kiln.

Judi, Paul and Crunch came out to keep us company. Crunch kept begging me for treats. I didn't have any to give him (I actually did, but I didn't want to raid my treat stash in front of Judi), but I did find a banana and we shared that. (He actually likes banana.)

Anyway, here's some of what came out of the kiln (bear in mind that this is just the first of many firings for some of this stuff):
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Here's my cool girl. I painted the dress with green underglazes that I've never used before and then dotted with Gerstley borate, which made some of the green go red. (Reduced copper? Hard to say.) Should be interesting to play with that.  She's far from finished; She'll get another coat of underglazes and then go back into the kiln.
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This is my flower brick with a bit of underglazing (using velvet underglazes in turquoise, black, white, red, yellow and orange. This is also its first firing. It will get more underglazes and a coat of glaze on the inside to make it somewhat waterproof, then it will go back into the kiln.
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This crowd of chiquititas also went through the firing, Blondie (at the back) for the first time. The one just in front of her with the shiny red heart on her forehead is probably finished except for maybe a bit of acrylic paint and some wax. I started her months ago, back in July. She's the first to near the finish line.

2. I think I may be getting sick. I've had a bit of sore throat for the last couple of days and have just felt very blah in general.

3. The day is very beautiful, though. Very fall in New Mexico. The sky is perfectly blue and it's warm (70F/21C). I have the door open and Saba and Gray Kitty are napping in the sunbeams. Gray Kitty is snoring. I love when they do that. They're the first cats we've had that snore, I think.

4. For dinner last night we didn't end up having stir fry as neither of us felt very much like cooking. Instead we went out for Indian food at a newish place (that's probably not going to last very long, sadly). We had aloo tikka chaat (sort of a strange dish that consists of a potato patty served with a kind of very chunky, curried, tamarind-y raita on the side) and samosas as appetizers. Then we shared channa masala (chickpeas),  aloo gobi masala (cauliflower and potatoes), rice, and naan. I ordered butter chicken (which I've never had) for myself as well. We ate very well and brought home tons of food besides. I had the leftover butter chicken and a piece of naan for breakfast and sent the rest of the vegetarian dishes with Dave for lunch.

But! Tonight we have to eat some vegetables from our CSA box, so I went ahead and spent part of the afternoon prepping for a stir fry (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery, onion, and marinated tofu). We have no excuse to not cook.

5. I've been watching new episodes of Portlandia, which I find hilarious. There's one episode where a middle-aged couple considers trying drugs for the first time because friends of theirs have done so. They're discussing it and the woman says that she always thought that the window for trying drugs was high school/college and if you missed that window, then you missed it. The man comments that the only time he tried drugs was in high school when he had a pot cookie that turned out to have no pot in it. The woman replies, "So you had a cookie in high school?"

C'mon! That's funny!

6. Saba just woke up, started bathing herself, and realized that Gray Kitty is about five inches from her. He's got the prime sunbeam, so I'm waiting to see if she'll muscle her way into his spot. (She is very much the alpha cat and he's pretty scared of her, even though he outweighs her by about four pounds, a not insignificant amount in a cat.) She's thinking about it and he's positioned himself to run away.

She decided to return to her bath so he relaxed again and now they're both back to napping.

I hope that someday they'll become best friends, but that is a delusional thought on my part. It's been three years since they were first thrown together and at best they sometimes manage an uneasy truce that they can't sustain for too, too long. That's what's going on at the moment, but it won't be long I'm sure before they both turn up with new scratches on their faces from sparring.

7. I'm finished with my third cup of coffee today, one full- and two half-cafs. Can't shake this lethargic feeling!

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