Ups and Downs

As some of you know from reading this blog long term I often get a case of the winter blues. The past couple of weeks has been a fight for me. I've gone from feeling unstoppable to hopeless and back several times. One of the things I like to do at this time of year is count my blessings and I've had to do it several times. Today I was chanting my blessings like a mantra because I had a really rough day.

First item on my list is the dryer. The door won't stay closed. we close it, it spins for a couple minutes then the door pops open. WTF? I duct taped it closed so we could dry the last load. Ro said she would check on the warranty. I THINK it's covered for 5 years. I hope so. January is a bad month for potters to have to repair appliances. August is much better.

Second item is the kiln. I was already cranky about losing two mugs to handle cracking, but was somewhat mollified by the fact that I was about to fire some plates a woman has been waiting for for 2 years. I trimmed them, loaded them and started the kiln. An hour later I come out to find the kiln is too hot by 50 degrees and the display is flashing FAIL. I open it up and see that one of the plates has blown. I grouse and growl a bit but decide it's a damn good thing I made extra plates and that we have 2 kilns. BUT it did kill my mood so I came upstairs and made pizza dough and eventually a pizza and despite feeling crappy I managed to only have 2 slices (another blessing!) When Ro came home we watch some silly Futurama episode and eventually I went back downstairs feeling refreshed again and made these tankards and soup mugs. Slow and steady wins the race right? Tomorrow trimming and handling and making a few more of something, not sure what yet, I'm kind of feeling like bowls might be a good thing and a board full of the round mugs. If there is one thing I always need to make it's round mugs.