A fresh new week

We slept in today. I slept in longer than Ro did. It was a delight, but I was sad to find out when I awoke that Ro was not feeling any better. Apparently some kind of winter germ got her. I tried to make it as nice as possible..I kept a fairly roaring fire going most of the day, but sick is sick and no matter how nice it is around you, you're still sick.

So I finally got back into the studio this evening and the best part was I had company! Morgan decided he'd better make some work and came down and threw a board full of his swirly wibbley cups. I decided to throw big..I was initially going to make vases, and threw one bottom vase, but eventually decided to go for big flat bottom bowls...about 15" across. They're made from 12.5 lbs of clay each..I made 7 tonight. Tomorrow I'll trim and I think I might add strap handles to the sides to help with the moving of the oversized monsters when serving in them.

Holiday Sale

It's Sunday Morning, day 2 of the Holiday sale. Despite being open at 9AM we typically don't see any visitors until 11 or 12, which is a little disappointing, but ultimately OK. I had a lovely day yesterday visiting with friends and customers. I spent some good chat time with Brendan and with Jennifer Dowlin-Kelly, Emily Schmalstieg and her husband William. Emily was the real estate agent that sold me the house, and for my generation in State Collage Area School District, she was also a music teacher for many of us. She's a very nice lady. She's come to nearly every event we've had here and called to let us know if she couldn't make it for any reason. Also stopping by was Dana from Dragonfly Spa..the lady with pokey little fingers that hurt and help me once a month. I'm so glad for Dana..between her and Dr. Casteel the Chiropractor, I am kept mostly functional.

In review, yesterday was a little slow for us, about 1/2 of what we did the previous year. It's hard not to worry about it, but I know there are many reasons why it could be slow like this. The winter craft market, a PA Guild of Craftsmen show was this weekend, there was a heavily advertised show at the Historical Society. We're having our sale a week earlier..and of course we're having two weekends..so our mailing list folk and the people who saw the fliers might not have any sense of urgency to be here. So long as it all balances out over a couple weekends we'll be OK.

We sent out about 80 postcards and posted fliers downtown, distributed extra postcards to business associates..such as the dental office and even took out 3 ads in the newspaper. One in each Weekender, a publication by the local paper that highlights activities and things to do for entertainment. Almost everyone has sited seeing the ad, even those who initially heard about it elsewhere. I'm glad of that. Weekend 2 will have a lot more of our advertising focus. We'll have the Weekender ad again next week, and we'll also be in a Holiday Gift Guide that will come out next Friday.

So we'll see how it all turns out.

As of tomorrow I plan on being back in the studio producing more for our next bunch of Renaissance Faires that will start in January in sunny warm Florida. Actually the first couple are often a bit chilly...down in the 40's at night sometimes. BRRRR. I'm so grateful for Elliot and her School bus and RV. I loved going on the Florida trips, but I am loving being able to stay home and tend to pottery making better.

and one more thing!

I forgot this shelf...and I shouldn't have, it's loaded!