back in the groove.....

I spent the last few days with my family and girlfriend down in the Cape Fear River area, and am trying to get back in the work groove today. While at my sister's we roasted vegetables and served them in one of my oval bowls, an item I keep forgetting to add to my "to make list," until today anyway. Using one at Brenda's and Bobby's spurred me to make more today, along with some teabowls, an item I need in every kiln load.

I had a great weekend, starting with supper Friday night at Le Catalan with Tina. Le Catalan is on the river, has outdoor seating on the boardwalk and is owned by an oenologist named Pierre. Tina had a gratin with shrimp and orzo, and I had an artisanal sausage and zucchini gratin. We were allowed to sample different wines before we chose one to go with supper, and eventually picked a Catalonian syrah/merlot blend. Everything was delicious, including the chocolate mousse and fresh peach sorbet we had for dessert. If you're ever in the Wilmington area, give it a try!

Sunday afternoon was spent with my parents down on the Northeast Cape Fear River. That's Tina on the deck, and Bobby, me and dad prior to lunch below.

In addition to making a few pots today I dug up my potatoes, pulled out the remaining lettuces (too bitter!) and spent a little time cleaning up the raised beds in my behind-the-kiln-shed-garden.

The Romas appeared in my absence.

The peppers have a ways to go before they turn red.

The basil is already two feet tall, which means it will soon be time to make pesto for next winter.
In other news.....
Our State Magazine has a great feature article on Seagrove and StarWorks in their July issue. The Seagrove article was mostly a pictorial, and included locals -- Jill at the Dairy Breeze and Tommy at Seagrove Hardware.

the summer of.....

.....grilled vegetables. With all the rain we've had, and now the sun and heat, it looks like this will be a pretty good year for garden vegetables. My basil is almost two feet tall, potatoes are almost ready to be dug up, and the squash, zucchini and eggplant are coming along too. A lot of my seeds didn't sprout, not sure why, but I'm pretty happy with what will be gleaned from my behind-the-kiln-shed-garden. I've grilled vegetables several times this summer, utilizing a perforated pizza pan, and marinating the sliced onions, zucchini, squash, etc. in the following balsamic vinaigrette.
1 1/3 cups olive oil
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 - 2 cloves crushed garlic
1 1/2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Throw it all in a blender to combine, and add a little water to thin it out. It makes a great salad dressing as well as marinade for vegetables and chicken.

Over the last few years I've made very few vases, concentrating pretty much on pots for food prep, serving and dining. With my kiln design I always need some taller pots on the top shelves, so this week I made a few vases. They were decorated the next day with my Pollock inspired slip-trailing and my ubiquitous dragonflies.

Intoxicating
The smell of Parmesano
Wafting from the pie

we're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.....

I've accomplished quite a bit of yard work since last week. My lawnmower broke last Thursday, was repaired and returned Friday morning, and I've managed to clean up my yard, the entrance to our property and my garden since then. Yep, it's been hot too, in the 90's. I worked for a while, then chilled in the AC for a while, then worked and chilled, etc. until everything I needed to do was accomplished. I'm thinking about buying a sprinkler, hooking it up to the 58 degree well water, putting on my baggies, and running through the spray like we used to when we were kids :-)

Saturday night, still home alone, and I had to eat this whole pie by myself. Gosh, I could eat pizza again tonight.

busy week.....

It's been a busy week around the Gray abode, especially considering I'm home alone. I've visited with old friends I haven't seen in a while and relatives I haven't seen in about 20 years. I've made some slab pots and waited on some of my favorite customers, a group of ladies that wandered in here seven summers ago and have returned every summer since. I hope to spend part of today working in the yard and garden, both of which are in dire need of attention due to all the rain we've had, and work on the slab pots I made yesterday afternoon. I've already eaten pizza once this week (Wednesday night) and may eat it again :-) It's hard to resist all that fresh basil in my behind-the-kiln-shed-garden, and topping pizza with it is my favorite way to use it. I have been graced with two sipping cups this week too; the first I wrote about in my last post, and the one on the left in the image below from my friend David Stuempfle. Although both were fired in wood kilns for close to a week that is where their similarities end, as they reflect the different aesthetics of their makers. I'm reminded of that old Rod Stewart song "Every Picture Tells a Story," in that every handmade pot has a story to tell too. All for now. Time to attack the yard!

catchin' up.....

We had a blast doing a trunk show in Winston-Salem last weekend. Met some interesting people, ate some good food, and sold some pots.

Discovered today why the bantams hens have all but disappeared the last few weeks. One of them brought home nine chicks today. Whoa. Little mama is now in attack mode. "Protective" is an understatement! Impossible to take anything but a blurry photo.

Tonight's supper was spaghetti with basil pesto, roasted Romas and bacon, a salad made with lettuces from my garden, and a Beaujolais in one of Jeff Brown's sipping cups. Jeff dropped by yesterday -- first time I've seen him in about eight or nine years. He is still one of the best potters I've ever known.

Saturday.....

These are the first blooms of the summer on one of the Persian Silk Trees in our front yard. Pretty soon the trees will be covered in blooms, and attended by bees, butterfly's and hummingbirds. For years I thought they were Mimosas, as that was all I had ever heard them called, but discovered their true identity today. Gotta love Wikipedia.

What would Saturday night at the Gray abode be w/o pizza? I might be in a rut, but it's a tasty rut :-) Tonight's pie was topped with ham and cheese, roasted Romas, sliced Vidalias, drizzled balsamic vinaigrette, and chiffonades of the first basil of the year from our behind-the-kiln-shed-garden.
Roux, guarding the kiln. I swiped this image from Tina's FaceBook page.

what a mess.....

The garden is just a small microcosm of what our whole property looks like right now.....a mess. With all the rain over the last few weeks (every drop of which I'm grateful for) I haven't been able to mow the grass, weedeat or clean up in and around my raised beds. The forecasters are calling for another few days of rain as well. Today, inbetween squalls, I ran out and planted some Roma, tomatillo, crook neck squash and zucchini plants I picked up yesterday. The only seeds I attempted to start early, that sprouted, were my basil seeds. I have a couple of cantaloupes sprouting now too, but I'm not sure whether they're Athena's or heirloom's. Well, that's it for the Tom and Slate Gray farm report for today :-)

aliens in my garden.....

This whole gardening thing never ceases to amaze me. Build some beds, plant some seeds, water it when it needs it, pray for rain so you won't have to, add compost on occasion, and sooner or later something to eat starts coming up from the ground. Astounding. Every now and then an alien appears -- other's might call them "volunteers" -- a plant that came up from last year, or maybe a stray seed. I have one such entity in my potato row right now. Not quite sure what it is yet, but think it will define itself in another week or two.

I bought a few sweet pepper seedlings from the local hardware store this year. Most of my seedlings didn't make it :-( Farther down this same bed are a few basil plants, and at the end I'm still hoping to see a cantaloupe seedling appear within the next few days.

Just like every other potter/gardener around here, my lettuces are still going crazy. I took all my different seeds, mixed them up in my palm, scattered a whole row, then raked over them. It worked pretty well for me, and the lettuce have a silky texture unlike anything that comes from the stores.

I picked up some eggplant seedlings from the hardware store too, and am looking forward to some grilled eggplant next month. I have a great marinade for just such an occasion, a balsamic vinaigrette.

more pots from latest firing.....

This XL bowl was one of my favorite pots from the firing ($85).

Spoon jar/wine chiller ($36), luncheon plate ($25), shallow pasta bowl ($25), tea bowl/stemless wine cup ($15), and deep chili bowl ($25).

Tina's favorite bowl from the firing ($85).

Three olive oil cruets ($32/ea.) and a rectangular and square tray ($15/ea).

XL platter ($85).
Fish tray ($75).

communion ware.....

For some reason my mail program is not allowing me to attach images right now, so these are for those folks that have ordered communion ware, or might be interested in the same. I hope to upload other images from my latest firing later today or tomorrow.

And, 'lest I be remiss, here are some images from this past Saturday night's supper. Unfortunately the pics of Tina, Slate and Jeff pigging out turned out poorly.

One pie was topped with horseradish sauce, deli ham, mozz and cheddar, and onions. Another was topped with fresh and roasted Romas, onions, basil pesto, fresh mushrooms, and mozz and parmesano-reggiano. The last was topped with a light layer of mozz, crushed walnuts, sliced pears and gorgonzola. Three pies between four people, and only one slice leftover.

new pots and other stuff.....

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday glazing pots and Thursday loading the kiln. Not all of these made it in, but almost all. I usually wish my kiln were smaller, allowing for faster turnarounds, but as I loaded yesterday I was wishing I could stack another couple of layers. I'm firing as I write this, and hopefully will finish up around supper time. Tina and I will be unloading some time after lunch tomorrow. Weather and energy levels taken into consideration, we may work in the Seagrove Community Garden tomorrow morning too. We have yet to even finish building the bed we are responsible for, much less getting anything planted in it. I'll take the blame -- I've been pretty slack. I have a one day trunk show scheduled in the Winston-Salem area on Saturday, June 13. If any of you would like an invitation, please drop me a line at tgraypots at yahoo dot com. Pics from this firing coming early next week.