I am not a happy camper. The first ever bear hunt since we’ve lived here started on Monday. I am not in agreement with this at all, and probably feel as adamantly about this as I do about the abortion issue, only in reverse. I am pro-abortion and anti-bear hunt. I would gladly hold up signs and protest! Just tell me where and when.

I watched the nightly news in horror as some little boy about the age of seven or eight was filmed grinning ear to ear about how he shot this huge female bear. His father was equally thrilled. Great. Some other old bird of a man with a honker of a nose was quoted as “I see four of five of these suckers a day, so why not?” Hey, how about you? How would you like to be turned into a very ugly human rug or have that gross head of yours mounted on the wall of a bear’s den? Yeah, you go old man.

Most hunters were quoted as saying that the bears just came into view and they shot them. Dead. Cold. In the back. Hello. What kind of sport is that? You all make me sick. sick. sick.

I am disgusted with the state of New Jersey on this issue.

700 bear licenses were issued and sold out almost immediately. I don’t get it. Most of these hunters are out for trophies. Who eats bear meat? Why kill them? They have never harmed me or anything around me. They are docile creatures by nature.

Hunters, I hope it all comes back to you at some point.  I say have a season on you and see how well you fare. What goes ‘round, comes ‘round.

Addendum:
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Call the Governor of New Jersey and tell them you don’t agree with the hunt. Follow this link for more information on how you can help and the phone number to call. I called! Let’s overwhelm them with phone calls and hopefully this won’t happen again next year!

Where the piece fell out after the first firing and I just left it because it really looked like a shell to me.

You can see that the pieces I glued back in on what became the front of the bowl popped out slightly in the glazing firing. No matter, it just adds a more three-dimensional effect that I find not unpleasing. All in all I am extremely happy with how it came out. The little mistakes in firing actually made the piece more interesting.

The best compliment I could receive came from my husband. He said that if he saw it in a gallery or show he would be drawn to it and would probably buy it! Now, what better compliment could you ask for?

You can follow this link to see what it looked like before the final firing.

Sploppy. I like the sound of that word I just made up to describe how the ground felt yesterday when it was done raining on us. Maybe you know what I’m talking about here. You put your foot down on what you think is terra firma but it sinks into standing water first with a plopping kind of sound. Water splashes everywhere. Splop!

This was the scene around my house yesterday. It rained. It poured. The wind howled around the house and shook it. The trees waved their branches frantically to and fro trying to go with the gusts, and thankfully all my trees stayed standing although we have quite a few branches and a few largish limbs littering the ground. It was downright nasty out there!

On Rick’s way to work a tree branch fell right in front of the car out of nowhere and he had no choice but to drive right on over it. Better that than landing on top of the car! Another man and his wife were not so lucky yesterday here in our little town. A tree came down on their car as they were driving on a road I was just on the day before. He did not survive and his wife is in critical condition. The helicopter that was called in to airlift her to the hospital remained grounded due to the violent weather.

Trees are a funny thing here in the East. I don’t know if it’s because they have a shallow root system due to growing in solid rock or what, but they are forever tumbling over in wind and soaking rains. They are something to be looked out for. They have a life all their own! It’s creepy. I stay out of wooded areas when the wind blows.

Power lines were downed, trains weren’t running, the airport had four hour delays, and the list goes on and on. A day for staying at home for sure!

We had 2.33 inches of rain in about an eight hour period. My driveway was a river! The poor birds were grounded. When we had a lull in the deluge they would show up at the suet feeder with their feathers all sticking out and soaking wet looking completely miserable. I felt badly for them. If it had been snow it would surely have been a blizzard.

And speaking of snow, we’ve not had any yet. Over the weekend we saw a few flurries but that’s been it. Nothing in the forecast either. Yet. Johnny won’t have his snowblower gear on for another week or so and I’ll be happy if it holds off until then.

And Christmas. Yikes. No decorating happening around here yet. Maybe this weekend. Somehow it doesn’t seem like it’s time for all that yet. Why oh why can’t they insert another month in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Can we move Thanksgiving to October? Please?

I will leave you with a sneak peek at my completed pottery project, the hand-built bowl. I picked it up on Tuesday and it came out gorgeous if I do say so myself! Follow-up blog with more pics coming tomorrow!

Reading over this post before I hit the “submit” button I realized that I was all over the place. One of those posts where when I sat down I didn’t know what I was going to say so you got whatever came into my early morning brain!

Last weekend we took the dogs down to Green Turtle pond. Our path took us through the woods. The dogs love being off lead.

They’ve been trained to not stray too far from us by handing out treats when they return to us every once in a while. Here are Hailey and Alex doing just that.

This leaf has obviously been stuck on this tree’s trunk for quite some time as the fungus has grown over it and imprisoned it.

A few more fungi along the forest path.

Of course the walk is fun, but the real reason to walk all the way down to the pond of course, is the water. It’s a race!

And one dog is out in front! Can you guess which one?

Aaahhhh ... water, Bella says!

The other dogs are content to just have a good long drink of the cool water at the pond’s edge but not Bella. She has to go wading at least three or four times, sticking her head under the water to take big gulps.

And just one more splash in a mud puddle before leaving the pond. Gosh this is fun!

And what fun is a walk if you can’t collect leaves in your tail and skirts?

Come on mom and dad,  hurry up ... I’m waiting!

Every time I take this walk I never fail to be captivated by the captive branches.

This braided one I am going to use as inspiration for a pottery piece.

All in all it’s about a mile and a half down to the pond and we all love the ability to walk right out our front door, down our street and into the woods. Lucky dogs; lucky us!

I have to say I was not totally happy with the unlovely apple. The glazes did not blend like I had thought they would and I needed to touch up the edges with acrylic paint where colors collided. I glazed it in a hurry because we didn’t have much time to complete two projects in one session. (More griping about that a little further on.) So, the apple is what it is. Bless Rick’s heart: he said he would take it to work and put it on his desk. All I could think of was his gesture was that of a proud parent of what his child had done in art class! It’s sweet though. I think I’ll let him take it out of my sight!

I finished the third and final coat of glaze on the pot I showed you last week. Hopefully I can pick that up next week. I am anxious to see what the glaze looks like after firing. Another unlovely object? We shall see. I have hopes for that one.

We worked on the third project again (finally) of the extruded pots. The clay was still moist but not pliable enough to do the impression that I had wanted to do. So my original idea was not going to work. Last week at Michael’s I bought myself some more or less “real” clay instead of Play-Doh and an impression wheel with four interchangeable discs. I decided to use one of the discs since my first idea was out. I also wanted to still incorporate the “button” but it wasn’t working. We finally put our heads together and Kathy gathered some plant matter from her yard to impress the button with since I had chosen a leafy design.

A close-up of the “button.”

The back.

I’m still not quite sure if the addition of the button is really me, but since everyone else approved I kept it on. The next time I see the piece it will have been fired (in 2 weeks maybe?) and ready for glazing.

Now here comes the griping part. I signed up for and paid for 4 lessons, which technically ended this week. We started three projects and finished two of those. When I asked this week what happens next since we didn’t finish our projects, Kathy told me that I would now have to pay another $35 to glaze my pot the next time I come. Huh? To me this just doesn’t seem right somehow. She started us on these projects and in my head she should let us finish them out without charging more. I’m kind of disgusted about it. Am I wrong to feel this way?

I was going to continue taking classes from her for another round of classes, but now I am thinking not. She is not really a very good teacher. True, she introduced me to and showed me several different and interesting styles of pottery, but she was not helpful at all in the glazing aspect of things. I had lots of questions that she simply did not, or could not, answer. I need a teacher. Someone who is going to tell me what is going to work or not work. Being a beginner and not having someone give you some kind of direction is daunting and doesn’t lead to a good outcome of the final product.

I am going back to finish what I started and pay out more bucks, but I am going to be looking for a different style of learning after the holidays.

By the way, I am thinking of some kind of greenish glaze for the above yet unfinished project. Either that or an earthy brown.

I’ll keep you posted how it all turns out.