My First Mugs!

These are my first mugs!
Five of them have handles that I pulled from the mug (an odd process)....the others have handles that I pulled separately (still odd , but at least you don't have to lick anything) and then attached.
I made several different shapes because I don't really like mugs and I wanted to try and find the perfect one.....
for me.....
I'm liking this.

Wild Turkeys and The Man From Minnesota

There are times when I wish I could be a passenger (with a camera) in my life.
Today , well the past several days...(years)...have been like that.  Today....no, let me start with last Friday.....
Last Friday I drove up to my house after school and the front door was OPEN!  My big dog Rufus wouldn't go near the house....I was worried....but I'm old and what the heck, I went in.....guess what?  Turkey feathers and turkey poop...everywhere!  Yes, city friends, wild turkeys had pecked their way into my house, had their way with it..... and left.  No toads though.
Today.
Today I came across a herd (when they're on the road they're a herd...in the air, a flock...thus sayeth the Jenny) of wild turkeys in the middle of the road right before I got to Miss Minnie's house ( a story for another day...did you know the opposite of many is dewy?).
Were they worried? NO!
Did they move? NO!
Was I late for school? YES!
Eventually they wandered off the road, stepping high and looking at me sideways.....I went around them, drove a bit further and what to my wondering eyes should appear???  
The man from Minnesota.
At first I thought I was dreaming because he was high stepping like the turkeys...he was wearing a red plaid cap with ear flaps and puffy ski pants.  He was in the middle of the road.  But wait, there's more.... he had on SNOWSHOES!  AND, he had a ski pole in either hand. I stopped, he looked at me sideways (just like the turkeys had earlier).  He was mid stride...I waited a moment while he stood there all frozen like and then I just scooted around him....it was surreal.....I was late for school.
I did, however, throw some beautiful mugs and pull some pretty amazing handles which really made me wonder if I was dreaming....I'll know tomorrow.

Bowls Are Easier

I am the image of the week at school!  I was having a bad centering day (notice the wonky cups in the background) and a woman came and snapped a bunch of pictures of me.... right up close and personal...it was very unnerving.
Centering seems to go better at times...although I have no idea why some days are better than others.
I made the tall cups in the picture below (they're white) and now my first bowls!  Bowls are easier than cylinders....

The Skeksis, Still off Center and Some Random Oddness

I know this is a poor quality picture...... it's hard to take a picture while doing the creepy-all-over-dance.
Behold the Skeksis (wild turkey)...a truly ugly creature.. and alarmingly large.  This one is probably 3 feet tall.  I saw it from the corner of my eye.... outside my bedroom window.  (I was having a lie down after another depressing day of not centering clay and yet another sleepless night wondering what I've gotten myself into.  Surely this will get better...I'll keep showing up and ruining 25 to 50 pounds of clay a day and eventually my muse will realize I'm serious and throw me a bone...I'm counting on this.)  Anyway, this turkey was on the deck looking in the window at me..............Rufus just slept.

Yesterday, while I was out at the chigger bench talking to my daughter, I saw something in the woods.  Normally I don't venture past the patio but this was odd....it was orange...it was large enough for me to notice....so I abruptly (as is my way) ended our conversation and ventured out past the safety of the concrete into The Woods!  Here is a photo of what I found....coral!
Who knew?

I also found a lime and a potato......

A Falling Squirrel and Sleeping With the Splat Swatter

I was driving down my road yesterday when a squirrel fell from the heavens and landed SMACK on my windshield, slid down the hood and went under the car.....I was, to say the least, surprised.  Before I really had time to react, he ran out from under the car and ran the rest of the way down the road right in front of me.  Odd...first the wild turkeys and now a squirrel...they don't seem to realize they could save us all heart problems and just scamper off into the woods.
Last night was one of those I-can't-turn-my-brain-off-and-sleep kind of nights.  So I turned on my light and read for a while. (Note to self....Dear Jenny, never be near the only light in the house at night...you will be attacked.)
A big (really big) green bug with bulgy eyes and long grasshopper-like legs landed on my head.  There was some screaming and a St Vitus type dance. I ended up at the foot of the bed....the creature landed on the head board and just sat there.  I must say there was a creepy sort of cuteness to it...I tried to catch it in the alarm clock bowl (it's a zen clock with a singing bowl) but I couldn't remember where I'd left my glasses so I missed......it hopped and flew and skittered around and landed on my pillow.  I ran down the stairs (something I promised myself I would never do because, well, I'm a bit accident prone) and got the bug swatter that I bought on a whim from K-Mart because it's in the shape of a big SPLAT, and ran (I know) back up the stairs and smacked it good.
I'm sure if I had run across this big green bug outside I would have thought it was cute ...perhaps taken it's picture and gone on with my day...but seriously....in my bed?
Now when I go to bed I'll keep the splat swatter next to me just in case.
FYI...my big dog Rufus watched the entire disaster from the comfort of his bed.

Off Center and Mystery Poop by The Door

I went to school yesterday to practice throwing taller cylinders. It did not go well.
I am now the proud creator of a 25 pound bag of soggy, twisted globs of clay....I couldn't center anything.  Possibly the distraction of the security guard who came in with his drug dog and told me sad stories about the loss of his sweet wife in a Germany kind of English...or the other potter who came in after an unfortunate shea butter run in ( I really can't stand the smell of shea butter...I know it's good for all kinds of things...but yuck, gag, blah )...or maybe the weather...maybe just an off center day....maybe I should be taking a computer course instead....maybe I'll always suck at the wheel.... I don't know....I cleaned up and drove home.
When I left for school I had gone out the kitchen door...when I came home I went in the front door and that's when I saw it. The PBTD ( poop by the door).
(Now...here's the thing....I took a picture of the poop by the door but then I thought perhaps no one really wants to look at a photo of poop....I'm not going to post it.....yet.)
The PBTD  is not a new happening.  It started when I first moved in...every morning there was a poop right up against the front door.  I mentioned the PBTD to my mom who took me to her house to look it up in her scat book.
Segue....who has a scat book laying around?  Why is it called scat?  Who drew all these pictures?  I can only imagine the smell of that artist's studio.....
According to the scat book it looked to me to be sidewinder rattlesnake poop.  My parents just stared at me.  Apparently not.  My mom thinks it's a frog...a really big frog.  Perhaps I don't really want to know.
I just want it to stay outside....