Starting this up again...

Well, there have been many, well justified, smacks about the head and ears to start this up again. Most notably from my dearest friend Penny, and so it is my intention to keep up fairly regular postings... really it is!

Just back from the NCECA conference, (National Clay Educators get together every year), in Philadelphia... I arrived there with a bit of a snorffle and by the time I got home I was full-on coughing, sneezing sick. Who cares? I didn't want to miss anything and so I just filled up on all of the great herbs and vitamins that I could, stayed away from recreational beverages and ate as 'raw' as possible.

The Conference was emmense! There were over 90 galleries outside of the conference that had shows 'officially' and just about everything in the city had something 'clayish' going on unofficially. For those of us in the business, it was a marathon including speakers that had to be heard, symposia that had to be attended, panels to participate in, and then shows to look at... I am pretty sure that I logged about 35 miles of walking in the 4 full days that I was there...

Aside from phenomenally 'geeky' conversations about reduction and quartz crystal formations and rotatations, I did manage to negotiate the construction of another kiln that I've needed for about three years... It will be built in Georgia and they will do all of the groovy special wiring so that I don't have too! (That is a big Hooray! in my world right now)

The other treat for me was running into to people that I've known for years and meeting people that I've only corresponded with online... I was actually approached by a fellow ceramicist who I've only known through FaceBook- She teaches at a University in San Palo, Brazil!!- thank goodness she was paying attention to the little photos next to each posting...

I'm not going back through my notes right now, but I'm pretty sure that I looked at somewhere around 40 shows... I will not bore you with the details but I thought I'd share some of the interesting things that people were doing:

and so much more that Blogspot does not want me to show you... It will just have to be more later! (did I mention I was sick?) Signing off, blessings abound!