kareid

I've been taking pottery classes for a couple months now, and I'm just starting to get a few pieces that I really like. I'm particularly fond of this creamer. The glaze on it isn't as high gloss as most others, and I like how the speckled effect came out, you can't see all of that in the photo though. This mug is pretty nice too. I'm using it as my tea mug at work now.

I've been completely redesigning the sun bed (a flower bed about 20x8ft in size) so I'm digging up and moving almost every plant in it. Many of them are perennials that are getting split (bearded irises, some-other-iris, evening primroses). Some just need slight movement (lupins, poppies, yarrow, lamb's ear, tulips, daylilies). Either is a lot of work. The butterfly bush, viburnum, peonies and rose get to stay where they are. It looks kind of like this right now.

My other yard project is making a bench, for this spot. One of the hard things is that the bench should rest against that raised bed, and the planks there are 3 ft long, while almost all benches are 4 or 5 ft long. I've found one online which came as a kit and may require some work because the reviews on quality/easy of assembly were mixed. It's cedar, which should age outside okay, but I may want to seal it with something anyway. I'm still thinking about that.

frolain and I are headed out this afternoon to the west coast. We're flying into Portland, spending the weekend there, then taking the train up to Vancouver BC (via Seattle). We'll be there a few days, then take a ferry to Victoria, stay there a few days, and ferry back to Seattle, and fly back from there. Total trip is about 10 days. I hadn't realized how very very much I need the vacation until it really hit me last night that I didn't have to go in to the office again for almost two weeks, and I felt so much better.