OPEN FORUM and Ithaca Fest and ME

Corner of Cayuga and State Ithaca, NY, Lost Dog Lounge and ChaNticleer Bar and ME IN BOOTH 13 for Ithaca Festival.
OK, this makes it easy for all of you to find me Friday and Saturday afternoons. Fill your wallet with cash and come shopping and pray for nice weather. I DID just find 7 four-leaf clovers while walking the dog, so perhaps that bodes well.

THE REST OF YOU: Let's have a gabfest. I don't know when I can post between now and Sunday. The most comments a single post has ever rec'd is about 21 or so, so go bananas. Write what you want, discuss stuff, bonus for TIKI and PIGGY comments and links, and as always, keep it family friendly so my mom and dad aren't offended. Or anybody else. Like a tennis ball, I am asking Greg, Gord, CM to get the ball rolling....

cute picture of Mrs Potsblog and Penny

the tiki underground

(mugs by Gary Rith)
CM sends us this link about tiki mugs. Tiki: not just for breakfast anymore!

Ithaca Festival and ME

So, folks in the northeastern US and Southeastern Canada should come to Ithaca for the long weekend. During Ithaca Fest the city let's its freak flag fly, a little more than usual, and I shall be in booth 13 selling pots, Friday and Saturday, between Lost Dog Bar and The Chanticleer Bar.

More from MEW

Is this EMO or what? Mew and 'Am I wry' for tunes o' the day.

Miss Piggy Gets tough

CM sends this link, for all of us Muppets fans....

grumble

...well, the car will soon be fixed, the wallet will soon be empty...

Pink Martini

The occasional squeak of brakes and the ever growing roar of the exhaust system has become a constant loud scrape of the brakes and a roaring muffler. Scary, oh yes! I do not want to find myself going off a cliff, brake less, exploring gravity, therefore the subaru goes to the shop today along with my wallet. Although I could hope for stellar sales this weekend at Ithaca fest to pay for this, the weather report is not very good. But luckily I will be in my booth outside two very popular bars, so maybe some drunks will do some shopping.
Pink Martini, 'Hey Eugene' for tunes o' the day.

circus?

(clown and elephant pots by Gary Rith)

opposite of a tea break

I tend to drink my tea while working, so just a minute ago I finished my tea and so here I am. I have been a little too busy lately, and have been making some mistakes. My mantra is, of course 'keep it together, keep it together...'

Some of my flowers are looking rather festive, don't you think?

Spirit and Kitsch Mug Project

Nothing sells in a store like something with the store logo on it. I am planning mugs for the Spirit and Kitsch Art Garage Coop, to which I belong. Store name on one side, raven on the other.

The Hedgehog Mafia

(hedgehog bowl by Gary Rith)
As mentioned before, people are into strange things. So, you put up some hedgehog stuff, and people start appearing out of the woodwork, wanting more hedgehog stuff. Who knew?

Penny and Buster check in

Wikipedia tells us
"it has been suggested that the word (beagle) derives from the French begueule (meaning "open throat", or more colloquially, "loudmouth")... Other possibilities include the French beugler (meaning "to bellow") and the German begele (meaning "to scold")."
Yes, as our neighbors heard early on Sunday, very early, our new dog is a beagle, and YES, she is a loud mouth.

ppphhhllllbbbbttt bllooger!

Ha, take that! I think we got it, man, I missed a lot of comments. Guess I should actually LOOK at the blog from time too time too, huh?

dozens of COMMENTS!

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Hey, I just noticed all these comments! The automatic thingy that sends them to me is malfunctioning, and people have been commenting all over. Oh man, what to do?
Well, thanks Lucia, Lou, Gordo, CM, Greg, MOI, Kate and Jim, Mona etc: but I am just catching up.
Um, sorry, no pics of the potato salad available, and found three more four-leaf clovers walking this morning, bringing the total in the last five-six years to 301 found. Gordo, 10 is somebody's four-leaf clover record? At 28 I think I deserve a prize...

2 wheels

First things first: Rollins Band live for tunes o' the day. A somewhat noisy song, with plenty of angry overtones.
Secondly, everybody seems to be on vacation. Is today the day people get back to work? We have been most busy here, although far too few pots have been made. Yesterday seemed to be all about finding bike parts for the missus' bike, taking the bike apart and putting it together again, and lastly, taking her bike and mine for a spin. Perfect memorial day activities with matching perfect memorial day weather.
Glazing now....

Garbage, special

Tunes o' the day, the fun angry version of 'Special' by Garbage.

the lion the witch and the wardrobe

So, for Mother's day the missus wanted a huge armoire, which was purchased and came in a small box that weighed quite a bit more than me. Full of parts. Managed to get it together without first missing and misunderstanding the pieces, and at last, not too many extra parts. That is what the potter did Sunday. Her bike tires fixed today....
I need to get many things together, including my act. I shall think calming thoughts. Friday and Saturday mega-fair and the weather better be good.

ooooh what a lucky man he was....

Found 28 four and five and six-leaf clovers while walking this morning, beating the old record of 11 in one outing, plus the missus found 7 of them. Perhaps we should buy some lottery tickets?

Echo and the Bunnymen

Echo and the Bunnymen for tunes o' the day, 'The Cutter'. Awesome.

operation hedgehog

(hedgehog bowls by Gary Rith--going on sale at the gallery later!)

tiki resources

Yes, there is a tiki movement: tiki resources for everyone!

tiki by Mr Potsblog

(pots by Gary Rith)

this is why the previous owners painted the house purple

Because of these 5-10 lovely purple iris plants, now blooming. Penny observes the photographer out of the window.

The roving beer reporter checks in: Cave Creek Chili Beer

As you all know, I am also a beer reporter at large for A Good Beer Blog. This is an article and review I just completed. I was too polite to say it in the review: although fun to try, this chili beer is disgusting.
(you will note, of course, the clever tie-ins: beagle, my tiki mug...)

I have a hellacious cold and the temps got up into the 90s today, so it was time to crack open the chili beer. I wondered if it would clear my sinuses, and boy, did it ever!
From Arizona to me here in New York, I wanted to try the beer in the clear bottle with the floating chili in it. I got my favorite tiki mug out, which I had made myself and seems like just the thing for chili beer. The beer is a nice orangey straw color, poured foamy too, clearing but leaving behind an oily film on the beer's surface. First sip and all sips proved one thing, although chilled it was HOT. This is a very spicy beer, and really did clear my runny nose and stuffed head, and made me sweat. People in the Southwest are laughing at me now, thinking this beer could be spicier, BUT I like spicy food, and this stuff is pretty hot. That's about all I could taste, jalapeno. The wife says we need to have one in the house at all times, for medicinal purposes. She also, bold soul, ate the chili entirely, which impressed me, but she said it wasn't all that hot. Obviously it had all leached into the beer.

GUEST DJ CM CHECKS IN

I cannot call in sick to my life, because I am BUSY and must make more, but we have a sub today, class, for tunes o' the day. I have a ton of excellent things to share later, like HEDGEHOG bowls etc, so check back later.
But for now, our old pal and substitute DJ cm writes in to say:

Oh my. I was originally going to link to Ashley MacIsaac's big hit, Sleepy Maggie, and talk about having seen him last week at Hugh's Room, but then I found this and decided to link to it instead because I was there! Kumbaya, 1994 (kumbaya.ca), a (then annual) concert to raise money for people living with AIDS, at the old Ontario Place Forum. I remember it was the first time I'd seen him, and I was so excited! His cd didn't come out until the following year, and although he'd been featured on Fashion Television (how he'd been discovered by Philip Glass and was performing in one of his shows in NYC), he wasn't a household name yet. But still I danced. Man, that was so long ago...

As usual, cm, excellent work and thank you!

the Beagle Brigade

Beagles are docile and friendly, and have wicked good noses. They are also small and cute, and do not scare travelers. Therefore, US airports and border patrols use them for locating plants, or foods etc in luggage from other countries. The Beagle Brigade.

think tiki: bowls

(bowls by Gary Rith, on the washer)
The house is getting full of pots. This time next week, big fair and I better sell them all.

a trip with Rufus

"Going to a town" and "California", tunes o' the day, a special request for Mrs Potsblog (smooch smooch!) by Rufus Wainwright. Handsome, soulful singer.

The public cries out 'more bunnies please!'

Blogging=popularity contest?-- Thursday deep thoughts wih Gary

(some handles to go with some cups by Gary Rith)
I was thinking, 'who cares if I have a cold, what my pets are doing, what I am making? How immodest to sit around blabbing all the time.'
I have noticed two things. My favorite blogger is a secret blogger, and has a subscription list of 3-4 people, no comments allowed, even this person's other friends don't know they blog about them. They write it just to write, and share with a couple of people. On the other hand, a very good writer and blogger I know actively visits a million other blogs, and comments at those, which helps guarantee visits. That seems to be the easiest way to increase your own traffic, go to others, but lord, it is exhausting, or is it?
Why do I blog? Well, reading others is so much fun, and blabbing here is also fun, and the visitors (YOU) are especially fun. As a business tool, about 75 plus different items have sold thanks to the blog, in six months, but more than that, it keeps me on my toes. I cannot slack with everybody watching, I have to MAKE MORE, just as my instructor Jane said, and Dean when I was his apprentice.
So, frankly, it is fun reading blogs, writing this one, interacting with nice visitors, and I dman well better get back to work and attach those handles blah blah blah

Jack out back

Isn't it nice, having the screen door open all the time?

operation hedgehog

(pots and hedgehogs by Gary Rith and Emily the cat in motion)
I really don't know what hedgehogs are and at the moment I don't care. Mrs Potsblog brought home a hellacious cold, and I was thinking of crawling into bed for awhile with a chocolate bar.
I think the hedgehog bowls will look good, and later I shall make more!

petite placeholder

Bleary eyed and stuffed head and runny nose and a rack of pots to glaze NOW, so groove to the Psychedelic Furs and 'Love My Way' and see ya later....

herding cats

Predictably, Emily my chubby cat is sitting here, between me and the keyboard, as I think of yesterday afternoon at the shelter. I was with the cats, and there are perhaps 100 of them there, all loose at various times and degrees. Naturally, the video of cowboys herding cats came to mind, and it is true: it is extremely satisfying hanging out with a herd of cats, and also true that they don't react to directions like sheep....