SHOP, FOLKS

(pots by Gary Rith and Penny)
Look at that face, those sweet brown eyes. Now go shop at my online gallery , these items BUT NOT THE PUPPY go on sale now.

Mona makes an order

(pots by Gary Rith)
One jumbo piggy with a side of cow creamer.

household cooperation

(Penny visits the farm, Penny and Buster, Penny and Jack)
As you can see below, Penny is a model, therefore deductible from my taxes.
Yes, she gets along well with the other family members, except the cat who gave her a thumping last night.

lesson one, beagles in art

(beagles by Gary Rith, made last year)
Spotted dogs are easy to make.

Penny Proofing the yard

(Penny the beagle and Jack the black lab)
I didn't mention it, but Saturday in her first five minutes at home Penny took off. She went to a low spot in the picket fence and was under and gone in a second, me in pursuit. She ran down to the river and dove in after the 5 ducks that had been sitting there. She seemed to be surprised to be swimming, and came back to me. I bought steel mesh and spent Sunday digging around the fence bottom and stapling this stuff in place. I will keep an eye on her: typical beagle, sweet lap puppy in the house, chasing ducks and squirrels outdoors.
Our dog Petey was a beagle or some kind of hound mix, and I grew up with hounds, so yes, I know how they are.
I am guessing this is how she became a stray and ended up at the shelter.

Lucky Penny

(when puppies sleep, curious cats may investigate)
So, our two older black Labs Jack and Buster took a nap and I took Penny to the park. My hobby, other than collecting animals, is finding four leaf clovers. I found one Friday. It was number 250 for 4-leaf clovers I have found in my life.
So, Penny was nosing around the playground, as beagles do, and I found FIVE four-leaf clovers. FIVE! I think she may be a lucky pup for us.
She is very docile, sweet and easy going. She slept through the night easily, in her basket next to me. Piece of cake.

cow mugs for Justin

(mugs by Gary Rith)
My old pal Justin in New Jersey ordered these cow mugs. They look pretty good.

beagle pottery

(Gromit and teaset by Gary Rith)
Sure, Penny is new to this household, but I have been making beagles on pots for years.

tunes o' the day, White Stripes

White Stripes and 'Blue Orchid'.

Penny

You know how it is. You go to volunteer at the shelter, and this winsome 2 year old sweetie climbs in your lap and kisses you.
Meet Penny our new 2 year old beagle from the Tompkins County SPCA.

Penny the puppy princess

The old kitten in the jacket trick.

sip, swig, savor

(pots by Gary Rith)
I am to be part of a traveling show called 'Sip, Swig, Savor'. It will travel from restaurants to bars to wineries and breweries. I didn't have a chance to make special things, although I have ideas, so this is the stuff I picked for the first round. I have in mind....well, give me a few days and you will see.

White Stripes 'My doorbell'

Anybody else see this and notice? This rather fantastic video of 'My doorbell' by the White Stripes is like a remake of The Little Rascals. I saw all those when I was a kid, and we named our first dog Petey too, although he wasn't a big dog with a circled eye.

cm suggests......

'Purple Glaze' by BR

(dog and bowl by Gary Rith)
Our old pal BR reimagines Hendrix:

"Purple glaze, all through my brain, lately things - they don't seem so plain - got my money, and I want to buy, 'scuz me, while my tea pot dries."

Dang, that's clever! Put your two hands together for BR!

(pots by Gary Rith)
Sometimes potsblog even features pots.

Friday deep thoughts with Gary: when bad sweaters happen to good people

Watching Ultravox 'Dancing with tears in my eyes', a bummer of a video BTW, you notice at the end a couple of truly ugly sweaters. Ugly sweaters happen, but they don't have to happen to you.

a cow gets dressed

(creamer by Gary Rith)
You have your before, and your after.

Get offa my cloud

Stones live, 'Get off of my cloud', tunes o' the day at Mona's suggestion.

pictures from an afternoon: the incompetent gardener speaks

(pots by Gary Rith, Jack and Emily)
I can understand why people hire gardeners. I have no idea how to garden, and I am indifferent to the act of gardening. I like a nice looking garden though. So, from time to time, I plant something, other times I weed something. I do not have the deep seated gardening instinct some people have, I guess because all my creative energy goes into pots. BUT, I like a nice looking garden, as I say, and 12 months into living here I know this nice looking green plant, which is EVERYWHERE, and has sweet little yellow flowers for about a week, turns into this monster plant, which stings when you try to pull it out in July. SO, Gary's 2007 garden plan: this weed is unwelcome. I made bowls for awhile today, but the door was open and so, out I went.

life is just a chair of bowlies

(Gary's messy life)
OK, on the one hand, weather is good. It would be fun to start painting the ugly old picnic chairs. Purple of course. Despite my incompetence, a little weeding has to be done sometime. A lot of weeding. I need to plug spots around the house that allow little varmints to enter. And most importantly, I am 99 percent OUT of glazes. Mixing glaze requires a day in the basement getting filthy with bags of various powders and my secret glaze recipes. I HAVE to do that, very soon.
But then I think 'hey, make a rack of bowls, glaze them brown, you have plenty of brown glaze remaining'.
The path of least resistance.

Tompkins County SPCA

OK, onward and upward, 2000 here we come! Har.........
I am inclined toward bringing home every stray dog and cat and bunny out there. This time last year we had 3 dogs and 2 cats, but we are dangerously low now that Petey and Sammy have gone to heaven. I think 2 old dogs and one old fat kitten is a good enough number for now. To play with strays and maybe help them find a happy home I applied to the SPCA up the street as a volunteer. I start volunteering this weekend at the Tompkins County SPCA although I already have my eye on one of their sickly though sweet cats, and a bunny or two....