Balance of Life

 Why is it that I always think I will have more time when I get past a deadline? And yet, I never do. There is always something coming up.

After the Holiday Art Show, I knew I would be busy getting ready for the craft show the first week in December. My plan had been to do one more glaze firing the week before the show. On Wed. before the Friday of the show, I put a huge load into the kiln. I had at least 15 mugs, five bowls, a teapot, and lots of Christmas ornaments and small things to sell at the show. When I opened the kiln, something had gone terribly wrong. I suspect glaze dripped down on the cone sitter and caused it not to shut off when it was supposed to. The safety timer did shut the kiln off, but not before everything inside the kiln melted, crashed, stuck together, and ruined my kiln. Everything was lost. It was awful. I still had lots for the show, but not nearly what I had planned. I called Toby, and in my usual lighthearted way, I asked him how much money was in my art fund  - bad news: that I would be needing a new kiln - good news: the barn did not burn down. Joking about the kiln is just my way of dealing with things, but it really was upsetting.

The craft show was great fun. my DIL and GGs were supposed to share a booth with me. They sent their crafts, but kids were sick and could not be at the show. Bo was able to help me set up on the second day and he brought GBN1 to help me. It was fun just having her with me. She had made old fashioned, loomed pot holders with special cotton for thickness. They sold like hotcakes. My mugs also sold well. Out of over forty mugs, I had five left. Yay!

More sad news: On Dec 1st, my cousin called to say that my Uncle Bobby had passed. I can't begin to tell you how terribly sad this makes me. He is the last of my dad's family. My dad had passed on Dec 2nd about 15 years ago - very similar to Uncle Bob. His whole family had come for Thanksgiving this year - all the way from Hawaii and Singapore. Maybe they all knew how weak Uncle Bob was. Very similar to time with my dad. I am so glad we all got to have a family reunion with him and honor him with a Quilt of Valor in October.  You know how special Uncle Bob was to all of us. Somewhere in my heart, I knew time was short and we would lose him soon, but it still makes me very sad. His family all came back last weekend to bury him in the Dallas Ft.Worth National Cemetery. It was a moving ceremony with Taps and presenting the flag to my aunt. Then we all went to my cousin's house in Dallas and had another reunion. 

This week I have been back to my art. I took my paintings to Viridian in Lawton again. GBN1 went with me to help hang the paintings. We had lunch in Lawton before coming home. Fun! I have been throwing some more mugs. We are going to try using my old kiln, which has had some electrical problems, but maybe we have that sort of fixed by taking out the section of kiln that didn't work. Anyway, I am in the market for a new/used kiln.

Today, though, is vacation. We are going to Grapevine with a whole herd of people from our church to a musical thang. We will see the lights and enjoy the fellowship and shopping.

Speaking of herd. Our longhorns have been up in the yard acting like pets. We are frantically working on getting a fence up around the house to keep them at a distance. They follow me out to the barn and to the gate. Those horns are kind of scary when they get to jostling each other for food. The bull, which is not a longhorn, has been going over the cattleguard, so we had to put up a gate. Now I have to get out and open and close a gate every time I come and go. What a pain!