Penny Sanford Porcelains

A Restful Rainy Sunday Afternoon

I apologize that the previous post was so raw with emotion. Maybe it was good to get that out. Maybe it revealed too much of my fears. Whatever, it is water under the bridge.

Gordon took this picture of the Mississippi River Bridge looking from the Vidalia, Louisiana, side to the Natchez, Mississippi side. I just love the moody feel of this picture, and I've been looking for the right time to share it with you.

This Sunday afternoon is dark and ominous with thunderstorms all around our little county.  The rain is rebuilding the water tables for a long hot summer ahead.

These almost daily rain storms are making the grass and shrubs and trees grow like they were in a tropical jungle. We will spend the rest of the summer trying to catch up with all that needs to be mowed or bush-hogged or pruned.

I'm snuggling with and petting four little Westies as Gordon watches basketball playoffs, listens to Dallas Cowboy radio over the Internet (about the NFL draft) and watches the radar, tracking the progress of the various storms.

My old-timey method is to count seconds between the lightning bolt and the thunder that follows.  The number of seconds between flash and sound tell me how many miles the storm has to travel to reach this nest of buildings here on the farm.

Time to forget deadlines, responsibilities, heartaches and focus on the sound of snoring Westies.

Time to disengage and pay attention to the five senses....vanilla candle for smell, Westie fur and warmth and heartbeat for touch, the soothing sight of sleeping dogs for sight, the drone of sports on the television (need to find some soothing music)...and chocolate ice cream for taste.

Gee, I could go for an acupuncture session right now...or a pedicure/manicure (as long as I did not have to talk to anyone)...or a long, long soak in a spa tub.

Oh, for the Energy of a Hummingbird!

Actually, the hummingbirds have been here on the farm in Mississippi for about a month, I think.  The days tend to blur in the spring when the farm is jacked up on chlorophyll.

One day the daffodils are breaking through the cold ground, then we are out pruning and primping the trees and setting out more, feeling like THIS year we will finally get on top of all the outdoor work we need to do.

Then a drop of rain comes to nurture the trees we have just set out as well as the flowering shrubs or plants we have moved. That first rain give us such a cozy feeling of accomplishment as the rain "sets" the plants in the soil, almost guaranteeing their survival for this year.

Then we blink, and there have been dozens of rain showers (or rain storms), and the farm explodes with growth.

Weeds and good grass overwhelm us, growing faster than a bush-hog and riding lawn mower can eat. I annually long for a small herd of sheep or a few beef to fatten on the abundant growth.

This year has revealed itself beautifully. The blooms have been especially luscious, and the plants have invented concocted thousands of new shades of green. The color show makes me want to break out my oils and canvas...but there is never enough time.

I've resumed my affair with Mr. Roundup, and I find myself even spraying the gravel driveway because the grass and weeds threaten to reclaim even the driveway and parking areas.

Soon, the summer drought will put the brakes on this surging growth. When the heat drives us inside for the majority of each day, we will continue to watch the hummingbirds feed and marvel at the power in those tiny wings. 

I wish I could borrow their metabolism for a few months...or permanently.

These pictures were shared with me via email a couple of years back. I ran across them again and saved them to share with you when our hummingbirds returned.  I don't know who took these pictures or who posed with the hummingbirds.

Then dear friend Honey Johnston in Columbus shared this site which has photographed a hummingbird nest from egg to first flight. This site chronicles several  years of the life in a hummingbird family.

We have a hummingbird nest that was blown out of shrubbery by a storm. It still held its precious cargo of eggs. The parents would not return to the nest, so we saved nest and eggs.

I'll share that picture with you later.  I also want to share a picture of our first peony of the year.

May your day be blessed with the energy of a hummingbird!

New Level of Spring Cleaning

Elvis is whimper -ing and I can't figure out why.

He was sleeping soundly with his head on my ankles, and he woke up and immediat -ely started whining. There is no reason for the sudden change in his de- meanor.  Perhaps another thunder -storm will hit the farm in an hour or so. 

We had an intense storm earlier this afternoon, complete with hail.  Of our nine dogs , Elvis has the greatest fear of storms.  All the puppy mill rescues tremble before and during storms.  After all, they were kept in cages that were open to the weather... conditions that make me tremble with anger.

So, we give all the fur babies doses of an herbal anxiety medicine, and they snuggle close and in time sleep through a storm.

What a week! It was Spring Cleaning on a much larger scale!

Gordon and I spent a dis- proportion -ate amount of time out on the farm, overseeing scrap metal (old farm implements) removal and working with the timber stands. Both are projects that will continue for quite some time.

Annie got to go on each of these daily adventures. She is coming out of her shell even more as we share these adventures.

We're also re- organizing the office and weeding the files, all 15 or so file cabinets!

Last week, I put Annie in a second office chair, on top of her own pillow, and she goes to "her" office chair now in expectation that she will join me, chairs side by side, as I do paperwork. I am completely charmed by her assistance!

Unc dug up a big tray of coreopsis from elsewhere on the farm for us to transplant them at the entrance to our driveway, among those Yucca plants. We'll hit that tomorrow (Saturday).

Porcelain deadlines were met each day this week as well.

I had some musings to share with you tonight, but I am too sore and sleepy to try and put thought to computer.!

We'll talk more this weekend.

Dogwood Days

Beautiful, fragile, ethereal Dogwood.

We love them. We've protected them on the farm for longer than I have breathed this clean Mississippi air.

Along roughly half a mile of public gravel road, we have pushed back the lush Mississippi flora to allow space for native pear and apple and plum, mixed with dogwood peeping through the hardwood trunks.

Those luminous white blooms sparkling among the intense greens are like little white lights that turn trees and shrubbery into magical places at Christmas.

Back in 1995, when the farm turned 160 years old, we celebrated by planting 160 hardwood trees including chestnut, walnut, burr oak, live oak, cherry laurel, beech, elm and many other varieties native to Mississippi, but difficult to find in any quantity.

Then, two years later in 1997, when the family farmhouse celebrated its 125th birthday, we planted 125 flowering trees, including magnolia, redbud, native pear, native apple, plum, crab apple and dogwood.

All of these commemorative trees have matured beautifully in the past 12-plus years. A few have had to be replaced, and we continue each year to plant more trees.

Photo 1: The mailboxes at the beginning of our driveway off of the gravel county road.

Photo 2: The county road curves to the right, and the driveway you see to the left in the photo is our driveway. The sign was a brilliant Christmas gift from land neighbors and long-time family friends.

Photo 3: We'll talk rocks some time. This is just a few of the rocks my uncle has found on the farm and brought up to provide sculptural interest around the farmhouse and support buildings.

Photo 4: Of the dogwood trees that have grown up naturally among the woodland surrounding the house, we continue to edit the undergrowth each year to allow the dogwood to be the flashy stars of Spring.

Photo 5: A set out pear and an edited dogwood bordering the public county road on the farm.

Photo 6: Gordon and I spent a couple of hours last Sunday afternoon photographing and videotaping the dogwood season.

Gordon will edit the video he shot last Sunday afternoon, as he has a little time. You can be sure I will share it with you.

Need sleep. Nitey nite!

Monday, TuesdaySsswwwooossshhhhSaturday!

Thirty minutes ago, it was Monday morning. A fresh week. The never- ending, many- page TO DO list looking at me expectantly.

Trees planted. Trees pruned. Pampas Grass relocated to stop some soil erosion along the public gravel road. It is encircling a huge stump we cannot get up, even with the tractor... so, I decided to use the stump as a natural sculpture and give it a backdrop of ornamental grass.

The last two weeks, Unc and I have been making tangible progress in keeping the jungle at bay, with some help from Gordon!

I love this time of year, but a couple of rain rich soaks, and the grass and honeysuckle and unwanted hedge and _____ just fill in the blank, take over. It is the Mississippi version of the jungle growing back, taking back whatever man has cleared.

Unc, age 82, is in better shape than any of us. He even out-walked and out-climbed some middle age working men on the farm the other week. They TOLD me about Unc's outdoor-hardenend physique with a combination of good natured "we've been bested" and admiration.

The leader of this little group recounted to me that they were following Unc into the woods for him to find and show them the object about which they had inquired. 

"We asked Mr. Charles if he wanted to stop for a minute to rest. We were all bent over and huffing and puffing, and he said, no, that he was good to keep going. That man is in GOOD shape, and not just for an 82 year old!!"

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Ok, that was written Thursday night before the line of thunder storms hit the farm. More of that nutrient rich rain gave a turbo-boost of growth to all that is growing and blooming so beautifully right now.

There must be a bazillion shades of green out there. I just can't soak in, absorb, feed enough on this time of year. In another thirty minutes, the famous Mississippi humid heat will descend on us, and yard work will not be nearly as much fun.

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Now it is Saturday night, and I will upload this post. Absolutely. Before any other delays occur.

Today Gordon took some more video of the Westies trying to herd the Monster Mower around the yard. He'll edit it into the little tiny clip of Mister Mackie and his Monster Mowing Machine that Gordon uploaded Friday? Thursday? Somewhere in the Swooosh between Tuesdayssswwwwoooooooshhhhhhh and tonight.

Humans and dogs and Rosalie are all completely tuckered tonight, even Unc!

Photo 1: My beloved Apple Mint that is outside our studio door.

Photo 2: One of my yarrows that is taking over the flower beds on the front walk. That is an heirloom hyacinth.

Photo 3: That jasmine bloom was blown onto our big rock in the corner of the yard where we feed the birds. Honest. I did not put it there. The storm the night before had blown it there.

Tuesday I Learned: Feller Buncher

Feller Buncher

Obviously some men named this thing. How does one even come up with the name "feller buncher"?  It SHOULD be called That Grab, Cut and Move Thingie.

I get the felling the tree part, and I've watched log skidders grab a bunch of logs and pick them all up at once.  But what the timber industry has dubbed a Feller Buncher just cuts one tree at a time and moves one log at a time.  DUH!

Now if there were a Sadie Hawkins Day event attached to using this Feller Buncher, then I might understand the name better, but a big machine like that might be a bit drastic to grab a bunch of fellers!

At any rate, that is my new word for today (this was written Tuesday, but not uploaded). 

I'd like Santa to bring me a Feller Buncher that moves around.  How about a custom jobbie with a cutting claw on one end and a pick up claw on the other end.  WhooooweeeeHowdeeee, I could have fun with that machine.

Well, to be honest, I would have fun telling a trained operator what to do with my little custom machine. 

Move this rock over there; move this log up yonder to finish out the split rail fence; cut this cedar that is blocking the view of that pretty little dogwood; move rusty old farm equipment into one big pile.

Aaahhhh, well, one can dream.

Just like Mackie continues to dream of catching Rosalie.

YEAHBoyHowdy!

Whoooooweeeee!

YEAHboyhowdeeeee!

Don't know why, but I just felt like saying it! It might be a Spring Thing. It might be a Monday Survivor thing.

We have a working kiln again!  That's worth several YEAHboyHowdeeeeeees! 

First load fired last night. It came out in great shape late this afternoon.  This is either Shadrack or Meshack, the two identical kilns in the firing room of the studio. I'm not sure which one is working again; it does not matter as long as Gordon got one of them going.

We still have one kiln in Intensive Kiln Care.  It is expected to live. 

Had a productive morning making porcelain.  More church ornaments headed into the kiln tonight for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Brusly, Louisiana, folks!

This afternoon, some porcelain rope and porcelain tassels on a porcelain flag are giving me fits. You'll get to see this special commission soon.

The photo: What used to be Wray's Country Store in the Alva Community near Duck Hill in Montgomery County, Mississippi.

You can't tell by this picture, but folks would drive up from Jackson to eat catfish at this place! It was one of those fabulous way-out-of-the-way places that we humans love to find and then brag to our friends that we drove ___ miles to eat and then brag about how good the _____ was!

Goodness, I am hungry for Wray's catfish and all the trimmings (cole slaw, hush puppies, french fries and cobbler!)  Definitely a WHooooooooweeeeeeeee meal!

Be So Thankful You Are NOT Related to Me!

4 a.m. I woke to look at the clock to see if I had missed my 6 a.m. alarm. I' have waked up every hour or so all night to be sure I don't oversleep! 

Then my Westie Mom Radar abruptly told me that there were NOT four little sleeping furry angels in the room.

I counted the different snore voices... hubby... Lillibeth.  Felt around on the bed until Annie grumbled at me. That accounted for two fur babies.

Peered near-sightedly into the darkness to see Elvis, his white fur illuminated eerily by the tiny indicator lights of a hundred electronic gadgets.  In the middle of the summer, it can feel like we are sleeping inside a Christmas tree. I actually love it... all those tiny red, green and blue lights on computers, battery power backup systems, charger lights.

No Mackie.

I slithered out of bed and silently glided over the floor to open the door outside, my flimsy nightgown and the tiny lights creating the illusion of a diaphanous spirit.

Actually, I stumbled out of bed, clumsily felt around for my glasses and slippers, knocked over a few things while feeling my way to the flashlight, and shivered my way outside in my favorite old nighty that Elvis has punctuated with his claws, making it especially welcoming to the cold wisps of air that have moved in over night. But since no one woke to see me, I'm sticking with the diaphanous spirit story that makes me sound thin and wispy! 

Could not find Mackie outside anywhere in the back yard... because he was INSIDE...at the door waiting for his weird fur-mom to come in out of the cold!  Don't know where the little imp was hiding inside...probably a new bachelor pad he has made somewhere.

Aren't you glad you are not my neighbor?

At the National Defense Luncheon of the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution State Conference in Jackson, MS, last month, I was seated at a sub-head table, mourning the bite of dessert I had to leave behind in keeping with my ladylike upbringing.

Everyone was busy eating and talking, so I sneaked the camera out of its bag and propped it unobtrusively on the table to take a shot of the divine creation to share with you (and hope for a shared recipe).

I kinda got lost in moving the water glass and ice tea glass around so that the flower arrangement would appear in the fuzzy background of the shot. 

Then I noticed the beautiful sculpture of the medallion above one of the chandeliers. I was aiming the camera toward the ceiling, trying to capture the details without putting the camera up to my face to snatch the shot.

Click, look at screen to see what I captured, aim camera again, click... this went on for another eight or so shots.  I decided to just go for it and grab one shot focused from my face.  No one would notice.

Quickly I pulled the camera up to my face and aimed for the medallion.  Behind me, I heard whispered, "OH, it is the sculpture on the ceiling!"

With much chagrin, I realized I had provided the much higher ranking DAR ladies at the head table behind me some mystery entertainment to go with their dessert. 

The camera returned to its bag immediately.

BE SO thankful you are not related to me!

Luxuriating in the Mundane

Right now, I'm loving the big pile of clothes on the bed that I am folding. The comforting busy sounds of the washer and dryer are music to my ears.  I'm even looking forward to tackling the overflowing sink of dirty dishes.

Two clean Westies so far, and more to be washed. The van is washed and vacuumed and ready for the next trip, beginning Saturday or Sunday of this week. That first photo is the view from the car wash.

The everyday, mundane chores are like a pampering bubble bath to me right now.

Life has been such a run-away roller coaster ride in the last three or four or five weeks.

Preparations for the Mississippi DAR State Conference, porcelain deadlines, taxes, sick folks, etc.  Gordon came down with a bad cold during State Conference, so I traveled 180 miles a day for each of the four days of State Conference rather than stay in the hotel.

Now Unc has the cold, and we are scampering to keep Mama from catching it.  Thankfully, this is just a cold and not the flu. Today was Unc's worst day, and the stuff has not taken hold in his chest as we feared yesterday. *sigh of relief*

Mackie is over his bout of very painful hips. The veterinarian thinks it was just "one of those attacks of arthritis."  He is back to his normal Westie Warp Speed, so I am very relieved about that.  We'll follow through with x-rays as soon as the travel schedule slows down a tad.

The fur kids gave me such a heartwarming greeting, all wiggly and giggly, when I returned each day last Thursday through Sunday. That's the best therapy in the world!

The remains of a huge thermos of home-made potato soup allowed Lillibeth to entertain us one night recently.  When it comes to our fur babies, yes, we are very easy to entertain!  *grin*

I think that easy- to- entertain thing goes both ways.  Elvis was mesmerized the other night watching me eradicate my chinny-chin hair. He was propped up against me, watching every move with those big brown loving eyes!

(Did I just admit I have chinny-chin hair? Well gals, if you have not sprouted any, just give it time.  ALL women fight those little beasts! Aarrgh!)

On the day I was the most tired crawling back into the studio from a busy, busy day, that sweet husband of mine was still icky sick with a cold, but he still changed sheets Saturday so that I could relax and rest better between clean sheets.  You may have read before that I have this thing about clean sheets.  Gordon knows that one of my primary Love Languages is Gifts of Service.

Gordon even put on the yellow sheets, knowing that the happy yellow always makes me feel better.

A fast trip to Natchez to Rosalie Mansion is on the agenda for this week. Then Saturday or Sunday we head to Texas for that Ruth McDowell five-day workshop. Check-in is 3 pm Sunday.

Oodles to do to get ready. Oodles to share with you. Now where can I get Oodles of time?  *crooked grin*

At least I managed to bring order to the little bags of essentials needed for long days away from home and away from the van.

I'm searching for more MaggiB "Kipper" bags and accessories. That is the one with the black Scotties and the white Westies.  Of course, it is a discontinued pattern with the company. I never fall in love with something that is currently being made.

The big yellow bag is also MaggiB, the "Berry Patch" fabric.  Also discontinued. Mama wants some of that happy fabric bag line.  So I have a fun "Easter Egg Hunt" ahead of me.  I love to look for those obscure, elusive wants.

The other little yellow bags are the "Yancy" pattern, but I have forgotten the name of the manufacturer.  The company is out of Oklahoma.  I love that yellow chintz line, and have bought as many little bags as I could find in that fabric.  We'll have to talk bag collecting some time.

Back to work on some porcelain before firing the kiln tonight.

Wash Day for Collars

I love these colorful collars that I can just toss in the washing machine.  Washed up all the collars I could find last night and hung them out to dry this afternoon. 

This is a partial view of the east meadow. It is the side of the big farmhouse where we placed my grandmother's 1930's house... that Gordon and I are S-L-O-W-L-Y renovating. I also see some significant work we hope to accomplish on this east meadow this year.

I am encouraged though. Gordon has taken an interest in DIY Network and other weekend-warrior-type television programs. We are taking baby steps to becoming DIY-ers! 

Of course, it may help that every time Norm Abram's show, The New Yankee Workshop, comes on, I find a way to mention my lasting desire to marry that man!  *big hearty laugh*

Ah, but my handy fella (Gordon) pitched in this afternoon for a frenzied team effort at changing sheets, folding and putting up clean clothes, washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, shaking out or fluffing dog beds, etc.  Yep, I'll keep him! *big grin*

Next, I'm doing one of those 27 Fling Boogies before settling down to finish some porcelain pieces. Those screaming deadlines are always within earshot!  It sure feels good to FEEL GOOD again and to WANT to work!