|
|
|
|
For love and land
Please forgive my recent absences, my friends in the Portland area. I have had the tiger by the tail. Many absolutely marvelous gifts came my way all at once, so yesterday I put in my (very!) earnest money on the purchase of 23 acres of raw land a bit east of Woodland, WA. This signifies the conclusion of negotiations. 50 minutes from Portland after 10 minutes of squiggly dead end road, the site is a little piece of Eden. Bordered to the south by a fish-bearing creek, encompassing a wetland and a sunny hillside, I am amazed that I can plumb the interwebs and find such things for sale. I look forward to inviting you to visit and relax there with me. In the meantime, I will remain in my Battle Ground studio for years forward, and you are most cordially invited to visit here as well. Especially on hot days of summer, the Lewis river has some very cool swimming holes, and I now have a large guest room!
|
|
|
|
South, a fish-bearing creek. NE, a gentle hill for orchard and nuts. The central band of trees there is a wetland. (and the western hill with road is still for sale :)
|
|
|
Some of you must have thought from my last missive that Pop and I actually purchased the five acres with the spring. We did not succeed, and that is well. It was too expensive, and I had too many big life questions. And still do!! Early this year, my dear friend from my Minnesota days turned up, ostensibly for a brief visit. A week later, with a broken down van, he was remodeling my barn upstairs bedrooms, and a month later, we had found this property in question. What a roller-coaster, to be shopping for the land I have coveted for over a decade, with my man by my side, but maybe I want to follow him home someday?? To the famous St Croix river valley?!? I’m actually doing that for my spring break, road tripping east with him, hitting all the hot springs we can find from here to there. Needless to say, I will miss NCECA, but I’ll be there in various other forms! And I'll see you here next year. Weather permitting, we can have that fancy barefoot picknick on handmade pots out on my land, next to the pond, in the chartreuse velvet moss.
|
|
|
|
Joel, cleaning the windows of my heart upon concluding the usual construction chaos: bobcat screams of chop saws, Welch and Cash on repeat, snapping pneumatic guns, dust endlessly everywhere, dental drills...... not too many people actually get (a little) nostalgic about this kind of thing over their heads.
|
|
In studio news, a mixed bag: some good press, a successful delivery of dishes for Langbaan, a new commission, and a meeting forgotten (not by me). I await samples of a one-gallon crock slip cast by Mudshark, and seek an account with a substantial retailer. The three-footed plate design I am so excited about is coming along. If you are wandering NCECA shows and enter the USU alum show (at a brewery close to the conference center), you will see a soft and woodfired version of what I am working towards RAM pressing.
Have a great spring!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
