Winter settling

First, the studio report. I decided to continue with some handbuilding via this butter dish. It's still greenware (in the kiln to bisque as I type), but I was pleased. I accidentally broke another butter dish. There is a lot of that going on these days. That piece was a very early piece that I had made in a class. It resembled a coffin, and I think this one is a little less suggestive. The lid fits perfectly, which always makes me a little nervous. What if firing alters that? Well. We'll see.

I made some truly terrible rice bowls a couple of years ago, and I've been wanting to replace them ever since. The success with my Grand Son's bowl gave me confidence. This bowl is also pretty large. . . 6" diameter. . and I'll try to make one to match in size, if not glaze. I've found that I love this glaze in bowls, but not as much in smaller items like mugs. I'm not sure why. It looks a little ponderous on smaller pieces?
 

 

We finally went skiing recently. We hadn't skied since prior to Covid (in Idaho), and 7 years later I can say honestly that I doubted our abilities. But we were fine. The snow was incredible (15 or more inches in the past 10 days or so), the hill peopled but not crowded, the blue hills just our speed (ok, a little challenging), and we were able to keep our legs under us. Mostly. We did discover that those muscles you use while skiing don't keep themselves.

The ski hill we went to (about an hour and a half west of us) had a beautiful lodge. John had bought the lift tickets prior, and we went to a machine, he scanned a QR code, and it spit out our lift tickets. Easy. Things have either changed a lot in 7 years, or the East is ahead of the West on such things.

There was also a beautiful pub for apres. Yay. I had forgotten how it feels when you are THAT tired, but so relaxed. I also revisited that place where all of your focus is on the 10 feet in front of you as you go hurtling down a hill on skis. Right, left, right, left. Pay attention. Keep your head in the game. No political turmoil, no end-of-democracy thoughts, no worry about the children. Keep you head in the game. 

There was also a large stone fireplace on the first floor of the lodge. It was reminiscent of Sun Valley, not of our Boise local hill. 

I didn't learn to ski until I was in my late 40's, and I had also forgotten what a gift it was to actually look forward to winter. We'll go again. I'm not sure how many more winters I'll be able to ski, but best keep it going as long as possible.