I went a long way to find these short cuts.

After more than a year off from keeping up the sailor's blog, I feel an urge to write again. Yes, I do post on FB every now and then, but always feel confined at the same time too open.  Kind of like afraid of talking too loud, too long in a big party. Here in my own space, I feel free to go deeper. Since you're pulling, instead of me pushing the bites. Yes, that's how I feel.

Yes, it's empty bowls project time again. After 9 years I think I might have come up with some "short cuts" to make as many bowls, as quickly, as least firing, as humanly possible, and which is totally different than what I normally do with clay.

For years (ever since I met Steven Hill, who is famous in single fire his stoneware/ porcelain), I would like to "Single Fire" these earthenware empty bowls with majolica and underglaze/ clear glaze, but usually encounter poor glaze fit / pinhole.  Also, it means I have to glaze greenware. I don't want to spray, it's fine as long as I pour glaze inside first, let it dry, then dip outside.  I lost one when I try to dip the whole bowl in the bucket, as I got too brave toward the end. Beware that cleaning out broken greenware from a glaze bucket could be problematic. The greatest achievement for the new year to me is managed to bisque a 4" thick solid sculpture in the same firing with good glaze fit and no pinhole. If you're still reading,  you surely love clay. 

We always heard that there's no short cut in clay. I cannot agree more. I went a long way to find these short cuts.

Tree Tunnel Magic in Withlacoochee

 Yes, this is the famous Withlacoochee state trail, one of the BEST in Florida.  I read a few reviews before trying it out myself. I think it really lives up to it's 5 stars.

I also think tree tunnels has magical power, at least over me.  Withlacoochee (a very magical name) has over 20 miles (this is also a magic statistic, since you cannot count in magical place) of big and small tunnels, which take you to magical place. 

Magic act I

 Magic act II.

People in town of Inverness looks a little magical too.

Then we end up have dinner in this really magical place. Somehow, two people were filled by one starter (stuffed artichoke heart) and plenty of freshly gilled bread.

Outdoor dinning under some.......yes, magical tree!

Too early for spring - Innsbruck

April would have been perfect spring time to visit Innsbruck if global weather hadn't been delayed for a month. When I stepped out of the propeller plane, the air was as crisp as clear crystal. The airport is surrounded by tall mountains on three sides, just like Heidi's mountains. Elisabeth (the organizer of World Wide West project) came to pick us up with her little stick shift. If Tyrolean Airways hadn't lost Bill's snowboard bag, it would have had to ride on the roof of the little car. 

The first mission of the trip was to set up a show in the Hofburg Museum. It was a group show consisted of 6 American and 6 local artists. The white building is Hofburg with Lily in the foreground and Nordketten in the backdrop. 

This Nordketten was taken across town on the south side slope, minutes from the Olympic ski jump stadium.

Inside Hofburg, upstairs from our show.

One of my works found a good home with all these Saints, which is the current project of Reiner - a local respectable artist / teacher. Another piece was sold to Hofburg Museum's director.

 Reiner generously showed me his beautiful home/studio up on the hill, and collection of old objects found in Spain when walking the wide field waiting for his watercolor to dry.

Second mission there was teaching some kids how to play with clay. Most kids seem to understand most of my English, it was one teacher sometimes doesn't get it. I believe we all had a great time.

 Our organizer gave us a 24 hrs Innsbruck Card and extra entry tickets to almost all museums and zoo, since it's no way you can do all of them in a day.

The Folkart museums impressed me the most.

The crystal giant need some spring face lift.

 Spring finally came the day before we left.

Memory lost and Insomnia

When your friend choose to contact your secretary in order to text message or send photo to you, you know it's time to upgrade your communication device, even it's in perfectly good condition. I don't know how long Johnathan has been working for AT&T, but he was all fired up when he saw my pink Razor. He showed it to his other colleagues as if it was an oddity. They all chuckled.  In fact, my new phone is also a birthday gift for hubby, to relieve him from his long time secretarial duties.

By now, I should have understood one thing: Revolution - lost and gain; it always involve more than one system. In order for my MacBook Pro to use iCloud and synch with the new phone, it also need to be upgraded from Snow Leopard to Mountain Loin. Save you all from all the details of the long conversations with Apple Care and such, the end result is I lost a thousand emails during upgrade and now the computer will not go to sleep by closing the lid (with external monitor connected), but I can send iMessage for free with WiFi with my new phone. 

Just like any other revolution, once it's done, lives are lost, time is past, like it or not, there is no turning back.

P.S. More casualty - Power PC applications are no longer supported, which means I just lost Adobe Photoshop CS and Microsoft Excel.

Grand Kiln Opening Party Invitation (初八開爐)

You might have heard about our new kiln project (in our backyard) in the past few months. It's time for the first firing and of course - the Grand Opening. If you want to see my newly renovated clay studio and many Empty Bowls freshly out of the kiln, please come to join the party on next Sunday Feb. 17th, 11am. 

Come meet all the friends who helped along one way or the other and listen to stories about it. 

(We’re in Rocky Point, down east Cove road, passed the railroad, right after Peace church, 1st left, then 1st right)

BTW, Happy Chinese new year - lucky year of Snake

Posted by (SSA) Senior Studio Assistant - Panda 

The beginning is the end is the beginning

If 1587  萬曆十五年 was "A year of no significance" in Chinese macro history according to Ray Huang's famous work, then 1997 - 2012 could be "15 years of no significance" in the same sense.  


Do a quick search online for "Hong Kong handover 15 years", news media will tell you something about the promise, the protests, the changes or not, and the uneasy.


Here I want to tell you a number of seemingly insignificant incidents happened lately, which might mean something or nothing in history. 


Paul Mooney 慕亦仁: THE prize-winning foreign correspondent who wrote "Beyond belief", "Silence of the Dissidents", "Darkness at Noon" and "Dangerous Element" last year was driven out of South China Morning Post after 20 years: THE English newspaper in HK or no more.


Li Wang Yang 李旺陽: A pro-democracy activist from 1989 crackdown, who has spent the longest time (21 years) in Chinese prison "Was Suicided" in hospital. Tens of thousands of HK people who had never heard Li's name before his death, marched to protest. 


Hong Kong Police: Took a journalist Rex Hon, away and detained him after he asked the Chinese President a question during his visit, and on the same day, fired volleys of pepper spray against protesters. These kinds of actions may be common in the rest of the world, but were almost unheard of in HK before 1997.


Leung Chun Ying 梁振英: THE property surveyor lied about the illegal additions to his mansion again and again, sworn into office today as Hong Kong A.R's chief executive (No S, because it's no longer Special). 


It just happened that "Smashing Pumpkins" released this song "The beginning is the end is the beginning" in 1997, the year of handover. Sometimes, I do imagine, in the darkest time, some dark heroes will appear. We might need Batman & Robin very soon.

End of a beginning

At some points in life, you just know it's an end of a beginning. Like at a point, one chose to get marry after ten years of dating the same person, or one started to pursuit a PhD in biochemistry after eighteen years of education, or one dared to become a concert pianist after ten thousand hours of practice. For me, I decided to build a kiln this summer after twenty something years of playing with clay. Also taking the chance to renovate the studio.

A very handsome, affordable, stand alone working sink from IKEA after hours and hours of looking. (No, they didn't have it in Sunrise, so we had to go get it from Orlando.) Since, it's a new location for the sink, there are some very innovative pipings behind the wall.

 I love stripping ugly wallpaper, and repaint the wall. Then maybe cover it again with images......

A new back door (that red takes 3 coats) ; direct access  to the kiln area.

 Foundation of the chimney. First time, 做紮鐵; reinforcement fixing . See the little tool in my right hand, it took me a while to understand how it dances. Don't hold on too tight,  just twist with the flow. 

Kathy suggested to put a luck charm in the foundation. Here's a fish I made when I first started with clay in high school. It is heading east, if you wonder. And yes, this is an after thought  (after tool cleaning ) posted photo. As concrete setting, propane tank and piping permit is in the process. Once permit in hand, we will order bricks to start the kiln construction.

雷霆雨露 莫非天恩

 暴雨連埸, 家中種的各種忽然又長了幾吋。鄰居們都說種得太密, 但總是捨不得拔掉些, 而且它們的根大概已經纏繞難分。 密得像小樹林, 是好看, 但可能不會有好收成。

 昨天發現這小肥蟲, 好好的番茄葉給吃得七零八落。 當然知道不用農藥, 自然就會有蟲來吃 (那些有機防蟲方, 都不太有效。), 但總痴想它們不會吃太多。

看翠翠吃得忘形, 心軟, 也任得它罷。 小時已這麼迷人,  化成蝶身, 一定不得了。 換個背景, 再影一張。

這幾天聽到李旺陽的事, 鬱鬱屈屈, 無法釋懷。《山海經》中有一凶獸 - 窮奇, 牠往往會把忠信之士吃掉；遇到奸邪之輩，牠就會獵取野獸向他進奉。是一頭善惡觀念完全顛倒的惡獸。

如今 窮奇當道, 莫非國運之天數而已, 又莫非天恩另有安排。

這跟花園有什麼關係, 一點也沒有。只是夏日亂想, 發噏風。

The Toughest Race

Every sailor, no matter how young or old at some point in their life, will read/ dream about the former "Whitbread Round the World Race", now the "Volvo Ocean Race". People like me who can not stand huge waves, frozen ocean, extreme sleep deprivation and have no physical endurance whatsoever, can only fantasize over the concept of racing around the world. 

I was invited to a 3 days Team Racing ISAF Umpire Clinic run by the Volvo Ocean Race Academy during their stop in Miami. The clinic has nothing to do with the teams of 70 ft. seagoing sloops. In fact, it has nothing to do with the ocean race. It has something to do with the top 8 teams of smallest but fastest turning boat with young sailor age below 14.

For me, it was an intense learning experience. Learning new language (and non-stop talking), new angle to look at different situations between boats, focus on the present, make instant decision and communicate with the other umpire on the boat. I found making instant decision the toughest.

And I like this new phrase I just learned,"Incident Closed", which means whatever just happened, is passed. Let's focus on the next incident.

Planter

We went to have a look at Mike's and Rusty's (the dog) new planter around the corner, and decided we want to have one too. Here's at the end of week 1.

 I put just about every kind of seeds I got in it.  Tomato, Lettuce, pea, beet, onion, cilantro, sage, chives, gladiolus and cosmos flowers. As of today -end of week 2, everyone has pop up except chives.

The shade cloth will come off next week, as they get bigger and stronger.

Kiln Roof Project

 Most of the building project break ground by digging holes.  Without the post hole digger, it is no way we can dig 8" diameter x 4' deep hole by hand. Lucky that Matt and Brian know what they're doing.

 However, even with the digger, we still couldn't get through some spots. Obstacles like tree root, stump, metal chain..... made the process very difficult and slow.

 With persistence and determination, we managed to avoid some tough spots.

 7 posts in ground with concrete at the end of the frist day.

 I forgot photo in day 2, and absented in day 3.  Here we see what happened today (day 4), after about 15 man day of work.

 Screwing down metal roof panel.

 Justin said he told his kiln "no more rain on", so we got to finish the roof today. Think about no more loading/ unloading under the sun, stoking under the rain.

Final roofing team. Just in time for the down pour. 

Kalaloch, Quinault and such

 These will be the last post of the O.P. trip. I have been taking my time to tell the story, which in fact happened last month. Here's hundred years old (feel that way) Kalaloch Lodge, right on the bluff next to the beach. Rustic is the key word. The only choice within 20 miles radius. It reminded me that we're here to be close to the wild and majestic coast line. Fortunately, their restaurant (also the only choice) does a good job in feeding their guests.

 Sunset Kalaloch beach. I couldn't decide I should shoot on the bluff, or down on the water. So, I end up in the middle.

 Bunch Falls in Quinault. One of the beauties you can catch without hiking. For some time, we were worry about driving on the unpaved road (about 10 miles in Quinault loop), with our borrowed non-4WD. It turned out with no problem and really worth it.

 One of the surprise on the full moon, extreme low tide at 7am. We found hundreds of people digging in Pacific Beach.

 It happened to be their razor clam season (only 2 days permitted, and limited to 15 clam per person). Next season could be months away.

 Very brave men, going to the moon. No, they're going kite boarding in one of the most windy and cold water area - Ocean Shores. They had wet suit under dry suit. First time I saw an Indian kite boarding.

Last town of the trip - Olympia, capital of Washington. Only spent less than a day there, but we can tell; it can easily be on the top of the "best town to live" list. This is their farmer's market logo. Yes, the flying pig.