Tuesday, October 27, 2015

One for the record books ...

A blogger friend gave me a poke the other day. I, like her, have been pretty much absent from the Blogosphere this past year .... I've only made 2 posts in 10 months. She reappeared last week and poked me to do the same so I am rising to the bait .... here's to you, Sandy ... fishing metaphor intended ;>)) .... 

This year has been one for the record books .... we started the year with the completion of a 6 month renovation project on our next door cottage. We followed that with our new adventure into the short term vacation rental market ... AirBnB, VRBO sorta thing. Into that mix toss in a wrecked back (hubby) that included, (in retrospect) an almost comedic chaotic pickup by ambulance for transport to hospital .... picture Gramma Daycare Day ... a bewildered one yr old trying to figure out what's going on with Gramps and 2 strangers in uniform, 2 crazy barking (big) dogs trying to figure out the same thing, 2 smallish ambulance folks calling for backup to get my not so small hubby down a flight of stairs ... yup!, you get the picture. After good drugs, Hubby remembers none of it. It's pretty much etched into my mind. On the serious side, it turned out to be a serendipitous occasion. The CT scan of his back found a misshapen kidney which led to further tests, which finally lead to a mid Aug diagnosis of kidney cancer. It's all good now ... after surgery in late Sept to remove his kidney, he got the all clear from the specialist last Fri and we celebrated his 65th birthday two days later .... A big woohoo!!

In and amongst hubby's health issues, I turned 60, celebrated with a trip to NYC with my good friend Sue, made a few pots, tried to fend off the weather driven home invasion of early fruits and veggies from the garden of the ailing gardener, made and sold a few pots (annual Studio Tour), hosted vacation rental guests (sold them a few pots), had daughter, son-in-law, 3 grandsons and 2 grand dogs (also big), move in the end of Aug with the commencement of their house renovations, made a few pots, had youngest (son) decide to leave the city and join us in our little town (yipppeeee!), made a few pots, went to the city to help him get his condo ready to sell and then made a few pots .... whewwww! Last week the kids moved into other temporary accommodations for a few weeks prior to getting back into their house. We have one more trip to make to the city to help move our son but finally, things are beginning to calm down enough I can catch my breath ... of course just in time for the 'you know what' season to commence. 

So that's why blogging has taken a backseat .... my crazy life, being a crazy wife (and mother/grandmother) and a crazy potter .... I am so looking forward to getting in some real studio time but I expect that won't really happen until the new year. Fingers crossed, I should have enough pots, after firings are done, for the two Christmas Craft Fairs I've committed to in Nov. Other than that hubby and I are ready to show 2015 the door, taking with us the reminder that life is damn short!

5 comments:

  1. a definite whirlwind!
    Glad things worked out well

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, gz ... exactly what it felt like. You've had quite the year as well. Hope all is well with Pirates health.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ha! First I laughed when I started reading then the only thing I could come up with was OMG!
    Great catch up!! and when the blogs stop we all wonder, Hey, where'd they go? Sheesh! Yay to good drugs, happy kids and getting on with life in the studio :) Thanks Brenda!! and hey did you ever get rain for your gardens in the rain forest out there?

    ReplyDelete
  4. We did get rain .... after dire predictions of drought thru to Fall, summer came crashing down the third week in Aug. Everything is well watered again, altho' we're below norm with total precip. Lots of speculation as to what type of winter the combo of an El NiƱo and the big warm 'Blob' hanging about the Pacific will bring. I'll keep ya posted!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Brenda... I just checked my blog and found your note.. Thank you for checking in!..:) I will send you a personal email re: spodumene.. and will show this post to my 'glaze guru' friend who might be able to help.. She and I noticed a similar bubble problem on a new batch of one of my glazes. (I will see if it contains spodumene..can't remember at the moment). The colours are great, though, but, yes, the bubbles are a big problem. ..hope your sales went well. I had one with other artist friends on the weekend.. just resting up today..:). Also read your last post.. here's to a less eventful, smoother 2016..! take care.. cheers, Trish

    ReplyDelete