Taters and Trampolines

The potter will be back in business soon!

This morning I ordered my wheel. I had a second of self doubt before hitting the send button. I have never spent so much money on myself for one thing that was solely for me. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

I took the kids to my parents yesterday. We dug potatoes. It was so fun to see them digging in the dirt. Grace kept yelling, "I found one! I found one!" Sean and Mema counted together every potato they unearthed. Gabriel hung back with my mom who was using a hoe to find the ones the kids missed.

Mom's cousin and neighbor had brought over her daughter's trampoline for the kids to play on. They had so much fun. It had been sitting for a while so the dirt came off on the kids. They were so dirty there was a black ring around the bathtub after it drained.

Mom and Mema got on and bounced with them. And I did too of course! As the years go by my grandma has been trying lots of new things. (She slid down a very tall inflatable bouncer with us last year.) I am very proud of her desire to try new things and enjoy herself. It took her a while after my grandfather's death to find her individual identity again. It had been "we" for so long and he had been the center of her life. (which is how marriage should be: getting lost in each other) She was pretty lost for a while, but now she has really found herself again. It is wonderful.

Dad and I built a shelf in the rain. They had told me I could use a chop saw they had borrowed if I wanted to cut my lumber and Dad's nail gun previously. When I got there the saw blade would only cut about eight inches and the brads did not hold very well. So, we free handed with the circular saw and found some screws. It was very tedious and the rain was so loud in the little building that we had to yell in each other's ears. But we had a lot of fun together. It was nice to do something with my dad and laugh at the same time.

I didn't buy enough lumber for the second shelf so I will have to put it together myself here. But I can now start emptying some of the garage space for my wheel. Having a fully functioning studio is going to take a few more months, but I am so excited.