Reminder of Summer Past.....

After all the cold weather and the whinning I've done about it I thought that a couple of reminders of summer past would be nice. They are the two sides of my deck. I spend as much time here as possible, eating meals, taking my work out to do and just sitting out here with friends. The table is on the right as you come out of the house, all the dahlias on the left. That silver thing is the tarp over our radial arm saw. It is still there because this is the only level place where we can get enough power to run it properly. Hopefully it goes to the BIG shop when complete. Yippie, more space to put plants!

Right now I am getting ready to start seeds, proof the begonia tubers and just generally plan the garden and flowers for this summer. At least I have faith it will happen. Makes me warm just looking at these pictures. In past years when we've had a cold winter the summer tends to be warmer than usual. Sure hope it happens this year! As it was -45c again this morning.......

My Kiln:Naad aagi heen x'ann

This is my woodfired kiln that I built last year. I am madly in love with it. Fires like a dream, uses very little wood and does fantastic things to my pots. The wood piled under cover is enough for two firings. I also have a big box full of small scraps that I 'drop from the top' at the start of the firing. There is also some side stoke wood that is out of the picture.

It is 25 cu ft inside, last firing there were 70 pieces, including lids . I counted them when I made the wadding. So far I have fired it three times, always on the full moon. Last time was in October. That night it got to -10c. Think that is my limit. Since then it hasn't been warm enough to do another firing.

Today when I took these photos it was a high of -30. Last night was -40, and right now at 11pm it is already -42.......so much for Global Warming. My kiln wood pile is in danger of turning into house wood if it doesn't warm up pretty soon. We usually like it to be -15 or above to go get wood. I need two or three days of -10 or above to fire the kiln, guess I'll just have to wait.

By the way, the name I settled on means flowing river of fire in Tlingit.

Back to School

This is the space I have to teach my pottery classes at the school in Carcross. These kids are some of the afterschool regulars. There haven't been too many kids this week as it was about -29c at 3pm. Much too cold for them to walk home. During the school classes I give them a project to work on, but afterschool they can make whatever they want. Sometimes it gets a bit wild in there when all the little boys make their clay armies, tanks, bunkers etc and proceed to play war. They have a great time! When it is all over they ball up their clay, put it in the bag with some damp sponges and in a couple of days it will be ready for the next game. They have also made huge ships, pirates and sea monsters on the table at the rear of the picture (it is the ocean). I bet they have the most fun when they smash everything up at the end!

Although this isn't the best equiped or largest space, it fits perfectly. The largest group is the 4-5-6 class with 14 students. Our school only has 50 kids. They range in age from 4 to 15. I feel very honoured to be able to work with them. I think I have as much fun as they do.