Kingfisher Cove

The Power Bill Might Be Killer

My two kilns are currently battling it out in the glass studio. (I can hear those relays clicking, which is a little like music to my ears). They’ve been running quite steadily these last several days, and for the most part, they’ve spit out some pretty cool things.

I’d got myself a couple of new molds that I’ve had my eyes on for a while. They were spendy, so it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision; I had to think it through and come up with good justification. Heh.

This is one of them:

 

It’s about 11” diameter, and I could imagine some pretty dramatic bowls made from it. Remember this lace-edge bowl from a couple of weeks ago?

I wanted to see what it would look like made from my new mold, so I made another one! Here’s how it looked after I laid it out before sticking in the kiln:

I “contour” fused it, so that it was all melded together as one entity, then set it on top of the new mold and fired it again.

And then, voilà!

I have to say, I rather like the drama!

So, the other mold I got looks kind of mundane, kind of like a ceramic pie plate, but it’s a high-end 10” round “dam” mold that you fill with glass scraps and fuse (melt) to a pretty high temp so you end up with a a 10” disk that you can then either slump or cut up with a tile saw or display as is. For my first try with it, I didn’t want to use any fancy glass, so I used a bunch of clear scraps PLUS the pieces of my wind chime that completely broke in a wind storm. You can see the pieces along with the broken birdfeeder.

Here was my setup. I just tossed all those wind chime pieces on top of a bed of clear scrap and then topped it all with more clear scrap:

That’s a lot of glass so it had to “cook” very slowly, heating up very gradually to 1470° and then coming down to the annealing temp of 950° and holding there for a couple of hours in order to stabilize. Overall, it fired for about 16 hours, and it took 8 hours alone just to ramp up to 1100° before ramping a little faster to the 1470° mark, which is the hottest that kiln has reached so far. When I opened the kiln this morning, this was the result:

Here you can see how thick the slab is:

It’s nothing special, since I didn’t add any colorful glass beyond the broken wind chime pieces or work at arranging the colors for any effect, but the experiment was successful—no blow-out bubbles, and a lovely edge that didn’t require any cold-working (like grinding). I know now that the firing schedule works! I’m currently slumping it into the shallow bowl mold like the first lace-edge bowl above. Again, very slowly because it’s so thick. I’m not sure what to expect! It may not end up being much, but I’m experimenting! It’ll probably be mid-day tomorrow before I can open that kiln.

And finally, I made these little “windows” for a cute ‘lil Ikea lantern. I removed the existing glass windows and cut some fusible glass the same size and decorated them like this:

(You can see the ‘lil lantern in the background). Anyway, they are currently contour fusing in the kiln and I’ll stick the new ‘lil windows back into the lantern when they’re done. Hopefully it’ll look pretty cute! Either that, or horrifically busy.

Aaaaaand, I’m doing this to avoid cleaning my house!

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. –Martin Luther King, Jr.

Truth of the Matter

"Everything about Trump is about his hatreds. It's the source of his bond with his base, the conservative movement in this country: they know he doesn't share their religion or even their economic ideas, but he hates the same people they do, and he hates really, really well." -Warren Terra

Another Journey Around the Sun

I know that celebrating the New Year is mostly metaphorical, but it does have a physical reality: we’ve circled the sun! We’ve traveled far! Wikipedia tells me we’ve journeyed 584 million miles since the last time the Space Needle spewed fireworks.

THIS year:

Yeah…we really rock it, don’t we?

A few days in now, life has been mostly mellow. Lots of rain (and wind), so holing up inside and not stressing about much (aside from idiot trump and his idiocy). It was nice to not have to put away Christmas decorations, although I suspect next year I will be motivated to deck the halls. Especially if the kids come up. I sure do miss my grandson! Oh, I ache.

In my last post I mentioned a glass ditty I had in the kiln that was a little different, and it turned out pretty OK! I had a bunch of glass bits left over (still do) from my bowl project, so I made this!

I thought it was a good addition to our master bathroom!

Working on it, and also trying to make myself some frit with my new frit maker, and considering other projects, made me realize just what a HUGE MESS my glass studio was. OUT OF HAND. I hardly had an open surface anywhere, and there were little bowls and containers stacked upon each other filled with glass scraps. Everything was utterly cluttered and utterly messy. I knew it was time to delve in. And so I did. It’s still not done, but I’ve made a good dent! Honestly, the most gross part was all the cat hair (and cat bath debris) from Mojo spending so much time sleeping (and bathing) in there. He seeks out any surface, no matter how small or whether it’s covered in glass. It’s weird what you don’t notice until you’re fixated on cleaning.

I should have taken a “before” photo, but I didn’t think of it (plus it would have been embarrassing!)

I’m looking forward to having work space that will hopefully give me some inspiration!

I’ll leave you with this little guy who is getting smarter every day (and who just swells my heart!)

 

Just Some Things

I suppose it’s sort of a first world problem, but man I’m annoyed with my credit union. In fact, I’m on the brink of furious! (OK, I AM furious!) I knew that my Visa’s expiration date was 12/18, so in November when I started getting warnings from Amazon and other companies that I needed to update my card, I called the credit union to ask when I’d be receiving my replacement. Rather snidely, the woman I spoke with said, “Your current card is valid through the end of December, and we won’t send out the new card until about two weeks before it expires.”

By mid-December I still hadn’t received it and I was getting constant dire warnings and threats from Amazon and various other companies: YOU MUST UPDATE YOUR CREDIT CARD NOW!!! I called the credit union again and they said that they’d sent out my replacement card November 25th—but I had never received it! “We will send you another one, and it will take 7 to 10 days for you to receive it.” (Shit! That’s via US mail—where does it ship from? CHINA??) But supposedly, my current card was still valid through the end of the month.

And then, I started having purchases denied. (We’re talking Christmas season, remember). I learned through a contentious “discussion” with Amazon that it was my credit union who had denied my purchase!

So, I called Sound Credit Union and laid into them. They claimed that my new card was mailed on December 21st, and that they shut down my current card. WHY? “That’s just our policy.” WTF!!!

We won’t have Blue Apron delivery this weekend because they automatically charge my card and the card was declined. I have Amazon subscriptions for pantry items that are now declined. (And no, I never use my debit card online since there’s no protection if it’s hacked). Monday will be 10 days, and if I don’t receive the card, I’m seriously considering quitting Sound Credit Union, after being a member for over 50 years. Do you feel my fury??

I’ve been trying to keep calm on these wet and windy and dreary days tucked into books (thankfully purchased BEFORE this credit card shit) and also playing around in my messy glass studio. (I really need to tidy up! At least I don’t have to take down Christmas decorations since I never put any out). I did have one disappointing failure (a potentially interesting small bowl that slumped all unevenly), but this one made me smile.

 

I also have something very different currently cooking in the kiln, but I’m not expecting much. Just don’t have a real good feel about it. (I’ll know in the morning once the kiln has cooled down).

John gave me a frit maker for Christmas (see the clear lacy glass bits around the rim of the bowl above? That’s frit. That’s coarse, and you can get it in medium, fine, and even powder, but it’s expensive and since I have so much scrap I really wanted to make my own). I went out into the shop and tried my hand at crushing some. I haven’t sifted it yet, but I think it worked pretty well. But I got cold out there! There is no heat in the shop and brrrrrrr!

My frit maker!

Such a Fun Christmas!

This is me and my cousin, Sheri. My dad was her mom’s brother, and we literally grew up together. They always lived in Bremerton and we always lived in Puyallup, and I remember treks across the Narrows Bridge to their house (that seemed to take forever) where Mom and Dad would make my brother and I hide on the backseat floor of the car so they didn’t have to pay the bridge toll for us. That was back in the day (1960s) when there was a toll going each direction and it was charged by occupant. Actually, I’ve just been hit with all kinds of childhood memories today!

Not too bad for 62, right? We’re four months apart, and we are quite different from each other, but we have always connected, and have always cracked each other up. Neither of us have sisters, so in a way, we’re a bit like sisters. At least, I think of it that way. I adore my cousin Sheri!

This was quintessential Christmas. A houseful of people ranging from 3 years old to 85, with everything in between. It was raucous, musical, casual, hilarious, and even 16-1/2 year-old Bailey had a ball. Sheri and her husband have a Boston Terrier puppy (“Carl” is actually a year old, but he’s still a puppy!) There was concern that Carl and Bailey could have difficulties because of Carl’s rambunctious-ness, but because Bailey was so calm, she seemed to calm Carl! Bailey was curious, engaged, interested, and she walked and walked among everyone. She is stone-deaf, so children’s squeals and the uproar of voices didn’t affect her like they used to do, so she just wandered around and checked everyone—and everything—out. She and Carl hung out somewhat, rubbed noses, sniffed butts, and got along just swell!

(Above is John with my cousin Craig, Sheri’s brother).

We had ribs and potato dumplings and salads and appetizers and a multitude of desserts and it was marvelous. I just have all kinds of warm feels!

Nate and Sandra sent us some photos this evening and in Nate’s words, Quinn got “a plethora of toys and books and clothes.” And, he got a bit overwhelmed with it all. I remember Nate used to, too, when he was little. He had four boy cousins on his dad’s side, and when we’d get together, it was WILD. Little Nate would have a meltdown on the couch between his dad and I (and I kind of would, too…)

Here we go!

I think this last picture sums it up for all of us, right?

Mellow

This has been the most laid back Christmas Eve in memory. Wow. I mean, I really have done nothing this season: no decorating, no baking, no holiday events, no stress. In fact, the most stressful thing was getting Nate’s, Sandra’s, and Quinn’s gifts wrapped and boxed and shipped so they’d have them for Christmas, and even that wasn’t all that bad (they arrived in plenty of time).  Earlier this evening the kids and I Facetimed and I got to watch them open a few gifts before Nate’s phone battery died. Quinn had already opened a toy cell phone I’d sent him and he was RIVETED. Buttons, you know. Gawd he loves buttons! He had zero interest in opening anything else! He walked around with it, he pushed the buttons, and he even held it up to his ear and “talked.” It. Was. So. Cute.

I’d also made a Shutterfly photo book for them of Quinn’s first year. (I have to say: I’m tickled to death how it turned out. I created it back in October and I’ve been so excited to give it to them. Also bought one for myself, of course). I got to watch Sandra open it! Here is the digital viewer of the book if you’d like to see it. (Do Control+ two or three times so it’s not so small on the screen). Anyway, it was fun to see them open it, and they were really pleased with it. Even Quinn took some time from his toy cell phone to peer at some of the pictures.

I spent some time in the glass studio today, working on a project I’m kind of excited about (but also being pragmatic. It’s the first time doing this, and it’s a bit involved, so I am considering this an experiment). But it was a nice place to spend Christmas Eve Day with the dog and cats (one at a time) hanging out with me.

John and I opened our gifts tonight! He was so cute. I’d put a couple of things in my Amazon Wish List, like a frit maker (it crushes glass scraps into tiny bits, which is used a LOT in fused glass projects and also costs a LOT when you buy it, so I’ve been wanting to make my own especially since I’m swimming in glass scraps), and also a small drill press so I can drill holes in some of my projects. He was so excited: “I get to buy my wife POWER TOOLS!” So yes! I got them! Plus a whole bunch of diamond drill bits. I’m so excited! I got him some clothes, an Echo Spot, and these special switches that turn on the lights in certain rooms as you enter them and turn off when you leave. I figured they would be handy for the mud room, the walk-in closet, and also the guest bathroom. Oh, also a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

AND THEN.

We had lobster tails for dinner! Just lobster tails and Trader Joe’s fried rice. And get this: I could not eat all of my lobster tail, and I barely touched my fried rice! It was a total of 1.75 lbs. of lobster.

We are heading to Bremerton to hang out with my cousin Sheri and family tomorrow! It will be so fun to see everyone!

Decembering

It’s been a dark and stormy December so far, and frankly I don’t have any Christmas decorations (or lights) set out to offset that. Once I learned that it’s just going to be John and me here for Christmas, I drug my feet about decorating, and at this point it seems sort of silly to haul up bins from the “box” where it’s all stored. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas decorating (even if it’s just me doing it), but it’s also always tempered with the dread of having to take it all down and put it away. I hate that part! Ugh. So maybe my gift to myself this year is not having to contend with that dread. In the meantime, I do feel a bit wistful not having any decorations setting out, and I do miss the extra lights of the tree and garlands. Honestly? I’ll be glad when the holidays are over. (Ba humbug).

I’ve spent the last couple of days wrapping the kids’ gifts and boxing them up, and today John dropped them off at the post office to ship. That’s a relief! I sort of cut things to the edge with shopping and wrapping to get their gifts to them in time. I also wrapped John’s gifts while he was at the Hydroplane Museum. No tree to put them under, so I set them on the fireplace hearth. Heh.

In other news, I’ve been in a major reading mood, mostly because I finally found a book that was riveting enough to keep me—riveted. It was so good! I’d been browsing through Twitter, and Stephen King (whom I follow) casually mentioned a couple of books he had just finished reading and really liked, and that caught my attention. I admire Stephen King, and regardless if you like his horror genre or not, his writing skills are top-notch, and he wrote one of the most critically acclaimed books about writing. I strongly suspected that if he likes a book, I would most likely like that book, too! At 1:00 a.m. (this morning!) I finished Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. It was a whodunnit inside a whodunnit, and a good portion of it was in the delightful flavor of old(er) English countryside Agatha Christie murder mysteries. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. (I had to FORCE myself to wrap the above-mentioned Christmas presents!) For those who may be interested in reading it, aka Margaret, I recommend waiting until after the holidays because 1) YOU won’t be able to put it down, and 2) it requires a fair amount of uninterrupted focus. (There’s a lot going on…)

Stephen King also recommended November Road by Lou Berney, calling it “exceptional.” I haven’t started this one yet, but I will maybe later today. 

I saw (finally) my eye doctor last week and gave him a bit of “what for,” as my grandmother used to say. He was contrite, and also helpful. He determined that the Jones Tube was clogged with mucus and blood (it apparently had been since the surgery). My nasal cavity is also quite swollen and is pinching off the flow of tears through the tube into my nose. He flushed the tube with saline (yuk) and then showed me a technique to pinch my nostrils and blow, that oddly draws the tears down the tube. I’ve been blasting Afrin a couple of times a day since then to help reduce the swelling (plus doing the hold-nose-blow thing) and I’ve recently seen a marked improvement. The excessive tearing isn’t 100% gone, but I would say it’s a good 80%. So here’s an odd result of the now-clear tube (and nasal passage): When I breathe, I can feel air puffing out into the corner of my eye through the tube. It’s extremely weird, especially since that puff is COOL air, but I think I can eventually get used to it if it means the tearing is greatly improved.

I’m so glad to have relief!

Stormy Out There!

What you can’t see are the trees swaying and whitecaps crashing on the water, but it was crazy enough for a power outage earlier today. (And once again our whole-house generator saves the day! One of the best things we’ve ever done!) Thankfully, it wasn’t off for very long. It’s a little creepy because you can’t actually TELL when the power is back on! I have to open the door and listen for the generator. The transition is seamless!

Book club was canceled today (postponed until next month) because one of our members was ill. When you only have three members, having one not able to come sort of makes it a deal breaker. I’d just finished the book yesterday! (It wasn’t great, but it did improve so I can’t say I hated it).

Helen came to visit Friday and Saturday and we had such a good time. We exchanged fun gifts for Christmas and for her birthday!

Wylie has decided that she (and Margaret, too!) are ALL THAT. That cat would not leave Helen alone!

She was Helen’s appendage!

Our plan was to drive into Olympia on Saturday to a super cool shop there called “Childhood’s End,” which has absolutely nothing to do with children. But it is a wonderful place packed full of unique and classy and quirky things, much of it art created by local folks. There are a lot of things that are a bit too high end, but I’ve always found some gorgeous ornaments and John has gifted me some extraordinary décor treasures. BUT, we ended up not going. By the time we’d finished opening our gifts and yapping-yapping-yapping, it was really too late to drive an hour in the rain. Plus, it would have meant leaving Bailey home alone, something I hadn’t considered beforehand, because John was at the Hydroplane Museum. It worked out fine. I’ll take her there sometime when she’s up here and the weather isn’t so nasty.

I had the ABSOLUTE PLEASURE of having a Facetime (video) call with Nate and Quinn this afternoon! It was wonderful! I get such a kick out of how engaged Quinn is with me on the screen (I think just a phone, but maybe a tablet). At one point he gave “me” a kiss, and I could see this skin-colored smudge on my screen along with one blue eye! God it was funny. But he rode his rocking horse, pointed to cows in his animal book (“Quinn, what does a cow say?” “QUACK!”), and I saw him run to the glass slider to see the dogs. Yep, he’s running!

I now have THESE, too!

My heart is bursting!!

So, it appears that Christmas this year will just be John and me. I’m thinking about picking up some great big (and I mean big) luscious lobster tails. Mmmm…

I'll leave you with some more holiday cheer! Tee hee.

 

Today

“Today feels different. Sadder, more infuriating, more sickening and closer to the end when the country and its leaders can no longer avoid the scale of criminality committed by Trump and his co-conspirators to defraud the electorate, enrich themselves, and cheat their way into the White House.” –Steven Beschloss

Venting in Three Parts

I am in the foulest of foul moods, darkest of the dark. Your resting bitch face holds nothing over my snarling fury face. The reasons for this angst range from goddamn annoying to f*cking unbelievable.

The worst first.

My Eye

Yesterday was my post-op appointment with my eye doctor, and I came armed with grievance. Since the installation of that “Jones Tube,” my eye has been weeping more incessantly than it had even before! Tears are constantly either streaming, dripping, or pooling and it affects everything I do. I can’t see! Whether I’m cleaning, cooking, driving, grocery shopping, browsing my computer, watching TV, working on glass, doing laundry, you name it—and especially being outside—I feel like I’m under water. I can’t adequately express just how energy sapping this is! It’s exhausting and beyond infuriating!

So, a woman (I assume a nurse or medical tech) put me in an exam room and asked all cheerfully with a big bright smile, “How is your eye doing?” I bluntly said “terrible” and explained that there was absolutely ZERO improvement, and in fact, it was actually worse.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! That must be so frustrating!”

I blinked at her, and wiped a dripping tear.

“There’s nothing I can do, but you’ll need to see Dr. Woodman, of course.”

I said, “That is why I am here.”

She said, “Oh, he’s not in today.”

 

   WHAT.      THE.      FUCK.

 

I pretty much exploded then. “TWO HOURS WE DROVE TO THIS APPOINTMENT AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THE DOCTOR IS NOT HERE?”

“Well, no, it’s just considered a follow-up—”

“WITH THE DOCTOR! A FOLLOW-UP WITH THE DOCTOR!! MY ‘FOLLOW-UP’ APPOINTMENTS AFTER THE DCRs WERE ALWAYS WITH THE DOCTOR!”

And then I calmly said to her, “I cannot express to you just how furious I am.”

She said, “I understand. I can get my supervisor—”

“AND WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT DO??!!!”

So. I have another appointment next Wednesday.

WITH THE GODDAMN DOCTOR.

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Toilet Paper

What the hell is happening? I’ve been buying TP from Amazon through their (stupid) subscription service and it was great for a while, receiving a big case every couple of months or so and not having to lug the awkward packages home from the grocery store and down the steps into the house, or worry about running out unexpectedly because: subscription! And then, like they always stupidly do, Amazon changed the brand, reduced the quantity, upped the price, and completely effed it all up. And now, the only choices of TP from Amazon, subscription or not—or apparently the grocery store!—are MEGA-Rolls with something like 1,500 sheets per roll that in no way fit in our recessed toilet paper dispensers (or the kinda cool cylinder bamboo storage containers I keep near the terlets because the cupboard is too far away in a pinch) (<—heh, pinch). OR, they are spindly, 150 sheets per roll, that rattle around in the dispenser and even with just the two of us living here, I have to change rolls at least twice a day! I am not kidding. (What must it be like in households with lots of females?!) I can’t find a size in between, ANYWHERE. It’s unacceptable, and why in the hell should we have to suddenly experience anxiety OVER TOILET PAPER??!!

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Texting/Typing From a Phone

“Ok, I have a huge question, so there are so many secrets on my moms side, but I did my ancstry dna, and I’m slowly working on my tree, So here’s the question if you click on a let’s say 3 rd cousin match, and you click on the matches button on their page and you see , a common 2 Nd cousin, third cousin , ect like same in line matches my 2 Nd cousin, is showing the same 2 Nd cousin , ect are they a close relative??? I’m trying to find a sister
I hope I explained this right Thanks your awesome.”

This is a typical Facebook post from a DNA group I follow, and it’s also typical in many other posts. Is it that people don’t care about spelling, grammar, or punctuation (or never learned)? Or is it that people are mostly “thumb-typing” on their phones and therefore don’t care about spelling, grammar, or punctuation? How can you even make sense of something “written” like that? People could argue that I’ve now officially joined the “Crabby Old Ladies’ Club,” but honestly…is being dumb now cool?

I blame trump.