haiku day

at least once a year, i feel a tug in my inner-most poetic heart and succumb to the urge to write haiku. poor you... i decided to publish them this year.

do spiders shiver
in my house with frost inside
i believe they do


tea fogs my glasses
with steam, smells of green bamboo
aah, genmaicha

arms stretched to heaven
candlesticks without candles
nothing in their hands

more tomorrow... maybe.
lovepeace
heather

!#*@$%^*$%#

(it's unfortunate that there's no haggelty knife on the keyboard. cussing like asterix is always cathartic.)

another load of crap pots. actually, and even more heartbreakingly, the pots are lovely. i don't think i have ever executed my forms quite so gracefully. then i had to go mess them up by coloring on them. i don't think i want to draw on my pots anymore. i am so weary of putting hours and hours into illustrating them, only to have them come out washed out and thin. i have tried every temp and atmosphere i can think of, and still it looks like crap. but i did make sadie laugh with this imaginary exchange,
"heather, why don't you draw on your pots anymore?"
"why don't YOU draw on my pots? here, buy this plate and i'll give you a crayon and you can go to town."
i guess it's all worth it in the end.

late night

it is late, and the greyhound just left. i am wishing it would rain. it would suit my mood to a t to have the soft rustle and splash of a decent sized storm outside my bedroom window. melancholia is the murmur of the moment, and the weather is simply not playing along. a clear night with a chorus of crickets does nothing for the moderately downtrodden soul. i guess that i will just have to approximate by leaving the shower running all night.
(i am kidding.)

hay baling

my dear little sister kiki is here for a visit, and we are having a lovely weekend of relaxed fun. that said, yesterday afternoon we went out to sabbath rest farm (where michael works) to help with the hay baling. they cut the hay a couple of times during the summer and put it up for winter fodder for the horses and cows. we arrived in time to watch gary driving the baler over the steep slopes, heavy bales already bound with twine dropping out of the back of the ancient machine. i was worried that benny the wonder mutt was going to try to get herself baled, but she was more interested in chasing ducks and running along side the tractor that pulled the hay trailer. katherine rode in the trailer with diane and stacked bales while michael, david, tim, his son, and i threw bales of hay up into the trailer. i admit, i was scared that i wasn't going to be able to keep up, but i did! i even threw a bale or two up onto the trailer three bales high! (as you can tell, i was rather impressed with myself.) the men very kindly arranged it so that i stayed on the high side, as i am not quite tall enough to throw them into the trailer on the down slope. i promptly bounced the first bale across the trailer and sent it tumbling down to the bottom of the slope. michael fetched it up. he's just manly like that.
i have never known people happier in their work than this cobbled together farm family. and it is hard work! they hold down regular jobs and tend their cows and fields as a labor of love. they care for their sick and elders, and live in what must be the most christian of community, yet christ rarely crosses their lips. maybe a christian's need to proclaim is inversely proportionate to their good works. that would explain their good humor and silence on the subject.
after the baling and feeding the cows (among them ferdinand the bull), peggy fed us a good supper and big michael showed us the chickens. kiki and i are in love with the chickens, and the chicken house for that matter. the michaels (big and little)built it under the tutelage of vince, who has recently passed. their respect and affection for one another is apparent in the loving craftsmanship of this humble abode. with pretty nesting boxes and wooden perches, it is also the only chicken house i have ever seen with electric light and running water. the chickens, however, are oblivious to their good fortune. they hunt and peck and scratch like any other chickens and reward their keeper with lovely pastel hued eggies. several different breeds, they cluster together with their sisters and ignore the others. i held a hen, now named hetty, who looked a lot like a hawk and is called (of all things) a sex link. she was soft and very sweet once i managed to catch her. katherine favored the americanas with their lovely colors so like a renaissance painting. (they lay blue eggs.) now, of course, we both want chickens.
it was a full day, and a fun one. and now it is time to go figure out what to do with this one.

movie games, ginger ale, and errol flynn

i had intended to play my favorite movie game this afternoon; Guilt By Association. Easy to do even if you have a rather small collection of films, as long as your taste is fairly consistent. the rule is this (and there is only one rule) watch as many movies as you have time for, but every movie must have one actor in common with the last one. it can become a film fest if you like, but it is more fun to choose some cameo actor and go from there. movie sluts like michael caine and johnny depp make it easy to see really disparate movies in one afternoon. or if you start with with relatively obscure actors like terrence stamp, you can go from 60's crime escapades to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to LA Confidential (Guy Pearce) to A Beautiful Mind (whatsisname the handsome kiwi who handled fame so badly, o! russell crowe) to Labyrinth (Jennifer Connolly)! (imdb is cheating.)
HOWEVER... instead i watched (listened to) Errol Flynn's Captain Blood while making cookies and cleaning the kitchen. his first starring role, he is still young enough to REALLY be having fun. he probably wasn't entirely drunk the whole time yet, either! and then for something entirely different, sadie and i watched Silverado. i just had to hear Kevin Costner say, "All i did was kiss the girl, Emmett." o, and Danny Glover saying, "i don't want to kill you, and you don't want to be dead." i can't tell you how many times i have said that over the years and could not remember from whence it came.
but it is late, and i am obviously wandering.
here is your recipe of the day:
ginger ale
16 oz mineral water (ice cold, of course)
1 tsp or less maple syrup
2 Tbs ginger juice, or more (juice a bunch and keep in a jar in the fridge)
slice of lime
combine ingredients 1,2, and 3, and stir. top off with a squeeze of lime. yum! great on movie day, yard work day, laundry day. also great for nausea, morning sickness, sea sickness, hangovers, cramps, you name it! good stuff.

good night, all!
h.

ps. feeding nachos to the dog: mistake.

mehitabel found

i had the distinct pleasure of running into an old friend this morning while walking ms. benny. there, in the hostas, was my dear old girl mehitabel, looking as sleek and ebony as ever she did. i have thought of her often since her departure in the fall. a neighborhood boy approached me in late summer to tell me that she had moved in with them so i did not worry for her, but i have missed her. she is an affectionate creature with a quirky and intelligent demeanor. i was glad to only have benny with me this morning, as she is not as... enthusiastic... about greeting fellow travelers as is her sister june. mehitabel and i had a few minutes to catch up before i had to walk on. i left her sitting on an oak stump in the sun, following me away with her peculiar yellow eyes. she is well and sassy, and i hope to see her again.
h.

(*&%^*&^*()*&!@#$#%$#@&*&^%$#%$*$%@@!#$ slugs!

o, carnage. o, scorched earth. the inhumanity! all my little plants are chewed to the stumps. i want to scream and tear my hair. i thought this was supposed to be theraputic! who knew that those soft-bodied little menaces could do this much damage? yesterday i had an entire row of sprouts in my raised bed. today i have NOTHING. not one left. it has been raining so much that putting out beer is pretty much an exercise in alcoholic futility. after all my ranting and raving about organic gardening, i find myself wondering if malathion would kill slugs. how about sevin dust? CHLOROX? WHAT? sigh... i can share, really. i don't mind losing a few plants to the little bastards, but ALL of them? sigh. if i want to have a single vegetable this summer i begin to think that i should invest in a few earth boxes and wire them to a car battery to keep the dogs out. tomato towers are easy to make... if anything ever comes up, i'll post pictures.
o, and if i come up with some way to kill off the little menaces, you bet i'll post that too!
death to sluggie!
heather

mother's day

i must say that today has been the most wonderful mother's day in my memory. sadie dropped enough hints on friday that i went out and bought a waffle iron, but other than that, i had no expectations. there was really no one to expect anything from! guthrie and sadie have not done anything for mother's day since they stopped doing art projects after elementary school. but today was different. sadie made me a lovely breakfast of waffles, espresso, and ambrosia. she even accompanied me on my morning doggy hike and helped me cut down the trash tree on the driveway. (she dragged the bits off for a fort down by the stream.)guthrie rallied to make dinner for us all, and succeeded incredibly with a coconut curry with shallots, fingerling potatoes, and green peppers. it was so tasty. they even cleaned up the kitchen while i took june to the (very cute) vet to get stitches. i am so proud of them. they are growing up so fast and so beautifully. i feel honored and touched that they slowed down enough to share the day with me. i am vastly blessed.
lovepeace
heather

insta-review: the soloist

go see it.

o... you want to know why? ok. it is a compelling story of a relationship between a professional columnist and a homeless savant. robert downey junior plays steve lopez, a writer for the LA Times, who meets jaime foxx's nathaniel ayers beneath a statue of beethoven and there begins to traverse the incredibly complicated terrain of the human experience as complicated by schizophrenia. a newsroom in decline, bright urban LA, and a shelter rooted in the seamiest skid row are backdrops for the development of a real bond between them. themes of exploitation (both professional and political), of charity vs. arrogance, and of the beauty of even the most corruptly human do stumble a little with heavy handedness, but each point hit close enough to home to create pause. also, it was a visual treat. i did not stay to see the credits, but the DP should be applauded. each image, most especially of the crowds of skid row, held layer upon layer of information. smaller stories played out in the periphery without drawing your attention away from the stunning performances of the lead players. even katherine keener was subdued and no where near as obnoxious as usual, though she did manage to play the same character that she always does. in short, i am glad that i didn't know she was in it, as it would have been a real shame to miss it.
h.

recipe of the day

it always feels funny calling instructions for making a sandwich a recipe... it is more like a list of stuff to shove between layers of bread. anyway...
the Redneck Reuben (vegan variety)
(yes, i do know the difficulty of finding a vegan redneck.)
the bread: thick chewy sourdough... wonderbread is the aesthetic choice, but it doesn't hold together.
the stuffing:
marinated and fried tempeh (if you simmer it for 15 minutes in the marinade you can skip the overnight in the fridge thing and pass on the intestinal discomfort.)
hot chowchow (a peppery sweet cabbage and vegetable relish)
avocado, if you've got one (just 'cause they're yummy)
the sauce(s):
the chowchow already adds the sweetness of the thousand island dressing, so spicy veganaise and dill mustard are the best. (for spicy veganaise, drop a couple of canned chipotles into a blender with the veganaise. whirl and spread.)

assemble while tempeh is still warm, if possible. eat with zapp's dill potato chips. mmmmyum.

(and no, i don't make my own tofu mayo. do i LOOK like julia childs?)(the correct answer to that question is NO.)

bone appetite.

bread and puppet

sadie and i went to see the bread and puppet circus this evening in the park by the river behind the wedge. it was FABULOUS! we laughed until near comatose. they are wonderful and talented performers, musicians, and satirists. my favorite was the zombie bank triathlon. i wish that i could describe it, but even my powers fail to express the humor of a small brass band playing the thriller theme while five "zombies" in tattered business suits do coordinated michael jackson imitations.
and of course, being asheville, the crowd was even more colorful than the players! alwin was there with his gorgeously pregnant sister lauren, as were melissa and willow, and at least a hundred other unique spectators in various stages of unwash and undress. i love asheville. i never feel smelly here.
and on that note, a shower!
(this post excerpted from a letter to a friend.)
heather

one of two

this is one of two favorite pieces from my last salt kiln at odyssey. it was an interesting firing. everything was perfect until the damper broke... things came out a little less bright than i had hoped, and the bottom got much hotter than the top, and the (rep)tile 6 flaked off all of my vases, but all in all i have gotten used to it!
no, really, most of it is quite lovely, and very sold. both of which i like! there were many opportunities to learn, and we all know how much i love those!
thank you buckminster fuller.
h.

swine flu

here we go again. dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria. a rather nasty and contagious flu has again broken out in a foreign country causing international panic and excessive gloating by big pharma and big brother. rumors of potential millions dead, entire cities shut down, and the entire world at risk are pushing media into a swooning frenzy. does it not seem odd that nobody has brought up the debacle of the 1976 swine flu vaccine, which killed more people than the flu? or that the fatalities of the flu pandemic (a real one!) of 1918 were actually caused by strep? and that they did not have an effective treatment for it at that point? before you buy yourself stock in surgical masks, my suggestion is that you step back, take a breath, and get a little perspective. the bird flu? not a pandemic. west nile? not a pandemic. the original swine flu? not a pandemic. panics, yes. excuses for border closures, surveillance, and expensive vaccination programs, yes. but dangerous? no. not to your health, anyway.
here are a few numbers on the current mania.
* 64 laboratory confirmed cases in U.S. -- 0 deaths
* 26 confirmed cases in Mexico -- 7 deaths
* 6 confirmed cases in Canada -- 0 deaths
* 1 confirmed case in Spain -- 0 deaths
somehow this doesn't look like ebola, y'all. so...
wash your hands. don't smooch people you don't know who have runny noses who just got off the plane from Mexico. go see a doctor if you get sick. but... don't let them give you a flu shot.
(here are the common side effects of Tamiflu:
* Nausea
* Vomiting
* Diarrhea
* Headache
* Dizziness
* Fatigue
* Cough
they can include convulsions, delerium, delusions, and death. somehow, i think that i'd rather brave the flu.)
at any rate! be well! drink lots of fluids and get some rest!
lovepeace
heather

april 4, snow.

hopefully the last snow of the season, but it sure was beautiful.
love
heather

yay mom!

i am so proud of my mom. every year she goes to haiti to work to alleviate some of the misery in that storm and strife-torn island. she works hard all year to gather medicines and supplies to take the people of la gonaive and to organize the expedition with her fellow aid workers. they venture to haiti in the spring and, for a little more than a week, offer clinical care to all who come to them for aid. they are a remarkable group of people, compassionate and intelligent. i have the utmost respect and admiration for them. and my mom is one of them. as proud of her as i am, i am always glad when she is back among us. even though i live away, i miss her when she is gone. but now she is home, or was due home at midnight. welcome home, mama! i love you!
three cheers for mom!
love
h.

the carnage

yes, mama, i'll clean it up when i'm ALL done...

awaiting firing...

sneak peek.

phase two complete... whew!

i finished glazing around nine tonight. holy mother of pearl. i thought i'd never finish.

sooooooooooooooo tired...

i realize that it has been weeks since my last post. i promise that i haven't been leading some fabulous double life: meek potter mom on the blog, wild spy-gal in secret. no, i have actually been hiding in my basement for over a week now, decorating pots until i am cross eyed. i came up tonight after midnight. i did find my reading glasses though, so i didn't fall up the stairs again. (darn that lack of depth perception!) i have taken a few pictures, but as everything is... different than anything i have done for over a year, i am keeping them to myself until after the firing. as it stands, i will unload the day we set up for the clingman show. speaking of the show...
if you are in town on friday april 3, join us (courtney murphy, penny waters-clark, jenn houlihan, patty bilbro, julie covington, and me) at the clingman cafe from 5-7 pm for an opening. and if you miss it, the show will be up for the month of april.

and now... off to shower and fall asleep listening to the rain dripping from the eaves. (or from the showerhead...)
lovepeazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
heather

raw truffles!

a little coconut dresses up any occasion. i let them set up in the fridge after rolling, and they are exceedingly toothsome. (though you will REALLY want to brush your teeth afterwards...) now i want to figure out a way to make pink marshmallow brains in a whole food, vegan, healthy kind of way. fat chance, i know. but i already figured out how to make pink coconut!
love
heather

cleansing is SOOOOOOO hard. (or not!)

ah, february... the month (or first month) of my annual cleanse. daily exercise, fresh food, no gluten/ refined sugar/ processed food/ additives/ preservatives/ dairy/ alcohol/ coffee... this year's model even has daily allowances of chocolate and green tea. so, instead of eating some store-bought chocolate bar and obsessing over a little (approved) sugar, i experimented and made up a raw brownie recipe of my own. (i got the idea from our local uli-mana raw chocolate company. their brownies are ...o goodness... divine. a very sweet odyssey student gave me a box for firing the salt kiln for their class. but they are 13 dollars in the store... hence, this recipe.) i am super proud of it. they are uber tasty in their own right. if you want them a little sweeter, add some more agave. try some cayenne or chipotle. some dried berries or cherries. maybe almonds or fresh coconut...mmm. you could also roll them into balls instead of cutting into bars, but the visual was less than stunning. or... actually it was stunning. just not in a good way. that said...

heather's very own super yummy raw brownie recipe
1 cup raw cocoa powder
1/2 cup deglet noor dates (soaked overnight)
4 Tbs. raw agave nectar
2 Tbs. coconut oil (unrefined)
1/4 cup walnuts
2 Tbs. raw cocoa nibs
pinch of sea salt
dash of cinnamon

your FOOD PROCESSOR!

process the first four ingredients until they are a soft paste. it kind of balls up about the size of lentils, but will squish together easily. (add a TBS. of water if necessary.) add the walnuts and process to your heart's desire. (i like my walnuts a little chunky.) add salt, cinnamon, and nibs. pulse until blended. scrape the mixture into a loaf pan (or form of some sort) and press hard. let sit for an hour or so for the flavors to blend. cut into small bars and eat it up! fudgy and deeeelicious!
tell me what you think!
lovepeace
heather

mercury rising

i read a comment on a story about the mercury in high fructose corn syrup today. a mom wailed,
"now what are we supposed to feed our kids? AIR?"
i wanted to reach through the screen and shake her. no, you dingbat! you are supposed to feel them FOOD! not some frankensteinian, better-living-through-chemistry food substance. ain't nothing like the real thing, baby! instead of a packet of industrialized, over-packaged, chemically "enriched" peanut butter crackers, try (drum roll please) a carrot! an apple! some real peanut butter on a real cracker! there are still some companies out there that don't use ingredients you can't spell. (and yes, i know, peanut butter is a problem at the moment, too. but i checked all three organic brands in my pantry, and they weren't recalled.) and, about the excuse i hear all the time, "they just won't eat it!..." two questions: one, will you? because they will if you will. especially if it's the only food in the house. two, who's the mommy here, anyway? my favorite pediatrician in all the world, dr. paul b. welty, used to say, "when they're hungry they'll eat." my very wise mom paraphrased that to, "when they are hungry, they will eat what you offer."
try it, america. declare yourself liberated from factory foods. you don't have to eat the rubbish they advertise on tv just because your toddler says they "have to have it" or because the american pre-fab crap imitation food council has brainwashed you into thinking that cooking is hard and time consuming. it's not.
so, here's my challenge to you. ALL OF YOU. spend a week not eating out of a cardboard box. all fresh, frozen, or single ingredient in the can or package foods. if you need recipes, email me. i'll be your iron chef for the week. (one caveat: i'm a vegetarian.)
i promise you that it is easier than you think. after your body detoxifies (and it will) you will feel fabulous. and if i am wrong, i will email you a picture of myself at which you can fling poo. i will not, however, come over and clean your keyboard.
go for it!
lovepeace
heather

octopus attack! aaaaaa!

okay... so i missed the inauguration and our new and fearless leader's first week in office, but never mind about that s--t, here comes Mongo!
i made this today at clayspace. kudos to becca floyd for assigning closed form boxes. how do you like those feet?
until next time, love and peace
h.

why?

i wonder why we do these things to ourselves. listen to experimental jazz. watch cell phone footage of a young man being killed by a cop on a subway platform. read faulkner...
what urge is it that makes us do things that make us feel sick of spirit? or is there something wrong with me that external things affect me so personally?
okay, and the real curious question: why does tom waits make me feel BETTER? i swear, he's better than prozac. (so i've never tried prozac. your point?)
i'm gonna go listen to small change. i'll be right as rain before the espresso finishes burbling.
h.

asheville's ice queens

to ring out the old year properly, we (sadie, lori, and i) decided to so something we rarely ever do. we went ice skating. now, i know that conjures up lovely images of snow covered hills and scintillating frozen ponds, but it is not quite that cold here. chilly! but not quite 6 inches on ice on the french broad chilly. so we skated indoors at the civic center. it was fun! parents and children crowded the ice with the occasional really fast big fella from the actually frozen north zinging circles around us all. we looked and felt like grand dorks in our rented skates, but it was tremendous fun! i waited at one end of the ice to catch the video posted here.
and we didn't kill ourselves. not even once!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
lovepeace
heather