Tickets To Fire!

This is a cockeyed picture of how my caladium platter fit on the shelf of squares. Sorry. Jessie placed it for me on a higher shelf than I would have put it on so I was holding the phone at a clumsy angle to take the picture. As you can see, I slid my little fishy under the leaf and Gail, our teacher, said that would be fine. So. Four squares for the one platter. Not so bad. I am honestly excited to see how this turns out. I hope it colors up and shines up during the firing. It should. 

And...I finally started working on the fish platter. 

It has begun! As I painted her eye she whispered that her name was Francis. Francis the Blue-Eyed Fish. 
I have never named anything I've made in pottery before unless you count, "Failure" or "Sigh" as names. 
I'm excited. I do love to paint fish. 

It was a big day for our pottery class as we celebrated Gail, our friend and teacher, and Shelly, our joyful friend who loves festivals and has a beautiful son she's raising by herself. And she's doing a damn fine job. The lemon bars I brought and the cookies Jessie made were hugely enjoyed. I am so glad. It was nice to make today's class a little special for Gail and Shelly. The lemon bars were delicious. I'm not going to lie. And Jessie's cookies- well, I have to get that recipe. It's gluten-free and has peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, butter, and flax seed in them. There may be other things. I think I like them better than the life-sustaining cookies I make for Glen when he goes off on one of his manly adventures. When I get it, I will share it. 

There was some serious pottery-making going on today, too. It wasn't all cookie eating and birthday celebrating. Jessie's trying to figure out how to make August a dragon pot for the plant she got him. He has requested that. She'll do it. 
And Gentleman Caller™ came in for a quick visit. He looked especially spiffy today. I bet I'm one of the last ten people to use the word "spiffy." Perhaps I should use the "sartorial" instead. It is far more sophisticated, don't you think? Lizzie sent me this picture which she took this morning. 

Takes a real man to wear a pink jacket and a tie to go with. 
It really is amusing how the class responds to his presence when he comes in for one of his quick visits. Let us just say we all have a fondness for the Gentleman Caller™. 

I think he looks a little like my own Gentleman Caller™, don't you? 
And by the way, he gave his permission for his photo to be posted here. I thank him for that. I believe people like to see what the folks I talk about look like sometimes. Generally, I am shy about asking anyone if I can take their picture to use on my blog but I don't think it's fair not to get permission. I mean- someone could be in the Witness Protection Program and one of the ones and ones of people who visit here might recognize and wish them harm! 
You never know. We are a pretty wild and possibly dangerous community here at the Church of the Batshit Crazy. I mean- look at me. I attempted to steal a cart with unpaid for foodstuffs in it today. 
Not on purpose. Let us be clear. Read on for that story.

After class Jessie and I met Lily at the Indian buffet which was excellent, as always. We talked and laughed and then laughed some more, again, as always. And then I dropped Jessie off at her house so she could get a nap before her shift tonight and I went to Costco and Publix. Are we surprised? 
I had an experience at Publix. 
I should be embarrassed to tell this story but for some reason I am not. Perhaps because this was not the first time this experience has happened to me. Well, I made it happen. But that was a long time ago back when I didn't worry about my brain and its functioning. So that is reassuring. 
What happened was that while I was shopping I felt the need to visit the restroom. I parked my cart near the restroom doors, went in to one of them, did what one does in a restroom, came out, saw only one cart, grabbed the handle and pushed it down the aisle. 
It wasn't until I was about two aisles over that I looked down at the basket where I stash some of the things I'm going to buy and thought, "I am not buying bread. Or grated cheese. WTF? Goddammit! I grabbed the wrong cart!" 
And indeed I had. 
I found the guy whose basket I had stolen and he was NOT WELL PLEASED. Turns out I'd parked my own cart a little bit away from the restroom doors, sort of in the floral section, and had blithely taken possession of his cart, which was parked much closer to the doors. 
Sigh. 
I apologized and he sort of glared at me but I was feeling feisty and refused to be shamed. Are you not proud of me? I thought, What the fuck, man? Shit happens. 
He took possession of his groceries and sort of huffed off and I went back to the floral section to collect my own which was sitting there, waiting patiently for me to realize my mistake and come back to retrieve it. Which I did, and off we went. I finished up my shopping and then went to pick up Mr. Moon who had taken one of his cars to a body shop to get something done and that's a long story but there were no dents, scratches, or tragedies involved so, whatever. 
I was was vastly relieved that the place he'd taken the Camry was very near to the Publix I'd been shopping at and not twenty miles away which is often the case when he needs a ride. 

And home we came where everything is so very, very dry. The beauty berries are not as fat this year and the clusters are smaller too. 

Everything looks tired and somewhat sad. 

These years happen. We were doing so well there for awhile, getting daily rain, and a good amount of it. 
And now, well, we're not.

I'm tired. Wednesdays are long days for me. But they are generally good days, as this one was. And tomorrow, I can gather my energy back around me. Perhaps I will even finish my shirt. 
And oh, wouldn't I love to put a little more color on Francis? 
Yes. Yes I would. 

I hope you've had a good day too. 

Love...Ms. Moon