My Mind Was Blown

Pottery was laid back as hell today. People are trying to tie up the loose ends of their projects to get them into the kiln since next week is this session's last class. We'll start again in a few weeks and we can often pick things up from the studio even if we don't have a class but the ideal situation is to have everything at least READY and on the shelf waiting for firing so starting a new project isn't really practical. 

What I did today was to put my fish dish on the wrong shelf which Jessie corrected for me (sigh) and to start a new fish spoon rest for Darling Billy's new kitchen. So yes, I started a project but hopefully, I'll get it fired, collect it while we're on break, and glaze that at home to take in to do the final firing when class starts again. 
Got that? 
And oh yeah, I finished doing the glaze painting on that wretched flower bowl and as so often happens, the more I tried to fix it, the worse I made things. I hope I don't hate it so much that it only represents a huge waste of time and energy, clay and glaze, when it comes out of the kiln. That, too, went on the ready-to-be-fired shelf. 

One of the best things about pottery class is seeing what other people are doing. Jessie's bowls and mugs are really becoming quite professional looking, beautiful and graceful, her glazing unique in both color and technique.
Another woman in our class is making a lot of different things on the wheel and they are all good but what she makes that charms my heart are tiny little urn-vases with the most perfect shapes and perfect handles. 
Our dear Lizzie's bowls are becoming more and more exquisite. She would pooh-pooh me if she heard me say that but it's true. One of her sons is an actual professional potter so she denigrates her own work to an unnecessary degree if you ask me. 
And another true joy in class is looking at the shelf of finished projects that have come out of the kiln and are waiting to be collected by the artists who made them and I do not use the term "artist" lightly. We stand in that little closet-sized area and ooh and ah and say, "Look at THAT!" and "I love it!" and are amazed at the diverse variation of things people make with clay and color. It's pretty enlightening as to how we are all inspired to create different things. 

Lily did not come to lunch with us today, nor did Lauren or Xena. Lily needed a nap. What mother of three who works full time DOESN'T need a nap? So Jessie and I did the thing we've been talking about doing for awhile now which was to...drumroll please...GO TO THE MALL!
We even ate our lunch there but I assure you we did not eat the food from Chik-Fil-A (never!) or Sbarros or the Cajun Cafe, but instead from a newish place which is local, serving Mexican food. Not Tex-Mex, although you could get a few things there which would qualify. We split some very fine fajitas and beans and rice and Jessie got half an ear of elote corn which looked like heaven on a stick. 
It was odd being in the mall. When my kids were little, I spent a lot of time there as I said a few days ago. It was an outing, free if you didn't buy anything, and close to the house. Of course we almost always bought something but never very much. And we could always get a snack or lunch. 
So almost every single square foot of the mall held a memory for me. I told Jessie the story of how when she was a mere tiny bebe, I was nursing her in the atrium area in a very, very discrete way, when a security guard who was about sixteen years old came up to me and said, "M'am. Are you breastfeeding?"
I mean- if he had to ask...
I was asked to please only nurse my baby in a more appropriate place like...a restroom. 
Bite me.
Long story short, a local journalist heard about the incident, called me and interviewed me. She wrote a piece about it in the paper when the paper was still a thing, and the mall manager ended up apologizing. 
It's so funny that this happened with Jessie instead of any of the other children whom I also nursed wherever and whenever they were hungry, because she is now acting as the lactation nurse on the mommy-baby floor when she is working. And she is damn good at helping mamas feed their newborns. 
Life is sometimes strange, isn't it? 

After lunch, we went to Dillards, the big department store, and I learned two things which rather blew my mind. One more than the other. 
The first which was not crazy insane, was that this year's clothing styles appear to be fairly hideous. Remember last week when I was bitching about the prairie-fairy dresses at Marshall's and how cheap they looked? 
Well guess what? 
You can also buy prairie-fairy dresses made by high-end clothing companies which look just as cheap. And shoddy. And they are NOT cheap. Or at least even vaguely inexpensive. Another trend seems to be dresses that resemble what fifty's housewives might have worn. 
Calling all tradwives!
Except for the fact that they, too, looked cheap and shoddy. 
I mean...just awful. Pathetic. Surprisingly ugly. Unflattering to anyone's body. Neither graceful or fun. 
Just plain hideous. And so many of the fabrics they were made of were simply unwearable. 

So that was one thing. 
The other, which was astronomically more shocking to me was the discovery that shoes hardly resemble any shoes I've ever seen before. It's like shoe designers have decided to just ignore any and all shoe design requirements and/or restrictions as to materials, shapes, or considerations about how the human foot is actually constructed. I have never seen anything as gaudy as the shoes I saw today. And not just one or two brands. I mean- ALL the brands. Here are a few pictures I took. 

This picture does not give you even the slightest idea of how blinging these shoes were. As in- they would light up a red carpet on their own. Golden beams were sparking from them. 

Pearls, anyone? Pearls are big this year, it seems. As are high, high platforms and chunky as hell heels. 

These are a little hard to see and I should have taken a picture of them with less background noise going on. But, but...it's like your great Aunt Helen's entire costume jewelry collection had been affixed to a boot-like footwear item. 

And finally these. 

Again with the gold and the iPhone's inability to capture the true drama of the glitter and gleam. And I am sorry. They are just plain ugly. In my opinion, of course. 

Honestly, ya'll. I had no idea. None whatsoever. How could I have missed this entire shift in shoe design? 
I'll tell you how- I don't read Vogue magazine anymore. If I did, I would not be so taken unawares. I miss those Vogue editions that were as thick as telephone books with all of their art photo ads and scratch and sniff perfumes. 
And let me ask you a question- are we supposed to wear these jewelry collection shoes with the prairie dresses? 
I do not think so. 
Oh god I hope not. 

Well. I didn't buy a thing, as you can imagine. Jessie bought a few very basic things like a pair of linen shorts, a T-shirt, and a sweater. She also bought a pair of boots but they were on such deep sale that it would have been a sin not to buy them. They are sturdy, handsome, and practical. They will be a nice change for her from her Crocs. 

Meanwhile, I'll still be wearing my Crocs, thank you very much.

What a day. 
What. A. Day.

Oh- they still have Cinnabon at the mall. I knew you'd be curious. And they still smell really, really good. 
Some things never change. For which I give thanks.

Love...Ms. Moon