This last Sunday I had planned to get together with saintvi and go geocaching. She was coming back on Saturday from a week long visit with Waldowalking in Delaware and surrounding environs. When I originally made the plans I was unaware that the annual church picnic/festival was scheduled that same day. One thing led to another and after a flurry of text messages it was decided that we would postpone the geocaching to allow for her recovery from the drive and to allow us to do the picnic without rushing. I was initially disappointed. In the end it was all for the best.

I had to work Saturday and Sunday - granted it was a short time but it took a chunk out of my mornings. On my way into work Sunday, I snapped some photos of the sky. The forecast had been for partly sunny skies and 0% chance of precipitation. My sinuses and hip and shoulders were telling me otherwise. The look of the sky - well, you tell me.

As you can see the sky looked threatening but the sun was shining. An ambiguous situation. I worked, I came home, and we prepared for geocaching and the picnic. We went to the picnic and had a good time. Unfortunately the BINGO game was cut short and the water balloon toss tournament never happened. Instead the food was packed up post haste and every available set of hands were enlisted to take down and load up the tables and chairs. The weather radar showed a strong line of thunderstorms headed directly for Mishawaka. We managed to get to the car before the first wave arrived. During a short reprieve, we found the one and only required geocache for the day. We managed to sign the log and get back to the car before the second and larger storm began to dump torrential buckets of rain. It is a good thing saintvi and I decided to cancel our plans. It would have been fun to sit and chat and hear about her vacation but a disappointment in the geocaching department.
Seems there is a cosmic plan in place and we were wise to listen to that small inner voice!

Saturday night was movie date night with Sparky. I had wanted to see Kubo and the Two Strings and Sparky wanted to see Star Trek Beyond. After insisting we see the Star Trek movie it turned out that it had left the local theaters and was playing in Michigan City and Benton Harbor - both about an hour away. Kubo on the other hand was playing locally. Guess which one we saw? If you said Kubo you were right. Now I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't discuss plot details. I will say that the characters were compelling and although the action was intense in parts it was a very kid friendly movie. It had a little something for everyone - drama, action, romance, and magic. Lots of wonderful magic. The animation was phenomenal. They used puppets, CGI, and good old-fashioned drawing. Everything was visually stunning. I was not disappointed in the story or animation. My only critique was the selection of voice actors. Because the story is set in what appears to be ancient Japan, most of the actors tried to at least mimic a Japanese cadence. The glaring exception was Matthew McConaughey voicing the Beetle. He sounded like a cowboy. At least they didn't pull a Disney and draw the animated characters to resemble the voice actors! I give it a 4.9/5.0. Given the chance I think I'd like to see it again only in 3-D next time!!!

The previews were pretty dismal looking. The movie "Trolls" looked far too saccharine. The trailer, I think, revealed the most comedic moments - when one of the creatures faced with danger poops - - - cupcakes. Yup. Cupcakes that are scooped up and offered on a tray to the big scary monster. I'm thinking it might be amusing to watch with a couple little ones but I don't think I'll be plunking down my money to see it in the theater. The other preview was for the movie "Storks". Again it looked amusing but not so much that I want to see it in the theater.

Coincidentally this also covers the second to last Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt prompt #66- beetle. Serendipity at its finest!!

She lay in the bed and thought back over the last several weeks. It was difficult to recall the day and time that she first noticed the scaly skin. She had been quizzed over and over by different doctors and nurses on what she had eaten, where she had traveled, they even wanted to know what kind of shampoo and soap she used. They had asked several times about her job. She had nearly forgotten about work. She vaguely recalled something about the doctors interviewing Mr. Jacan. The idea of the doctors holding an inquisition where he was put on the spot gave her a little burst of satisfaction. As she savored the image of Mr. Jacan sweating, the nurse brought in her milk shake. It was vanilla. The last two had been vanilla as well. She was having difficulty hiding her disappointment. When the nurse asked what was wrong, she felt silly and childish to admit that she was tired of vanilla and had been hoping to have a different flavor. The woman nodded in understanding and explained that vanilla was the only flavor they had until Wednesday. Unable to suppress a deep sigh, Liz accepted the situation. She was used to making due with what was available instead of what she wanted.

Liz gave the nurse a wry smile and started sucking on the straw. Within a few minutes the nurse returned. She slid an envelope of Hot Chocolate mix across the tray and put a finger to her lips. Liz got the distinct feeling that the two of them were breaking some rules. The mix was added to the shake and stirred in as best they could using the straw. The nurse scooped the empty packet into her pocket and waved good-bye. Sipping slowly Liz turned her thoughts to the tall doctor. He was kind and smart and had been the only person who treated her with respect when she looked like an alien life form. She was kicking herself for not finding out his name. The old Liz would have just mooned over him and meekly let go of the idea that he could be attracted to her. It would have been salt in an open would to make the first move and have him reject her. But now, it didn’t matter. He had seen her at her worst. She was bald. She daydreamed about what she would say and went over all the possible outcomes. In the end she realized that there was nothing to lose. The cowardly Liz had fallen away with the scabs. Brave Liz resolved that he next time he came to check on her, she was going to ask him his name and whether he would have dinner with her. She slurped the last bit of the shake from the glass. Looking up she realized that the tall doctor was standing at the end of the bed watching her.

This is the next installment using the Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt prompt #65 - salt. Being in a hospital is never any fun. Liz has lots of time to think. She'd turn on the TV but she has no interest in the soap operas or silly game shows. What she really wants is a book!

My week in review:
Monday - Filming mouse porn.
Tuesday - Filming blood and guts - mostly guts.
Wednesday - Celebration on several fronts.
Thursday - Training and retraining
Friday - Disaster and the first class.

To be a little less oblique, yesterday's disaster had nothing to do with class. Class was lovely and the 2 students that comprise this years enrollment are going to be great. As you might recall on the 16th we had terrible storms and there was flooding. Campus had many buildings flooded. We were dry. However we didn't have any power. That isn't exactly accurate. We had emergency generator power. We also had a big study scheduled and managed to get it sort of done. We were interrupted by no fewer than 3 fire alarms. Because we had to stop mid-experiment, several of our time points were delayed (by nearly 30 minutes). It was determined that the delay in the time points completely invalidated the experiment. We had to reschedule. We already had 4 other studies on the calendar and needed to add another. Then I was notified that another study had to be scheduled as well and that it needed to be done ASAP.

My celebratory day revolved around knowing that all 14 videos have been completed. That means I should get some serious moolah for my work on the videos!! In addition I received a phone call from the 40th Anniversary Committee for the Purdue Veterinary Technology Program. This Fall Conference (end of September) there will be a big reception and each of the classes will be represented. I was selected by my peers to represent the class of 1979. So it appears that I will be going to Purdue to spend a couple hours at a reception and then driving back that night. Lots of driving but it is kind of an honor. I may even get to see some people I haven't seen in a long time...

As for the other stuff - you will just have to use your imaginations.

I decided to attempt an "unknown" coccolith that was grown in culture. I'm guessing it is some sort of mutation. I tried to save the photo from the internet but it has some sort of copy blocker on it. So no photo to post. My version is a little less delicate as the circles had a more ruffled appearance.

I really liked the way this looked before the glaze firing. The glaze is Ochre Celedon with red iron oxide stain in the centers. I had hoped that the glaze would have more of a speckled look. Instead it looks like a dirty Oribe. I suppose that is partly my own fault since my clay is white stoneware with a little porcelain mixed in. This particular glaze looks best on a red clay because the natural iron in the clay give the glaze very definite spots and freckles...

The ceramic studio sent out yet another email to let us know that not only will the studio be unavailable on Wednesdays but also on Mondays after 1:00 PM. I am getting pretty disgusted. They upped their fees, took away free studio time, reduced the available times to come to the studio, and have suspended firings until mid-September. At this rate I may have to reconsider the option to switch to the Fire Arts studio or set up a home studio. They have only 5 instructors this coming session - 3 of which are new and 3 are only doing morning classes. That leaves only 2 evening classes available.

The first words out of her mouth were uncharacteristically strident. She had spent the last two days struggling to make people understand what she wanted and needed. With her voice restored she was able to communicate; she demanded something to eat. Moments later the nurse produced some juice and jello with celery and raisins trapped inside. She drank eagerly but had to perform a dissection on the jello to pick out the celery. Celery in jello was unnatural. As she spooned the last remnant of lime gelatin from the dish, the tall doctor arrived. He seemed especially pleased that she could now speak. He proceeded to examine her mouth and throat as a small group of medical students crowded around the bed. The doctor asked her to sing. The doctor suggested she sing “Happy Birthday” or the “ABC Song”, whichever she preferred. She hesitated for a moment before belting out “Shake It Off”. She surprised herself with the clarity of her voice and the richness of the melody emanating from her throat. Her eyes widened and her smile grew. She finished after the refrain. The medical students burst into applause and the nurses in the back flashed her thumbs up. She hadn’t felt that sure of herself since before starting the job at the call center. All her practice singing in the shower paid off! Even the doctor appeared to have enjoyed her performance.

He left orders that she be given a regular menu and he prescribed milk shakes between meals. Liz stopped him before her left the room. She wanted to know why the scabs had formed in the first place and what she needed to do to keep them from coming back. The doctor took a seat next to the bed. He had become serious. He chose his words carefully. In short no one knew the cause but they were looking at her blood samples and analyzing the scabs in search for an answer to that very question. Should the scabs reappear, he assured her that they now had an effective method to soften them to allow removal. He started to stand up but changed his mind. He looked troubled as he suggested that perhaps the scabs were an opportunistic condition related to anorexia nervosa. Liz assured him that she loved to eat and would willingly eat most foods. He didn’t look all that convinced as he stared at the little pile of chopped celery on the tray. She knew that the nurses would be watching her carefully to make sure she was eating and keeping it down. A few short days ago that would have bothered her but now she didn’t care. In fact, she realized that she didn’t care much about what anyone thought of her.

This is for the Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt using prompt #63 - dissection. Only 3 more prompts left! I hope I can wrap this up in only 3 more prompts. But rest assured that if I have to do a few more episodes to make it come out decent I will!

In my trusty pick-up truck
Locked and loaded just for luck
Over the mantle and under the bed
Very convenient my wife said
Every criminal should take heed
My loads are designed to make you bleed
Yes sir I’ll shoot if you enter here
Got to protect what I hold most dear
Unquestionably it is my right
No zombies will get me in the night!

This is for the Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt using prompt#62 - truck. If you didn't catch it, this is an acrostic poem...
I work with some really wonderful people who happen to hold beliefs slightly different from my own. One thing that many cling to is the belief that the government is trying to take away their guns. That is their perception and I do not argue the point with them (or any of you). I do not own a gun nor do I ever see myself having one in my possession. I generally do not have a problem with gun ownership as long as the owners of said guns are responsible. My coworker Mr. Fudd is a very conscientious gun owner. He has many guns. He really likes guns. BUT he has guns for specific purposes - deer hunting, duck hunting, hunting varmints, etc. He has explained the different calibers that are legal for hunting deer versus hunting geese. He has waxed poetical on the merits of stainless steel shot over lead shot. He has explained the different loads for different guns. He has talked about wadcutter loads and jacketed and hollow point ammunition. For all his enthusiasm, he keeps his guns in gun safes. The gun he has for personal protection is kept unloaded with a trigger lock in place. The bullets are easily accessible but not kept with the gun. You see he is very careful as the father of 3 children. I am saddened and outraged by reports of children accidentally being shot. We had a news story last week - two girls were downstairs while grandma was upstairs. They had found a hand gun and were playing with it. One pointed it at the other and pulled the trigger. It was loaded. One girl is dead the other is scared for life. The prosecutor is not filing charges against the 10 year old shooter. I think the owner of the gun should face charges. That's just my opinion. With certain freedoms come a greater responsibility. Yep, responsibility.

The bath was cooling off and so was she. The nurses had cleared most of her back and chest and both arms were looking pink from the scrubbing. Her legs were getting there but it was difficult to get to the scabs between her toes. Everyone was tired but at the same time exhilarated. The skin newly revealed was smoother and softer than she remembered. She was still working on her face when two nurses began lifting her from the tub. They had stripped away the soaked gown and had wrapped her in a thin blanket. She was unable to walk but it wasn’t due to the scabs but rather a general weakness. Before the nurses could get her dried and dressed a troop of doctors entered. While several wanted to see her remaining scabs and check her newly revealed skin, a few others were very interested in the sediment in the bathtub. Liz was curious to see that they were dredging the tub and placing her shed scabs in specimen jars. It was only when the nurse placed a tourniquet on her arm, that she turned her attention from the tub. She looked the nurse in the eye and was told it was just a blood sample to see if there was any infection or anemia. Liz would have bought it except the nurse took at least 7 vials of blood, far more than would have been required.

Perhaps it was the excitement and the effort to scrub off the scabs, or maybe the loss of all that blood and a lack of food, but either way Liz fainted. When she woke there was an IV drip in her hand and she was swaddled in blankets. She was disoriented, the window was gone, the blurry plastic was missing, and there was an ugly aqua curtain hanging to the right of her bed. She stared at her hand. The IV catheter was taped in place but the amazing thing was that all the scabs were gone. She looked more closely and realized her fingernails were gone as well. She looked at her arm and other hand with amazement. All the scabs had disappeared. Then she felt her face. It was smooth. Her lips were soft and she could pucker and smile and twist them into a funny face. Sliding her hand to her eyelids and forehead revealed nothing but soft skin. Even her scalp was free of scabs. She cleared her throat. With a whisper she spoke to herself. Shouting a triumphant “Yes”, Liz crowed for the nurse!

This episode for the Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt uses prompt #74 - sediment. As you can surmise Liz has been moved into a regular hospital room. While she was in her faint the doctors got to work and removed the remaining scabs from her more delicate areas - like her eyelids. She has regained her voice as well as her flexibility. It is a good day for Liz.

It has been a long time since I posted any of my ceramic creations. It hasn't been because I haven't made anything. On the contrary, I have been busy. The major hold up has been the erratic schedule of the kiln firings. I have had 2 new orbs completed and several porcelain medallions come out of the kiln. I have 4 more orbs in various stages of completion. I have a turtle and a guinea pig sitting on my shelf drying. So first, here is a photo of my latest orb - a representation of Sunflower pollen.

I had made one like this a long time ago and glazed it in a wild set of colors - purple, blue, green, and orange-ish white. I was experimenting with some new glazes... Anyway I wanted to reprise this one in more realistic colors.

Clay is a fickle medium. That is part of the charm and the frustration of working in the ceramics studio. The clay comes in different types and each has its own characteristics - lots of grit or not as much, high fire or low fire, stoneware or porcelain or terracotta, not to mention moisture content and shrinkage rates! All of those variables must be taken into account when deciding how to do a project. Assuming you are a clay genius and have mastered all forms of clay manipulation, there is still the kiln. I do not own or operate a kiln. As much as I'd like to think that the kiln is a precision instrument, it is not. It is basically an insulated fire pit. The kiln tech has some control and some expertise but fire is just as fickle and capricious as clay. With the factors of fire and oxygen (more or less) in conjunction with the chemicals in the glazes it is nothing more than a crap shoot if you will get out of the kiln anything that resembles the intention when you put a piece in.

So far I have struggled with the guinea pig sculpture. First it was the clay. Then it was the mechanics of producing swirls and "cowlicks" in the hair. Now it is the kiln. I have made 4 guinea pigs. The only surviving pig is on my shelf. The first one cracked as it dried. The second one looked OK but the hair wasn't exactly as I'd have liked. It didn't matter - it was handled by persons unknown as it sat waiting to be bisque fired and they put a hole in its side. Pig #3 made it through the bisque firing only to have several chunks of hair fall off when attempting to apply the glaze. I decided I had nothing to lose and tried to reattach the hair using glaze. In all fairness it sometimes happens and sometimes glazing a piece on works. It wasn't my turn for sometimes. So we come to guinea pig #4 drying on my shelf.

We are between class sessions and normally I would go in on the weekends and work on some of my pieces so that they didn't dry-out before I completed them or to set them back for the bisque kiln or even to glaze pieces that I had gotten back from the bisque. Well, that isn't happening. Not because I don't want to work in the studio but because they are now charging a whopping $10 each time you come in to the studio. They already charge a huge sum for the class and now there is no such thing as free "open studio" time. I might have considered it but they cut the hours from noon - 5:00 PM to 2:00 - 4:00 PM! That is just not enough time for a $10 charge. To add insult to injury, you can't just pay $10 and come in - no. You have to purchase a $60 "punch card" that is good for the month of August - use it or lose it! I will not be going in outside of class. So the guinea pig and turtle will sit on my shelf. The 2 orbs that were waiting for bisque firing will (hopefully be fired by the time class resumes in September) be on my shelf or at least not tossed as they are now doing to "abandoned" work. The two that were glazed and waiting for the next glaze firing will survive and be either on my shelf or still waiting patiently... unlike me.

With her ability to communicate restored, she was able to regain a few tattered shreds of her dignity. True to his word, the doctor returned the next morning. He told her he had good news. It had been determined that her condition was not contagious so she was being moved out of isolation. If she had been able to show emotion, the doctor would have seen the look of relief and hope spread across her face. Instead she just made little squeaky noises. The second bit of news was that a couple of experts from the Medical Center downtown were coming to examine her. They might have some new insights as to treatments.

In the interim the doctor ordered that she be soaked in a bath with some special emollients to attempt to soften her scabs. When the nurses lowered her into the tub she was surprised that the water was thick like jello that hadn’t quite set but warm. Liz thought the bath was wonderful. Within a few minutes she could bend her legs. It didn’t take much time before she could bend her arms and even move her fingers. Her delight was complete when the nurse soaked a cloth and draped it over her head and around her neck. As soon as she could she scooped the gel from the tub and onto her face. The deep crevices on her cheeks and forehead held the gooey water in place. The hospital gown was half floating in the liquid giving her a little privacy. By the time the doctor returned she could even open and close her mouth. He asked her if she felt better and if he could attempt to scrub off a few scabs. She shrugged. With a stiff brush, the doctor gave her arm a fierce scrubbing. Miraculously several of the scabs fell off! Liz made a grab for the brush and started working on her knees. The next thing she realized, the doctor had produced a few more small brushes and the rest of the nurses were attacking the scabs on her back, arms, and head. It felt good to have the scabs fall away!

Here is the latest in the story using the prompt #61 - downtown. I only have 6 more prompts left!! We are getting very close to the end.