End of Summer Blues

Where did the summer go?  The last thing I remember, it was June and I was looking forward to the rain stopping long enough for us to enjoy summer...I was waiting...and waiting.....then, the next thing I know, the wait is over!  It's the end of August, the sun has been shining for a week straight. Only one problem, it feels like Fall.  The pool is ice cold.  The vegetable garden looks like it has gone through a frost and is dying back far too early.  This was the summer that never happened. We had winter, mud season and now Fall.  

With Fall comes the International Seaplane Fly-In www.seaplanefly-in.org  at Moosehead Lake in Greenville, Me.   This year, Peasley Pottery will be there on Saturday and Sunday, September 7th and 8th.  I am VERY excited about it!  I am going up early so I can have a day to.....DO NOTHING!!!! Yes, nothing.  I will be sitting lakeside with a good book, glass of wine and there is a great possibility that I will be too exhausted to even do that.  I may just nap in a hammock all day!  I am having a day of low ambition and pure laziness....and I can't wait!

And here is why I can not wait to get a day of nothing....

This is the latest Brook Trout carving.  

And then there were yarn bowls, and more yarn bowls, until I could take it no more....

....and soap dishes.  To form the soap dish, I put it in a pvc pipe cut in half. It worked out very well.  After the clay set up, I decorated each one and attached feet. My friend, Terry Bryant of Sugarbush Country Farm in Troy, Me., will be at the fly-in selling her heavenly goats milk soaps displayed on these soap dishes which will also be for sale!  What a great combo!! (You should smell her soaps....even men comment on how wonderful they smell.  They are not over powering floral madness, they are in a league of their own, long lasting and wonderful!!! She has a new soap called Maine Woods....my favorite! check out the other scents at website http://www.sugarbushcountryfarm.com/soap-descriptions.html ) 

 Below are round wheel thrown soap dishes

 Berry Bowls and Yarn Bowls

 Mugs, Jugs and Misc.

 And more Maine Lobster Buoy Hummingbird Feeders are being made as well.

There are also dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls of all sizes, garlic grater/olive oil dipping plates, garlic keepers, mugs of all sizes and many, many more pieces in need of glazing and firing.  It will be a busy few weeks preparing for this show.  I will post more photo's of pottery fresh out of the kiln, glazed and finish products before leaving for Greenville.  (I will do it, the Double L's are doubting me, but I will post those photo's before Sept 7th!)

And last, but not least.....I had two Monarch butterflies last week. In the photo below, you will see on the right two Monarch's....one is directly behind the other.  I don't know what the butterfly on the left is, but they are here all summer.

It was also a very sad few weeks around the farm.  Button's Bunny went missing about three weeks ago, then Honey Bunny disappeared early last week.  All that was left was Funny Bunny in the back pasture....a very antisocial bunny and not so funny, hence all the sadness.  I love waking up and having coffee with Button's Bunny...so peaceful.  I've missed it.  Then, this morning I was having coffee with a human...all the animals were apparently busy.... and out of the corner of my eye I saw a furry flash.  It was a little baby bunny hopping as fast as possible across the lawn!  And not too far away was Buttons!  Apparently Button's was on maternity leave.   Bunnies make the world a happier place...and wine...chocolate...definitely lobster and Houlton Farm butter.... :)

Ugly August and LIKE Bombing on Facebook!

It's August...August is a sad month...or at least I think so.  You realize summer is almost over, temperatures have chilled, kids are preparing to go back to school and everyone is rushing around to cram in as much fun as possible prior to reality striking and summer has ended. Fun stuff like chopping, splitting, piling wood...cutting, baling and stacking hay...picking, canning and tilling the garden.  I prefer July....brushing, feeding and riding horses...bbq's, lobster's, friends/family, fireworks, ice cream, strawberry shortcake, swimming, pontoon boat rides, kayaking and morning coffee in the field full of happy bunnies bouncing about. Now that's what I call fun...August...not so much.

"Button's Bunny"...one of four families here at the farm.  We have Honey Bunny, the Funny Bunnies and Bugs Bunny & his family.  Very original names.  They are so much fun to watch!

As much fun as August can be, I do have some fun coming up displaying/selling pottery in the Bucksport Bay Farmer's Market every Thursday from 2-6pm.  I have a few friends who have booths there as well, selling everything from vegetables to concrete garden sculptures.  The fellowship of the marketeers!  And, there is LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, as oppose to those dead ones! I stopped by one Thursday and I will attest to the fact the entertainment is alive and really good!  So stop by and join in the fun...  Bucksport Bay Farmer's Market on Facebook.  Please show your support and LIKE them on Facebook!

Don't forget to head over to Surry Girls in Ellsworth for Peasley Pottery and for all your fine gift and candle needs.  The shop smells incredible!  It is a very delightful shop, cozy and warm.  If you can't find a gift there, then you probably didn't need one.  It is filled with gifts that convey love from the heart.  The owners, Joan & Julie - the Surry Girls, are two sisters who are just as welcoming and warm as their shop...You will enjoy your visit to this little gem of a shop.

 Surry Girls on Facebook  Please visit them on Facebook and LIKE these girls!!

This is my high school classmate, Vicki, who escaped Maine years ago to live in the Sunshine State and was in town visiting and stopped by Surry Girls!  Here she is with her newly acquired piece of Peasley Pottery!  Thank you Vicki!!

Recently, I made a deliver of the Maine Sea Salt Buoys to the Maine Sea Salt Company located in Marshfield.  My mother, grandson and I got a tour of their sea salt making facility.   You don't think about the process when you are shaking the salt on your food, but after visiting their facility, watching how they make their salts...which some are smoked (who'da thunk!)... I have a new, more appreciative relationship with salt!  My mother picked up some "magic" sea salt...it is a heavenly herb sea salt which will compliment anything consumable...it would even make cardboard delicious!  She also picked up some of their garlic salt...Momma Mia!!! is that devine sprinkled on pizza!  If you get to the Machias area, head over to Marshfield and check out the Maine Sea Salt Company or go to their website at Maine Sea Salt Company   Here is a photo of their showroom display with the Peasley Pottery Maine Sea Salt Buoys.

And you can check them out on Facebook.... Maine Sea Salt Company on Facebook  and don't forget to LIKE their page!

I can't forget to mention a trip my mother and I made North to the county...for those of you from away, that'd be Aroostook County....absolutely gorgeous!  I had a pottery delivery and this is what I found...

of course! Buffalo!  That's the first thing I think of when I think of Aroostook County Maine...where the buffalo roam...except not home on the range, but rather home near where the potato farmer ranges. I was told these aren't for eating, but are pets.  I don't know, but I think it is safe to say most people in the county would see meat and potato's, not a pet next to Mr. Potato Head.

Now on to pottery making.  I am blessed with a boat load of orders and upcoming events.  I fired two bisque kiln loads in as many days and now will be glazing them all and firing again before sending them off to the markets!  It is exciting and frightening to see the orders flying in.  I'm running through clay like it is water in a sieve.  It's a wicked beautiful thing!