Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Tea, beads, monks, chickens


It continues to be cold, I continue my dormancy, waiting for Spring, waiting for warm......
drinking tea, baking bread, making soups, I made a few necklaces, I am bored to tears with this weather.

Our new cup and tray are getting lots of use. Do you do this? When you get a new piece of pottery it becomes the only useable item in the kitchen? We could actually exist with three plates and three cups, but where is the fun in that!?

No one guessed the maker of this tray. Emails and posts were the same as my guesses, Courtney Martin, Michael Hunt, Michael Kline, I had also guessed Shawn Ireland. Nope. It's Melissa Weiss. Don't know her, but I like her work. She has a nice website, much of her work looking quite influenced by Michael Hunt, but I am off that soapbox, so I will just say I like this tray a lot and I am enjoying her fine craftsmanship and her Ozarks clay very much. I'll save my thoughts on how many potters in NC make very similar work of other potters .......... it doesn't seem to really matter.

The tray has held cheese, salad, my teapot, cookies, fruit, toast. What did I put things on before I got it......?


I got my Etsy shop dusted off a bit, need to make a new header and fancy it up some, but that bores me and irritates me, so I will procrastinate until I have absolutely nothing else in my life to do, ha! This is a nice prayer rosary, I like it very much. It's now for sale.


Our monks are in New Jersey, Toms River, building another mandala. Here is Jamphel during Losar, celebrating at the dharma center. He doesn't look 30 in this photo does he? Looks like a small boy, cold and innocent. I miss him a lot..... this photo makes me want to cry.


This photo makes Gerry want to cry. Our neighbors chickens are tormenting him. They come over every day and dig in our yard, shit in our yard. Gerry is not amused. I am, but that's another story. I shot this photo of them digging up our drainage pipe and the roots of our tree so they could roll around in the dirt. I was hoping they would drop some eggs while they were at it. I was laughing at them, Gerry was screaming obscenities. I really need my own chickens, and our neighbors really need to be more considerate...... but look how cute she is with her little head resting there on the root of the tree....haha!!

We wrapped up our marathon bingeing of Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black before Christmas and now we are bingeing on Weeds and I have found House of Cards. Yeah, yeah, late to the party, I know. I just found Downton Abbey,  right in time for the season ender! TV is low on my priority list and I get around to it slowly. But I have to say, Weeds is a fun ride, we are into the fourth season, it's almost pornographic but in a really funny way, like reading trash novels. House of Cards is going to be an obsession, I can tell already.

So that's it around here. I'm tired of being cold, Gerry is off for a couple of days and seeing the light at the end of the ACC basketball season, thank God. Very much over sports fans, sports obsession in general. If we could only get behind art the way we get behind "Our Team",  artists could rock some creativity.......

13 comments:

oldgreymareprimitives said...

loving the clucks but yeah I would be annoyed like Gerry...

we so live in the wrong places. I hate the heat, you the cold...

Michèle Hastings said...

The rosaries are beautiful, much more appealing than the Catholic ones I grew up being forced to pray on!!

Weeds was awesome, hated to get to the end.

...I am now hooked on Downton Abbey. Didn't start streaming it until last year. I was late to the party too.

klineola said...

i have 4 roosters and had planned on culling 3 on Monday, but Lillian served me with a stay of execution. So the the noise, the fighting, and the harassment of the hens will continue for a few more days, until we negotiate another solution. Do you think Gerry would like a rooster? I can drop 1, 2, or 3 off this weekend when I visit the piedmont!

Tracey Broome said...

Susan, I will take that heat any day, southern beach girl likes her some heat!
Michele, I have bee debating the purchase of previous Downton episodes, but surely the DVDs will be more affordable one of these days!
Michael, our charming neighbor shot his two roosters after they nearly drove us all mad with their crowing, just take them for a little drive, let them out and let them absorb back into the food chain one day...... Gery most definitely does NOT want a rooster:-)

Dennis Allen said...

There's a solution to stray chickens and it involves gravy.

cookingwithgas said...

And dumplings.........

Oh, have you watched californication?
So bad, so funny.
And justified, I love the writing for that one.

Those are some bad chickens.

Tracey Broome said...

Problem solved, chicken and dumplings it is! I just happen to know how to make that now!

ang design said...

I haven't started with Breaking bad or Orange is the new black but dove into a Danish series The Protectors and French- English series The Tunnel last week, do you do subtitles?? need to be alert an able to find ya specks :P happy chicken sitting and stay warm the change is coming soon!! xx

Vicki said...

These are some sweet chickens.
Having had chickens for many years, I know what they can get up to in gardens. But, I love them all the same.

Your rosaries are the prettiest I've ever seen. Gorgeous beads and colours.

Just think, it's so lovely to now have Jamphel in your life - for life. Even though he is miles away. You'll meet again.
Imagine if you'd never met at all?
There is a bond now that will last. Time and distance can't erode that.

Loved this season of DA. I think it was the best so far.
And, I'm blown away by True Detective. Best acting I've seen in ages. Who knew McConaughey had that in him - with his shirt on too :)

Sandy Miller said...

Drinking tea while weaving and watching chickens is the best winter activity I can think of! My gang of 9 have been roaming the yard and stay pretty close to home. They have eradicated our flea and jap beetle problem so I let them roam the gardens in the evening. This winter they have not had much to do but they have trenched out a patch by the studio door and sun bath on the coldest days. Makes me laugh. Days are getting longer so eggs are back in production, makes my neighbors happy :) Oh and our rooster was delish! Once the gardens go up so does the electric fence......

I am over this cold weather, my shoulders have been used a turtle neck too long! Time to start seeds and get my garden on!

Michèle Hastings said...

If you have netflix you can get the other Downton Abbey DVD's. It took me awhile before I figured out they had them.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Ang, I do subtitles early in the evening,
yes- must be alert, haha!
Sandy I am about to come unglued with this weather, I can't imagine how you stand it!!! your poor little chickens
Hey Michele, I'll have to search that out, thanks!

Tracey Broome said...

Hi Vicki, thank you! I really like these necklaces, now to find them some homes....
Yes, Jamphel is with us always now, we think about him every day, and Tashi and the rest of the group! we are so fortunate to have had them here with us!