Salt Marsh Pottery News & Gossip

Tile Painting for Neediest Families Fund

2011-12-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

We are having our 18th Annual Tile Painting for the Neediest Families Fund on Saturday, December 10, 2011 from 10a.m.-3:30p.m

This is a great opportunity for families to get together and be creative. All donations, $25.00 per tile, go to the Fund helping families in need. Please call 800-859-5028 to reserve a spot for your family.

This is my favorite time of year! I love seeing all the wonderful and wide variety of designs the families create. Hope to see many families at this holiday event.

Possums

2011-01-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

We've seen 4 possums in the last 4 days; two spent an evening, two different times, in our cat Marsha's outside foam sleeping box. I don't think she has ever used it, so tough luck. Neither tried to look dead, they have bright round beady eyes, but they both tried to look invisible. The second two we saw skuttling off the road. Further on was a nice fat skunk. We hope he doesn't move in. Our dog Bozy who always runs down the road, the last stretch home, managed to ignore him. Thank heaven.

Misplaced Gift Certificates????

2010-07-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Have you lost yours? Did the dog eat it? NOT TO WORRY. Call us with the name of the person who gave it to you and we will very likely be able to locate it and let you redeem it. Don't wait until your child gets even bigger! And don't feel bad; you have lots of company.

Rain!!!

2010-07-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

The ground has been shrieking as it got dryer and dryer these last few weeks. The vinca out front shriveled and everything looked pained and exhausted . Then, A CLOUDBURST! Solid water from the sky for a minute or two and during the night a steady drizzle. This morning the woods are taking in huge gulps of cool wet air. Everything is smiling. It is wonderful wonderful. I dread seeing how big the squash get today. JP is doing a tile with a nymph subduing a runaway giant zucchini vine a la Laocoon. This is part of his Nymphs and Satyrs in the Garden series.

Reading Aloud.

2010-07-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished you were nearer your grandchildren so you could read to them? YOU CAN!!! All it takes is a telephone on one end and a telephone with a speaker (they all have them) on the other. We stumbled on this about 3 years ago. Our grandchildren, 8 and 4, are in Oregon and I've taken to reading during breakfast. Sure, sometimes the kids are fighting over cereal but generally we get 10 minutes or so. We have read "James and the Giant Peach" (three times) "Winnie the Pooh", " Mr. Popper's Penguins", and so many others. Most recently we read all the paperback Percy Jackson ( son of Poseidon) books. Those were a hit for everybody. Now we're reading "The Secret Garden". Recently I've started reading "W. the P." to Elowyn, newly 4 so she gets her own time. Occasionally she wanders off out of hearing but my daughter likes hearing them too so everyone is happy. Here at the pottery, I generally read at the kitchen phone so the staff can hear too. I absolutely love it .,,

Free Clay for Kids

2010-06-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

A bit of business for those who don't get our email blasts. We're offering free clay to kids who come in here for it. If they bring back a dried masterpiece, we will fire it so they can paint it with acrylics. As you might expect, our kids did lots and lots of things. Jinnet did the horse above when she was 12 or 14. There's no way you can do anything wrong and making something three dimensional is just terrific.
The raspberries are coming in like a freight train, a tsunami. I already know we won't win this titanic struggle between the profligacy of nature and a small, dedicated band of determined berry eaters. If you are in the area, this is the time to visit us! Help us!

The Garden!!

2010-06-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Recent days have been warm to hot. There has been a bit of rain and I have been watering in the morning. the result: JUNGLE CHAOS!! We have 12 raised beds, 4' by 8'. One of them is devoted to squash which are bursting out from beneath extravagant leaves. Bean vines are storming up the stock fence trellis and the potato plants are waist high. No blooms yet which makes me think they are too satisfied and confident; they need to get a scare so they produce the next generation. Lazy. Couch Potatoes, says our friend, Bill. Does anyone know how to get them going? JP did rummage around and found one the size of a big olive. The sweet potatoes are starting to look alive after a rocky trip by UPS from Tennessee. We also have a few Lima Beans which seem to be climbing. Who knew? Meanwhile, we routinely rip out and discard the bindweed ( a watery pink variation of the morning glory) which is the only plant in the garden we have ever made pottery ($$) from so these expensive seeds surrounded by expensive wooden frames and fencing can thrive. There is no justice in the world.

Sunday morning music

2010-06-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sundays from 8 to 11 AM on WCPE, 89.7 All Classical from Raleigh-Durham is a program, Great Sacred Music, uplifing, regrounding, renewing, all the healthful adjectives. They play all the great familiar masses and choruses, as well as new and completely (to me) unfamiliar. With all the news of human failure around us, it is a welcome breath of human greatness.

Wonderful Cloth Diapers

2010-06-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

32 years later and I still am passionate about cloth diapers! Forget the prefolded ones and go for the single thickness ones. FLEXIBLE. You can fold them in a triangle for the smallest baby to the largest. (Just ask me for a diagram.). STEALTH TRAINING They get cold and uncomfortable when they are wet so your kids are ready to train early! Both my daughters were out of diapers before they were two. EASY. We would dip dirty ones in the john then dump them into the bucket with wet ones and run a load of laundry daily. The clean ones airdried or went through the drier in a trice coming out warm, clean and fresh. GREAT ON BABY. Our kids never had diaper rash except when we went traveling and used paper ones. GREEN. No landfill chock full of dirty diapers and BEST OF ALL when you are done you have a bag full of the WORLD'S BEST RAGS. Really, you will cry when you toss the last of those away.

Websites We Like

2010-06-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

AG asked what websites, other than ours,we like. So I went and asked the remaining staff and both Lisa and Heather came up immediately with ETSY, a craft site with a lot of one of a kind things. Take a look. http://www.etsy.com/ Anyone else who sees this blog, please tell us what you would like to know about SMP. We want you coming back!

Beach Peas and Roses

2010-06-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Dorrie, just here briefly between pottery internships, made wonderful and unusual gallery pieces yesterday from the beach pea and rosa rugosa and daisies brought back from the walking group trip to Gooseberry Neck in the morning. She and Audrey are the fabulous makers around here for both stock and one of a kind things. Everything is delicate, beautifully placed and well finished. Dorrie gives us a real shot in the arm when she shows up.

Packing up for Danvers then Mystic

2010-06-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm taking the show on the road the last weekend in June. First 80 miles north to Danvers, MA on the other side of Boston, (June 26) then the next day 80 miles south to Mystic, CT. Taking the mountain to Mohammed, you might say. Call us if you want to be a part of this. 800 859 5028. I like doing these events as people are always so grateful about not driving. I don't mind it as I can listen to my History of China lectures for the 3rd or 4th time.

Babyprints and Gardening

2010-06-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning in the fog. Donna is here - 7AM painting baby prints and cooling the kilns. Scratch that fog... RAIN. Wow! Thunder!! Darkness at dawn indeed. I guess I'll fire that bisque kiln instead of watering the vegetable garden.

Salt Marsh Pottery Baby Print Events

2010-06-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! We are plunging into the communication world. There is so much going on at the pottery that you might like to know. First off, we are setting up baby events in Danvers, June 26 and Mystic in July , date to follow. We'll go back to the Battery in NYC in September. That may be the most baby friendly area in the city: Every woman who didn't have a stroller was sporting a bump. The street had lighter air and a lot of people were smiling.

       The painters are in overdrive painting the hands and feet, decorations and names etc. on the many many many baby prints I have promised for Father's Day.   The marker board has a countdown number of work/week days and so far we are holding our own. Interspersed between all of those tiles are gallery pieces a returned-for-a-short-time maker has been working on, a few wedding pieces, some tile orders and occasional wholesale orders.

      We all love going outside to the terrace for lunch; the birds twitter and flit around, the flowers along the entry walk are thriving, the sun glances through the unfolding leaves and all is right with the world. Big Time! Our interesting renters, a builder, three artists, a psychologist, come in and out stopping to visit. The animals, Beau, big black mongrel with an uncertain past and a cavalier tail, Priscilla, the small gray cat lethal among the little seed eating animal world, and Marsha the kitty, 6 months old, same markings as Beau and crazy. She is either asleep on the computer keyboard or acting out some interior adventure movie with Bruce Willis, up and down the maple tree, through the lily leaves and over the lunch table, your shoulder, and the fence all at frantic speed.

       So much for today. Our daughter comes home from abroad Sunday. We are beside ourselves in anticipation...

Betsy with family hiking on Dog Mountain, Oregon