When I first started doing pottery I wanted instant results.  I’d spend my studio sessions frantically making as many things as possible, fire them all immediately, and then spend the next session once again rushing to get them all glazed within the 2 hour time slot.  I’m learning patience, finally.  The past 3 weeks have been dedicated to one item that I’m not ready to unveil just yet.  It’s finally in to be fired, and will take at least one full session to glaze, and very likely two.  Before I began that piece, though, I spent the previous month and a half working on these:

(the turtle is intended as a birthday gift for someone who i don’t *think* reads my blog, but who shall remain unnamed just in case)

(that one went through 3 separate glazing procedures before I was finally happy with it!  it’s now the official salad serving bowl.)

(the only piece that didn’t give me any trouble…and the most boring one.  oh well, i’m still pretty happy with it, and Jonathan can’t complain that all my bowls are too big or too small now :))

(that one broke my heart several times over.  after throwing a nearly flawless dish, i carved the foot too deep.  in an attempt to rescue it, i added another chunk of clay to the bottom, but the disparity in moisture between the plate and the new base caused the large crack you see in the bottom.  the base also ended up wobbly.  sigh.  oh well, it’ll make a great fruit bowl.)

(a housewarming gift for my father and his lovely girlfriend Kristien.  this one also caused much agony and had to be glazed 4 times before i was happy.)

I suppose we’ll start with the Pride, then, shall we?

Luckily my apartment overlooks the parade route, because it was too bloody hot out to fight with these ridiculous crowds.

Plus I didn’t want to accidentally brush up against one of these

Thankfully most people were more appropriately dressed for the crowds

The floats, as usual, ranged from fanciful to risqué:

Finally, a parting shot from some window-graffitist:

I wonder if it’s a comment on the advertisements across the road at the Brass Rail…

Time for pets!

Some new kitty fodder (because I know 3 of my 5 regular visitors only come here for the kitties)

There has been an unusual amount of nesting on my desk recently…probably because I haven’t cleaned all the papers and junk off it for months.

Budgie has taught herself a new trick recently, the prevention of which necessitated the building of barriers of dishes and duct tape:

In other (non-kitten) animal news, Jonathan and I visited Riverdale Farm over the weekend.

And in a less cute-and-fuzzy vein, Sophie and I visited the greenhouse above my lab.  Somehow I neglected to take photos of Sophie petting the bearded dragons, but here she is terrifying some painted turtles:

Here’s where the pottery and pabulation get all mixed up together.  We had to stop for a snack before pottery:

…mmm see-food.

Sophie here models one of her excellent creations.  It is, as I’m sure is obvious, for pouring juice, and works better than you might expect.

And of course there was the usual Chinese food extravaganza afterward.

(the plate art thing is becoming a tradition - I’m going to have to start taking photos of all of them for posterity)

This is the part where the (ostensibly heretofore extant) narrative completely falls apart and I just start posting random photos from the past weeks:

Radishes (left over from one of the experiments at the lab)

Dad with a prosciutto tongue

Sophie being a frog…or possible a puppy.  It’s so hard to keep track.

Last but certainly not least, pandas riding horses.

…Dag because I spent it in the company of my favourite Belgian Girl Wonder, the infamous Turbo-Powered Sophie

We spent the day on Toronto Island, playing in the water.

Well, Sophie played in the water.  I mostly played in the mud.

In non-Canada-Day-related news, last time Sophie and I got together, we did some fingerpainting.

The first piece is entitled “Damn Now My Shirt Is Covered In Cat Hair”, and the second is “Family Of Birds On My Windshield”

Last weekend I got to hang out with my favourite 6 year old, Miss Sophie Louise Ferrari A-Go-Go.

We started with crafts.  I made a Lady Gaga caterpillar, and Sophie made several lovely bracelets, of which I neglected to get photos.

We had lunch with Anaïs, and then headed off to explore the city.

First, Sophie beat up a giant balloon.

But then we found out that the balloon had some Enforcer Balloon Thugs patrolling nearby, so Sophie wisely made friends.

After assuring the balloon people that Sophie meant them no harm, we continued on our Awesome Adventure.  Sophie layered an ice cream moustache over her orange drink moustache in a bid to impress the crowds at Yonge and Dundas.

After watching Toy Story 3 (which was surprisingly decent for a sequel but still not as good as the original), Sophie liaised with a member of the balloon people PR department and got herself this excellent “kitty caught a mouse” balloon hat.

We finished the night with some Karate Kid (the original), which was BORING (according to Sophie) until the ending when the fighting started.  Her parents picked her up at 11pm, at which point she was engaged in a kung-fu battle with Jonathan, who has vowed that he will never have children because he was so tired after Sophie left.

The End.