This belated list comes as I continue to adjust my sleeping schedule since coming back from Japan last week. It'll take a little while before I'll be able to fully process all of those new experiences and review the many pictures. In the meantime, I've got plenty in store for April.
Catch up with friends
We’re back from Japan and spring is here. With fresh stories to tell and longer nights to enjoy, now is a great time to catch up with friends.
Leaving for a vacation during a change in the seasons means that returning home is all the more exciting for me. The saying “a watched pot never boils” absolutely holds true when it comes to seasonal shifts in New York. It was cold and dreary when we left at the end of March, and undeniably spring when we came home. The magnolia trees in my neighborhood are in full bloom and we even had a 70 degree day this week. After a winter of hibernation I’m ready to make plans, to seize the after work hours, and to share meals and drinks with loved ones.
Spring cleaning
We joined a CSA recently and starting later this season we’ll be driving to Williamsburg on a weekly basis to pick up a bundle of farm fresh produce, eggs, bread and cheese, and flowers. This was my husband’s suggestion (great idea babe!) and I love that it’ll make us get out of the house every weekend. I’m excited for the surprise rotation of weekly groceries, and happy to directly support a New York farm and other local producers.
As part of the CSA, we also ordered eight plants which we’ll be picking up in May. In preparation, the apartment needs a good cleaning and purging and possible new shelving to make room for our new plant babes.
Drink more tea
I’m a big coffee drinker and want to start expanding my hot beverage inclinations to incorporate more tea. I ingest a lot of caffeine, particularly during the week, and am starting to think it has some impact on the anxiety and nervous energy I sometimes feel right before bedtime.
We brought home green teas for the house, including a yuzu infused one and one mixed with cherry blossom petals. All I need is to make myself some kind of ceramic jug for brewing (a teapot would be a stretch goal).
Make a big batch of scoops
During the depths of my recent jet lag, I was so wide awake at 3:15 am one night that I decided to embrace the energy and get productive. I pinched out one of the little round coffee scoops with circular handles that I haven’t made for quite some time.
It was nice to return to a familiar form and to busy my hands when my body was not at rest. By the time I went back to bed, a set of three scoops was drying nicely in the corner of my workstation. I haven’t taken them into the studio to fire, and my goal this month is to sculpt 15 more and to finish them all together. 20 if I have enough clay for it from this mixed batch.
One of the principles on full display in Japan was an awe inspiring and extremely disciplined dedication to doing something, one thing, very very very well. The amount and depth of specialization, and the abundant examples of this approach, were so beautifully strange and wonderful to me. Artistically, it can be so difficult to work this way. Boredom is a real factor, and that level of discipline must take much effort and practice, and at least a little meditation.
I want to try though in my own work, and I’ll do so by allowing myself to explore when working on the wheel at the studio, but then coming home and focusing on making bigger (than before) batches of specific items, beginning with scoops.
A weekend in Boston
I’m heading to Boston for a quick visit this month to celebrate a friend’s baby shower. She’s one of the friends I saw recently on a girls’ trip upstate. Witnessing how happy and excited she is for her growing family made me happier than even I expected. She’s so ready, and it’s amazing to see. I look forward to knowing her as a mom and the ways in which our friendship will grow in this next phase of life.