So, its not as if gearing up for a crunch sale in the Summer isn’t complicated enough by a kiln that blows up on me and a poor kitty who needs surgery and nurturing and two weeks worth of convalescing quarantined in the back portion of my studio…….. No indeed! Let me find the time to wade into some heavyweight discussions on the internet! That ought to fit in nicely with all the free time I obviously seem to have!
So, first things first: The sale this weekend went surprisingly well! After my three Summer sales of last year when I was so devastated by the poor showing that it took hours of counseling and long weeks of therapy from my resident online therapist, guru, and witch doctor, Dr Cooper, I wasn’t ‘expecting’ much this time around. Expectations are only the seeds of trouble: Hope for the best, plan for the worst. You know? Thankfully its one sale down, one to go this next weekend, and already I’m sitting favorably compared to last year’s sale. PHEW!
But that doesn’t explain or even excuse how I somehow imagined having the time or motivation to spare for pretending to be ‘wise’ and shuffling onto a soapbox to respond to a few posts of bloggers I enjoy reading and whose essays that week were especially profound. Turns out I may have put more than my customarily dubious one and a half braincells together. These bloggers seemed to think so, and one of my responses was posted entirely as a guest post on his blog, and another was posted (Sharply edited which makes me look much better than the wayward rambling I sent him) as part of a post that has two responses to the article he wrote. It just must have been my week to set the internet straight…..
My first essay fellow potter and deep thinker Ben Carter posted here on his blog. I am kind of humbled that he thought enough of my response to post it on his blog (Thanks Ben!). Make sure to read the follow-up he included in the comments section. Its a post examining aspects of how food and morality are intertwined. Interesting reading on its own, but make sure to check out the original essay Ben wrote that raised these questions.
My next essay Barry Hessenius posted on his Arts advocacy blog (Which is an enormous honor for me!) in response to an earlier essay he wrote that called into question the role of entertainment in guiding the arts. His original essay is insightful and well worth a read, and as always asks deep and provocative questions. He’s one of my favorite bloggers!
Of course, now that I’ve basked in all that pre-sale free-time and the first sale is now successfully out of the way I think I may go to sleep for a week. Longer if I don’t get woken up in time for the sale this next weekend. It may just be possible that I earned it. Sure feels that way, at least!
Thanks for checking in! Hope you enjoy those essays.
Peace all!
Make beauty real!
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CARTER GILLIES POTTERY 