Summer Fades...

I thought I'd share some thoughts and photos while I talk of pottery. I guess it's all related.
I took this photo in July on a typical sweltering 99 degree day. It is titled Boy and Dog. I love it for the pure, unbridled joy that both creations are sharing in unison. It is the total essence of July in the city here in the southern USA as a municipal fountain unleashes torrents of relief. This was awarded by the Smithsonian Institution in a photo contest last year. I was so lucky to be near at this precise moment with a telephoto lens!
Well, summer is retreating. Here in Dixie that means COTTON! I captured this typical field just outside of town. Cotton is such an exquisite plant and it crys the word "home" to my heart! I drew my first breath only a mile or so from a cotton field and hope to draw my last very close to the snowy plant. Inspite of the toxins associated with it's growing and the intense human suffering it brought to the millions who were enslaved to cultivate it in years past, the plant moves me.

I feel in quite a festive, party mood for tomorrow's firing. Maybe I should wear purple and don a red hat. No, I'm not feeling that festive! There is a show running in the events center next to the kiln of exquisite Oriental carpets. Most are antique and priceless. There will be many visitors milling around as well as friends who've promised to drop by and relieve some of the tediom of the early phase of firing with wood. I'll scarcely sleep tonight thinking of all that must be mentally recalled and put in order to have a successful firing tomorrow.

The groundhog kiln is ready to fire tomorrow. Lots of wicked small heartwood from long-leaf pine stacked and ready to pour out the BTU's it has locked within. The cooler weather moving in is a welcome relief from the sweltering days of the past months. The kiln was fired around the Fourth of July with daytime temps going to 101 degrees F! This firing will be pleasant, indeed, with temps of 73 degrees F!