Excellent Adventure

My four projects are on the right.  Can you tell that is a frog on the plate?  I caught some heat because it doesn't have arms.

 

 

Saturday was my surprise early Mother's day outing with Offspring #2. I could have found out on Friday what we were doing but I chose to keep it a surprise. The day started with lunch in her apartment, homemade pizza with faux turkey, pineapple, spinach and onion followed by a fruit salad. The salad had fresh strawberries, pineapple and banana topped with Greek yogurt/protein powder and almonds. All that protein really stuck to my ribs. Then we went to a clay center on Franklin Avenue for a “crafternoon.” We got to throw pots on potter's wheels. We listened to our instructor tell us how to make mugs, plates and bowls and then we got to try it ourselves. The first thing is to center the clay on the wheel. It's not as easy as he made it look. He said we should practice to improve our muscle memory. He said to expect 25% of our attempts to amount to anything. After a certain amount of working with the clay, things go downhill and it's better to dump that clay and start over. The clay is actually recycled and I did recycle a few clumps of clay. I ended up with a plate and three bowls during our three hour class. Mugs are hard. My problem was making the bottom too thin. When I tried to pick them up the bottom would tear. Getting things even was also difficult. As the wheel turned I could feel thick, thin, thick, thin. So I would get the wheel turning faster and feel thickthinthickthin. I would try slower and feel thick thin thick thin. Evidently changing the speed was not the answer. I was working next to a young man who managed to make a large and beautifully shaped bowl that I could already picture fruit sitting in it. Where I had made three items, he was still on his first. I thought I would slow down like him. He spent a lot of time just holding the bowl with his wet fingers as it spun round and round. I enjoyed our afternoon but golly,we were a mess. I had red clay on my pants and all over the front of my shirt. We painted and decorated our work. Our instructor will glaze and fire it for us and we can pick it up in three weeks. After class we went to the Hard Times Cafe on Riverside Avenue for dinner. They have a six page menu and everything on it is vegetarian. Every item menu was vegetarian. I am not used to this. When I go out to eat, I am lucky to find anything besides a garden salad and a grilled cheese sandwich. Having six pages of options was overwhelming. This must be what it is like for carnivores every time they go out to eat. I'm just not used to it. I got a haystack (nachos). The serving was so big it could feed 3 people. Hard Times has interesting patrons, good atmosphere, great food and good prices and absolutely no service. You have to go to the counter to order, carry your own food, and bus your own dishes. Well, I guess we can't have everything. I had an awesome Mother's Day excursion. The best.