Bananas

This is the chunk of wood I started with.

This is the middle phase of working on it.

More pictures to come ... as soon as I take them.  The piece is finished except for the final last tweak that will make it more than just a piece of wood.  That tweak has not yet been figured out.

Bananas? Susan taught me this trick that she learned from her grandfather.  When you have a banana and it is just the right ripeness but you aren't ready to eat it, put it in the refrigerator. It will turn really brown after a few days. But, surprise, surprise! When you peel it it will still be almost perfect (shown below, just a little bit of brown starting in the middle, from a banana that spent amost 5 days in the refrigerator).

We often tell people this trick and they usually don't believe us. People! Here is the proof:

The Guys

Oliver 1 and Oliver 2.

Susan made me the quilt they are on.

A Time for Thanksgiving

Did you stuff a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner? Or do you just feel stuffed now that you ate your turkey dinner?

Please remember the people who make sure you have the freedom to have that turkey dinner. They'd probably prefer to be sitting down to dinner with you instead of being in a mess hall.  You'd probably prefer that for them too.

Boxed In

The wood for this box (above) came from the trash pile.  Remember my favorite motto:

Trash is the failure of imagination

Not too exciting here but I am learning now to make things square and even. Sort of. The openings in these boxes are about 6-8" so I need to be sure I make some ceramic pieces that fit in appropriately.

Speaking of appropriate, while riding my bike early one morning in the neighborhood I spotted this garage door.  Way cool.

A New Direction for Me

Not new direction here, just some more Pod People talking to each other. They are finished and are waiting to be bisque fired and then glazed and fired again.

Not new direction here either. Tall pots that will be raku fired.

New direction! Wood sculpture! It's a long story for another time but the point is I found this piece of wood at a cemetery and I'm taking a sculpture class ....

Oskar, Tarmo and Pinetop

These Little Dudes (and a few others) went to Austin Art Garage recently and I sort of miss them. Once I looked at all of them I realized the Dudes with little ears looked better than I remembered so I need to re-think that. 

Speaking of Dudes, Amy's Ice Cream here in Austin has a special flavor called "The Dude" and it is flavored with Tito's Homemade Vodka.  Don't know about The Dude? The Dude Abides in The Big Lebowski.

After eating a big bowl of "The Dude", I retire to my studio and Susan puts this sign on the front door:

,

Remember: Veterans Day, November 11, 2012

U.S. 10th Mountain Division, Afghanistan

Enough.
I've had enough.
We've had enough.
They've had enough.

As a veteran of the Viet Nam War I think I've earned the right to say we are beginning to lose our collective sanity as a country the longer we leave troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army soldiers carry a critically wounded  American soldier

on a stretcher to an awaiting MEDEVAC helicopter near

Kandahar, Afghanistan 

(Photo: GETTY)

Enough.

Female soldiers from Fort Campbell deploying to Afghanistan

will field test the first Army body armor that is shorter and

better tailored specifically to fit women’s physiques.

Definitely enough.

Previously, I let eloquent poets and soldiers speak for me. Their words still resonate, as do the images:
http://donmadden.blogspot.com/2008/11/veterans-day-and-j-clifford-mckittrick.html
http://donmadden.blogspot.com/2009/11/remember-veterans-day-nov-11-2009.html
http://donmadden.blogspot.com/2010/11/remembering-veterans-day-november-11.html
http://donmadden.blogspot.com/2011/11/veterans-day-november-11-2011-for-1.html