Well for these last few days I have been setting up my blog at a new site(using a different company to host my blog) and I am happy to announce it is ready!! My new link is http://www.kt40.typepad.com I need to say a few things here. To Suz, my blog mentor, the one who introduce me to blogging, thank you!  Then to WordPress (which I highly recommend for anyone wanting to start blogging, it is free and they make setting up a blog easy to understand) thanks wordpress. But back to Suz for another minute, hard to put in words the thanks, she is a person that is always moving forward and taking on challenges which just inspires others around her to do the same. I kept thinking I don’t know if I can do the switch, means learning new computer lingo all over again…and frankly I am not so quick at this…but as always she was positive and said “Yes you can.”… and then lead the way. So goodbye WordPress thanks for everything! Please join me at my new site. kt

Well the kids have had a stomach bug once again, this really hasn’t been our year as far as health goes. I now have lingering symptoms not bad enough to really write about.

So yesterday I was lying in bed around 5pm staring at the tan curtains which had a little pink tint to them because of the light shining up against them. Jasmine was at the front door yelling “Goodbye Dad!” because Jason was on his way to her school for an informal parent conference. I giggled in my bed “Goodbye Dad!” was ringing in my ears, he is a dad, I am a mom…..sometimes this makes me laugh, I know, not very adult of me is it, but when I hear our kids call us Dad and Mom sometimes it makes me think “Who was crazy enough to put us in charge? Oh yeah we were, we appointed ourselves the positions. “How are we doing?” ……the best we can I suppose…..then Jasmine came in the room.

“How is your stomach Mom?” she asked

“It’s okay” I said

“I’ll just close your door Mom.” and she did so quietly.

This time I didn’t giggle, I smiled and turned over and looked back at the curtains and thought about Jason driving in the car on the way to her school to sit at a conference where he will understand only a few of the Italian words that are spoken, and Jasmine, sweet Jasmine coming in to check on me, yes we are doing the best that we can.

it has been quiet around here because our keyboard is messed up right now you would not believe how long it took to write this….well until we get the problem solved i won’t be able to blog hopefully it gets fixed soon.

kt

I made this woman for a wall in my new garden next year. I don’t know if I will actually have a wall but one can hope can’t they. She is based on the Madonnas that are around here that inspire me. They always seem to have flowers around them and shells. I suppose this stands for the beauty found on land and in the ocean, not sure, but that is what I would like to believe they represent. Mine doesn’t have a child with her because she is more the mother of earth with a flower in her hair

and a full circle with a star inside stamped over her heart.

A year in the garden is a full circle to me and the plants

that grow then fade away do seem to live like stars.

It is everywhere really…love…We went with the kids to the city the other day I had my camera slung around my shoulder. Then I saw a couple kissing behind a fountain and it was the man’s hands that really caught my eye, clasped around her back….love is something we like to hold, isn’t it.

The next photo….. a man was receiving the comfort of love or was it the other way around, he was the one giving. Then lastly the photo below, the simple act of holding hands as we walk, sort-of the quiet subtle body language that says “I love this person”.

It is everywhere I tell you, these were just a few glimpses of many that I saw that afternoon and when my little family sat down for lunch a man sitting at the table next to us noticed my camera and offered to take our photo “You have such a lovely family.” he said. I guess he was noticing the love that was around him too that day and knew that a simple photo could capture it.

For more Love Thursday

I have to take a few days off blogging here, need to stop being the lady causally taking photos of others hustling and bustling about. Need to start attending to matters like getting three guinea pigs pet passports, you know the usual moving stuff like that. We are moving soon, need to face the reality of it. So until a couple days from now…Katy

I had Jasmine pull the name out of the bowl this morning…..”It’s Mary!” she said. So Mary the bowl will be sent out this week along with some Italian treats in it to you.

This makes me think I will do this again next month with another piece of pottery because, well I have quite a bit and we are moving and it is fun to be surprised to find out who it is going to and honestly I wanted to be able to send each one of you something but it wouldn’t be a drawing then would it. Well I hope your Monday goes well! kt

My ceramic dream piece is almost finished. Last Wednesday I glazed it. I went to the library to look for books about Native American Art. I realized this is what my dream piece wants to be and as I looked around the library I ended up seeing a little ragged book on a bottom shelf in the poetry section. I could only make out the words sun and love on the side. “Hummm……what is this?” I thought.
I picked it up and open the first page “So and so has written over six poetry books since 1940 poems about the Yukon….”
“I don’t know this really isn’t speaking to me.” I thought.
“Just look at one poem.” I heard myself say. I opened the book
Kathleen was written at the top of the page. I slammed the book shut. “That is my name! This book has a poem written in it with my name as the title, I just randomly turned to that page….okay this is weird, I am definitely checking out this book.” I glanced around, had anyone noticed that I had sort-of freaked out and slammed the book shut….no….the coast was clear or maybe the library was just it’s usual empty self and I was my usual nutty self.
I realized as I was checking out the book that I had to rush home, Iris would be out of school very soon. I threw the book in the front seat next to me. I couldn’t stop glancing over at the book What was the poem about?…are there many poems titled Kathleen?….was this poem going to be a love poem?….was it about a woman in Alaska?….was it going to be the most intense poem I had ever read with some sort-of life changing message? Well after I picked up Iris, I had to make lunch for all the kids, take them swimming and then finally when we got home I went down to my room and opened the book.
It was probably the lamest, strangest poem I have ever read I actually started laughing thinking “What the *;%#!”!!! Every line rhymed at the end tak’n and break’n these are how the words were actually spelled, it was about some man who sailed a boat and had stomach problems and had to have a cow, who he named Kathleen on his boat, because he could only drink milk……I kidd you not! I kept thinking who would write a poem about this….six poetry books published…..what the bleep!! I somehow finished the whole poem which went on and on and the writing style driving me crazy the whole time but I kept thinking there has got to be something to this. It all really makes me laugh now, laugh at myself for being so freaking serious about the whole thing. Life is funny, get it, I get it.

I took my usual walk the other day. Took the camera along. I have walked this same path at least four times a week for the last year and half. My mind wanders in and out of though.
For the most part the countryside is able to distract me from my ever-repeating thoughts.
But one kept sneaking through…. come this end of August I will just have photos of this path and only memories of the red tail hawk who lives somewhere nearby and has scared me a couple of times because of how close it was to me, one day only five feet away sitting on a stump watching me walk.

The little Italian tower on the crumbling cliff side.

The cement shed at the end of field whose crop rotates each year. I know I will find new places to explore but sometimes thoughts of moving can be so bittersweet…..so I took photo after photo, I don’t want to only rely on my mind’s memory of images that started off my mornings here. I made that mistake with Portugal.

Only two days left for the bowl drawing( see post below) so if you want in, just follow the instructions below. Kt

I received my little bowl back last night. I want to do what I have seen on other blogs, offer it out…..to anyone who is interested, all that you need to do is either leave a comment or email me jandk_keuter@yahoo.com and I will draw a name this coming Monday and then send it on its way. Just seems like the right thing to do. It is a little bowl, maybe good for holding some keys and loose change. The woman in the bowl is intense but in a good way. It was made with thought, yes even the strange black line around her was intentional in a subconscious sort-of way. She has the presence of nature inside her and if you feel like you need a little extra of that right now, or maybe just a little pick-me-up gift, send me a note, your name will go into the hat, I promise, kt.

I am trying something new. I go to a site I like look at. Then I look at their links then from those links I look at more links so I end up very randomly choosing a new link(blog) to add. The blog will be a surprise even to me…….so anyways in my new category on the side new blog I am adding I will change maybe every three weeks or so but permanently keep them in the where I visit section after I add a new one. This week is a fanciful twist I liked her post was it just all a dream and I also read her yes wishes post. Then Jasmine walked in the room and we looked at her Etsy store and Jasmine said “Only two dollars and fifty cents doesn’t she know how good she is? She could charge way more.” I always love it when my kids walk in and look at other people’s art with me because they really truly appreciate it. Here is another item from her shop, like her blog her work seems to reflect that she is enjoying life.

Have you ever held a bird? If you have, you know that if you do, you really have to clasped them tightly because they want to fly away not be held. I tripped today when I didn’t see a step that was right in front of me. Now I have a hitch in my getup. I pulled my right shoulder muscle yesterday doing a weird maneuver to pick something up that as soon as I started I knew it was a bad idea. I am off right now, we found out that we are moving to Japan in 4 months, and it has thrown me off literately and figuratively.

So I figuratively let the bird go, the one that I was carrying around since this weekend, the one I thought could sort-out all the unknowns for me, doesn’t work that way, I have to let it go because the unknowns are called that for a reason aren’t they. It really did work I literately feel much lighter.

Japan is just as good as a destination as the next, how strange yet wonderful my life is.

This Saturday I went with two of my best pals to ceramic shops we had quite a few wonderful unexpected detours too. I can’t tell you how inspiring it all was and how many photos I took. How I couldn’t stop taking photos. You may think whoa she has never posted so many photos all at once before and you would be right but I just felt compelled to share as much as I could. So here it goes

1) Bridget(thank you Bridget for driving as always) 2)Suzanne

1)Wall above the studio 2)Door outside the painting studio

1)The Kiln 2) window outside the shop

1) Masks on wall up to an apartment above the studio(this photo made me think of Jerry and Alicia)

The wife of the owner of the ceramics shop/studio took us on a tour of the warehouse it was built in 1812 and the walls were covered with black smoke it was so dark and quiet. I loved the black, white and gray tones that filled the space.
1) lone light bulb 2)Ceramic molds against wall 3)light coming through a shut up window 4)old pot open window

1)This was the husband’s studio, the painting he had hanging up was given to him by his Uncle. The story goes that someone had given the Uncle this painting and he loved it and hung it up in his house, his wife however hated it and complained about it everyday. When she died he took it down because he felt so guilty whenever he looked at it and that is how it ended up in this studio. 2)The wife of the owner showing us the original kiln built in 1812.

This Man is an owner of another ceramic studio/shop(he is the egg-holder man, Melynn). I was so happy on this excursion to have to courage to ask if I could take people’s photo this was a big step for me.(Mary, I will bring him back a photo)

1)He told me I could take a photo of the pieces he had made that morning I think he was quite proud of them. 2) Inside his shop/studio 3) This outside of his shop was charming with the laundry above.

This morning I wrote the post below and this evening I found myself watching an online video of Oprah with Eckhart’s class chapter one this may not be for everyone but quite a bit of it really spoke to me. Made me even laugh because there they were discussing some of the same issues I feel like I am dealing with. There they were being addressed. They also talked about an experience Oprah had with a tree and feeling it’s presence, yesterday in ceramics I made a bowl with a woman and where her heart was I etched a tree and it’s trunk went down her torso and it’s roots wove into her skirt. When I got up to leave class and I handed the bowl to my teacher she said “I’m not sure what is different about you tonight but you seemed so present, you didn’t worry about rushing home to make dinner, you didn’t seem distracted by anything.” Then another adult came over and looked at my bowl and asked about the tree they wanted to know why I put it there. “That is her heart.” I explained I didn’t really know how to explain soul in Italian so I had said heart instead. So this evening when I watched the video and they started talking about the tree experience she(Oprah) had had Eckhart said to Oprah something to the affect of “Well the tree became a part of you when you were present.” I got chills, really I did because that was my feeling I was having when I made the bowl that the tree was a part of this woman…..me……us, isn’t it funny how a day can go.

Sometimes this blog feels therapeutic, sometimes it makes me feel like I am being self-centered, me me me. My hope is that it doesn’t come off as self-centered and instead is a break from your own day to day stuff. I know when I go to other blogs I love checking-in, seeing what is new or even reading the same old day in/day out stuff and I love that these bloggers are putting themselves out there….sharing their worlds and the word “selfless” comes to my mind.

Is it just me that has this weird hang-up? The I can’t talk to much about myself or share too much, without thinking that others think, I think, I’m all that and a bag of chips syndrome. I’ll be honest, for me, it is strange forty years later to suddenly start writing about what is going on in my world almost everyday, share it and not always know who is reading. I do get a sense of freedom from having this blog, I can express myself more freely than I think I otherwise would, the somewhat anonymity of it all seems to make this possible for me.

I’m wishing I was a more confident blogger I guess…..wishing I felt like I knew what I was doing and didn’t need any feedback reassuring me to keep on sharing….wish I had the confidence to hear that from myself loudly but instead it is still at the under my breath stage….more than half of my posts I have doubts about. If you were a fly on the wall in this computer room you would witness me writing…..deleting…..writing…..deleting…..coming back two hours later to re-edit my post, you get the picture.

I’m drawn to the bloggers who put photos of themselves on their blogs, I like seeing the face behind the voice, they seem to really own their blogs but it is difficult for me to do that myself. Insecurities again, boy they like to rear their ugly heads around here a lot. Well here I am the woman who feels like she is still trying to convince herself that it is okay for her to have a blog.

Here is only half of my face, it is early morning and I am sporting a gray sweatshirt and some grandma red lipstick. But what about you? Do you have any insecurities bumping into you as you wander around? Are they as big and cumbersome as mine? Unwelcome guests. This little blog is helping me take on those pesky insecurities that have obliviously gotten use to hanging-out with me, blog therapy again if you will, need to break out of your shell start a blog. Half a face is a start, means I am half way there right? Maybe next week it will be 3/4’s of my face and then again maybe not.

Jason asked to borrow my keys and I said “Yeah, I think they are in my coat pockets”
He did find my keys and also came over with a bunch of rocks in his hands.
“Now I know where our kids get this from” he said smiling.

I must admit that it was one of my prouder moments as being recognized as a parent who has had a little influence on their kids.

On any given day you can find a dried up flower, half a walnut shell, or an assortment of rocks in my pockets, don’t ask me how long this has been going on I couldn’t tell you.

This morning I decided to empty out today’s pockets and take some photos of what I had picked up. Here are some different arrangements of my pocket contents today.