Summertime Joys

 

I have fond memories of childhood summers reading the afternoon away in the shade. Games of tag on the lawn after dinner. Spending the entire day at the neighborhood swimming pool.

Even when it gets too hot to be outside too long, I love the sun shining in. Flowers blooming. Garden growing. Little ones splashing away including the biggest baby of them all, my black lab, Darby. 

Snapshots of summer. 

Salad growing in the garden. Pick some leaves, add meat or fish or cheese and feast. 

Lavender in full bloom. Fresh mixed with roses or dried in your closet, it’s such a lovely scent. And did you know, lavender also keeps moths away from your clothes. 

Patio pots and baskets adding more color for you and food for hummingbirds and bees. 

Sprinkles and splashing and water fun. At home, in the pool or sprinklers or away in one of many city parks. 

Beautiful sunsets. My favorite time of day, watching that sun slowly sink behind the trees in all its yellow, orange and red glory. 

Summer of love. 

Unlike the last, this is a summer to love. My home is whole. My family is healthy. And even though on some days, it’s too hot to fire up the kiln and my bisque pieces have to wait, I can still create. 

Taking better photos of my pieces. And putting them on Etsy. 

Reorganizing my new studio desk space. Designing new business cards. 

Taking the time everyday 

Seeing the purples, pinks and bright greens.

Smelling the roses and lavenders.

Picking fresh blueberries, tomatoes and lettuce.

Filling up on the true joys of summer.

What's Too Hot? What's Not.

Is it ever too hot to create? That's the question this week as temperatures in the moderate Pacific Northwest soared into the triple digits. I'd like to believe these temperatures are an anomaly but with all the changes across our earth, I know it's not. So the question is not just how to survive but how to thrive. 

Into the cool cave. 

Three years ago, we broke down and bought an air conditioning unit. We said we bought it for our dog, Jilly, who was 9 years old and had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor that was supposed to kill her in 3 months. We were told to make sure she stayed calm and didn't run or jump or get too excited. Since hot weather made her really stressed, we bought the AC unit. 

At first, sitting in the sun-blocked room with the AC on was somewhat delicious. We were cool and calm. I worked on my computer and read. But this year, I just couldn't settle into it. My computer work got done. I read all the news. I just couldn't binge watch another TV show. I was restless. I finally realized: I was bored. 

Sweating through the day anyway.

I have shows coming up and work that needs to be finished. But I can't run the kiln because my space isn't totally air conditioned. Making new work in very hot, dry weather is problematic when you work in clay, especially porcelain. I learned the hard way that forcing work is never a good idea. But porcelain needs to dry very, very slowly to prevent cracks and that's just not possible with dry, hot weather. 

I had to work. Not just for production purposes, but for my peace of mind. My hands need to brush, pinch, draw. My mind needs the centered calm of clay, color and texture. My soul lives to create. 

Yes, sweat was pouring into my eyes as I stood there under glazing my jars, mugs and flowers. It might be too hot outside, but inside, my hands, mind and soul were connected and content. Showing me that it's much better to be too hot in the studio than to be cool and bored. 

As The Wheel Turns: Summertime.

I've never thought of art as being seasonal.  And I've been known to push the limits of creating regardless of weather or holidays. But as I've found out before, many times, pushing doesn't always lead to success in art or life.  Especially when it comes to working with clay.

Summertime, when the living is easy.  Except for clay.  

Because it's made of earth and water, clay is especially affected by weather.  Days that are too dry or hot make working with clay a challenge at best.  At the worst, things literally fall apart.  Add porcelain's persnickety personality to this equation and kick it up quite a few notches and you can see why a beautiful, dry, sunny day can turn into an ugly studio day.  If I had a temperature controlled, humidified environment in my studio, I could play with clay all the time.  Since I don't, I'm at the whim of Mother Nature.

Nobody messes with Mother Nature.

Oh, I've tried and tried and tried.  I've spritzed and wrapped and closed blinds and doors.  Sometimes, I luck out and my pieces don't break, initially.  I get optimistic only to have these same pieces develop cracks later on in the process.  At first, I thought it was me, my inexperience or a bad batch of clay which can be very good reasons for bad results.  And that kind of thing can still happen even in the best of clay conditions.  But now, I do know and have finally grudgingly acknowledged Mother Nature wins.

Giving in isn't giving up.

I have to trust.  It's a very hard thing for me to do being the year-round worrier that I am but trusting the cycle is the only way.  Sunny, dry days do not make for good clay pieces.  I can, however, paint existing pieces.  I can bisque pieces and glaze and glaze fire.  And luckily, I do have a shelf or two of pieces almost ready for all three stages.  But there's still a lot of waiting to be done and I'm not good at waiting.

Life lessons from porcelain.

I chose to work in porcelain.  I love its luscious, velvety feel and beautiful snowy finish but it is not a clay that likes to be pushed.  Working with porcelain is teaching me not just about its own nature but mine as well.  Pushing does not produce success.  Grace, patience and trust does.  Going with the flow has never been my strong point, but porcelain is showing me the way.     

Summertime Goodness.

Huge, dark, bursting boysenberries that just melt in your mouth.  Soft, sweet, juicy peaches as big as baseballs.  Tomatoes red, ripe and pulling down the vines in my garden.   

I love the goodness summer brings.  And I love cooking sweet goodies and cool salads with whatever summer brings my way.  

In the past two weeks that's meant boysenberries, peaches from the local farmers market and cherry and beefsteak tomatoes from my garden.  I've harvested almost all my lettuce and the zucchini is, sadly, done for this year.  But thanks to the very hot and sunny weather here in the usually cloudy northwest, my tomatoes are turning red right and left.

The best thing in my book is coming up with dishes to enjoy using these delights.  Boysenberry Galette, Peach Crumble Pie and Caprese Salad.

First, sweet, then the savory.

A Boysenberry Galette is so quick, easy and fun to bake up.  Just mix the washed berries with cinnamon and sugar, roll out pie dough, spoon the berries inside, then fold it up around the outside, brush with a little milk or egg, sprinkle with sugar.  Bake 375 for 45 minutes.  Cool.  Eat.

Pie making is not my thing.  So I admit, I cheated here just a little.  I used a store bought pie shell for the bottom of this pie.  Just prick it with a fork and par bake it at 400 for 10 minutes, let it cool.  While this is happening, slice the peaches and mix with 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  Make the crumble by mixing 6 tbsp butter into 1/3 cup each of brown sugar and flour and 1/2 cup oatmeal and more cinnamon.  Once the pie shell is cool, fill it with the peach filling, top with the crumble topping and bake at 375 for about an hour.   Cool.  Eat.

Caprese Salad is even easier than all of the above.  No cooking.  Very little prep.  Perfect for a hot day dinner.  Wash and de-stem 2 cups of cherry tomatoes.  Rinse several stems of basil leaves.  In a serving bowl, add 16 oz container of Trader Joes marinated mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, snip the basil leaves over the top.  Toss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Eat with crusty, french rolls.

I hope you enjoy the summertime goodness coming your way as much as I'm enjoying it here!

Welcome Zucchini and Summertime!

You know it's really summer when there is zucchini in the garden.  Inspired by my daughter's question about what to do with too much grated zucchini, I created this dinner.  I've been asked for the recipe, so here it is.

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But first, a confession: I've done a lot of things in my life (and plan to do much more, hopefully) and one of those is foods and nutrition training.  That involved learning about the chemistry of foods and test kitchen-like lab training.  When I want to make something I haven't made before, I figure out the basic method.  In this case it's a pancake with savory components.  Then research related recipes, hone in on what I have at hand or want to use, and make my own recipe version.

Hope you like it!!

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Zucchini and Shrimp Fritters

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Three small zucchini grated

1/4 red onion chopped fine

1-1/2 cups frozen pre-cooked large shrimp thawed and chopped 

2 eggs beaten 

3/4 cup flour

1/2-1 cup quarto frommiagio cheese (ok, it was about a handful)

Salt

Pepper

Dill weed(two to three shakes of the spice jar, maybe 2 tsp)

Place zucchini and onion in colander, toss with 2 tsp salt and let sit to drain. 

Thaw shrimp in small colander under warm water. Then chop.

Press excess water out of zucchini.  Place in bowl, add shrimp, egg, salt, pepper, dill and mix.  Add flour and gently mix with fork. Add cheese, mix.  Chill for about an hour.

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Heat non stick skillet with 2 Tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Drop spoonfuls of fritter mix to pan.  Fry each side about 5 minutes or until golden brown.  I had about 4 in pan at once. Took them out and put in another batch.  Makes about 8 3" fritters.

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Serve on bed of spinach with drizzle of sour cream or whole cream yogurt. Enjoy!!

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