Pottery

No, not the 'Barn, which does not, in fact, sell much pottery. But pottery class. After 3 sessions, I'm still at it. And I'm still an abysmal potter. I've made lots of wonky bowls that hold change at my front and back doors, a small column that holds pins for sewing, and not much else. Still, it's an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, and the weekly 4-hour class ensures that I get some regular time of out the house to myself.

Out for the Count

I spent nearly all of last week housebound, taking care of The Girl, The Tot and The Dad, all of whom were sick. I did sneak out for an hour of sanity-restoration on Friday afternoon, stocking up on super cheap fabrics for Lazy Days Skirts and cloth shopping bags at Jo-Ann. I also went to pottery class on Saturday morning and finally had a breakthrough in my ability to both center clay on the wheel and make a few cylinders. I want to make a salt pig, because I don't want to pay $30 for an Emile Henry one. There's only so many wonky bowls a girl can make.

Despite the 3-day weekend and no classes/plans, I regret to say that our big outing was on Sunday afternoon, when I took The Boy with me to Blockbuster to get videos, and to Trader Joe's to get groceries. It wasn't what I would call "quality time," but The Boy seemed to enjoy having my only-slightly-divided attention. He was very helpful.

Neighborhood Favorites

I took The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot with me this morning for "the usual" at Curio Cafe. It was packed. We managed to snag a table (it helps that we can cram into a 2-top), but a party of 5 that came in just after us had to wait a bit. The Tot got into a bit of a scuffle with the little boy sitting next to us; they both wanted the same activity cube. It had been the other boy's toy in a previous life and he did not want The Tot (or anyone else) to play with it. I've had more enjoyable meals at Curio, but that was more a function of taking 3 kids and the ad section of the paper to breakfast on a Sunday morning.

When I got home, Uncle Brian and the cousins came over for Football Sunday. The Tot was in heaven. He loves football. I ran a few shopping errands (Gap Outlet, Kohl's, The Home Depot) for The Dad. Then we took a family walk to the newly unveiled playground equipment at Athletic Field Park, at The Boy's request. It's quite a bit further than the playground at Independence Park, but it's quite nice. They've installed a new water feature between the original covered playground building and the basketball courts. It was obviously not working in 55-degree October weather, but I'm delighted at the prospect of sitting in the shade while The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot frolic in the spray park in front of me.

Plus, Meg and Tracy in park management are lovely people. Meg retrieved my keys from the ceramics studio for me on Friday, after I discovered I'd left them there after pottery class.

pottery

"Back to school" is my favorite time of year. Partially because I love the fall itself -- crisp weather, crunchy leaves, apple-picking, etc. -- but partially because I love learning. Whenever my brain stagnates a little too much, I start dreaming about school. Because The Boy started kindergarten, and The Girl started preschool this year, I preempted my subconscious by taking a class myself. I had wanted to take a French conversation class at l'Alliance Francaise, but it just seemed like too much for us all to start fresh.

Instead, I signed up for a wheel pottery class at Athletic Field Park's ceramics studio. It's challenging in a much different way than French would have been. Pottery is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but so far, I've really enjoyed. I've yet to make anything, but that's not entirely the point. It's both strange and nice to hang out with people who aren't women, parents, or experienced career-people.