Ceramics Lessons

     My Grandmother was an artist, working in many mediums (read/listen to my mom talk about it in detail here). What I remember the most is her skill in painting ceramics. Below are a few examples of her work:



     I remember going with her to a ceramics show once. She often entered her pieces into contests, taking home blue ribbons, as seen below. I'm not sure if it's this event that I remember or another one.

     I remember being very impressed by the competition and everyone's art. I wanted to be able to do that! After the show, Grandmama let us pick a few pieces from her vast collection of un-painted pieces. Here's what I ended up creating:

     Hey, I was kid. I'm not sure how old... somewhere around seven or eight I think. These pieces are now two very cherished possessions that allow me to feel a deeper connection with my grandmother. I might not have continued to paint, but I can look back fondly on these memories.

Winter Memories

     Growing up in Georgia means that we usually have somewhat mild winters. We might get an inch of snow every other year and a larger snow storm once in a while. Usually, the kids rush out to play the second it starts accumulating because it could be gone in a few hours and it will be gone the next day.

     There are few exceptions. I have vague memories of the Blizzard in '93 with drifts of snow in the back yard almost hip high (I was about 10 years old).  I remember an ice storm a few years later that kept us trapped in the house where we played board games (Risk got thrown across the dining room).  But the biggest winter storm that I can remember? It's happening right now.

     Atlanta is pretty much shut down right now. It snowed 6 inches Sunday night and then iced up another inch. My work hasn't opened these past two days - and it takes a lot to close a movie theatre! I've worked there for 10 years and this is the first time I can think of that we haven't at least opened for a few hours. We've been watching the local news, seeing the highways covered in ice and people literally ice skating down major downtown streets.  People always say that Southerners don't know how to drive in snow. It's not that - it's that we don't have enough snow plows to clear the roads.

     Here are some photos of the Snowmagedon:

Looking down the street from in front of my house

Trixie, breaking through the ice and into the snow (not happy)

My Easter Memories

(photo slideshow)

The Easters of my childhood all followed the same pattern and left me with many happy memories. The night before Easter, my mom helped my brother, sister and I dye eggs. We usually got six eggs each, though I think my brother (older by eight years) might have gotten more. We put our finished eggs in our baskets and left them out for the Easter Bunny. In the morning, we found our baskets filled with candy and a stuffed bunny.

Mom would cook, sometimes helped by my sister and I. The menu was basically the same for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter: Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Potato Salad, Carrot Cake and, sometimes, fruit salad. We would take this down to Grandmama and Grandaddy's house (maternal grandparents). There we met with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Most everyone lived within a hundred miles of each other, so usually everyone made it to dinner.

Dinner was around 2-4pm, depending on when the last person showed up. The food was set up in the kitchen, with many of the hot foods still on the stove, like a buffet. There was usually a ham and/or turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, giblet gravy (if there was a turkey), dressing, different beans, corn, etc.

In general, the kids fixed their plates with help from their parents, then the adults fixed theirs, with the men usually going last. Because there were so many people, the kids ate in the kitchen or, sometimes, on the patio outside, with the adults in the living room on the couch or in the first bedroom down the hall. Once everyone had a plate (and usually the kids had already started eating) Grandaddy would say a prayer.

After everyone ate, it was time for the easter egg hunt. We would collect everyone's eggs (count them) and the adults would hide the eggs out in the front yard for the kids. After a few years some rules were developed: Not on cars unless in full view (ie, not in tailpipes), not in sticker bushes or in Grandmama's flower beds. After the kids found as many eggs as they could, we would then hid them for the adults. We played a few rounds this way, playing hot 'n' cold near the end of each round to finish up. We always hid a few eggs that were never found.