Me, stoking the kiln. Yes, Felix is on my back. Don’t worry, I only do this kind of thing under duress. I was very careful, and it didn’t last long. He slept peacefully the whole time.

I guess this is the “before” photo. I cut off all my hair…And I look very tired in this picture, which I definitely was. Our firings last for about 1 week, and the kiln has to be stoked continuously, every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, for the duration.

Horus helped to unbrick. He’s so grown-up now…

Horus with his firebox cup.

One of my favourite pieces from this firing. Very satisfying. I made this vase on the kick-wheel, and all of the glaze and colour is simply a result of the firing process: Fire and ashes, wood & flame.

***

It’s been a whirlwind:  In the past couple of days, I had a wonderful meeting in Halifax with a pregnant Mum, looking for information on birth options in the Maritimes, and I visited at a Natural Birth group last night in Moncton, New Brunswick, where I met some incredible women, and talked about myself, my philosophies, and my projects.  Then we drove home at 2 in the morning to unload our kiln, after having just done a 6 day wood firing.  Our car broke down along the way, and everybody pooped at least once at an inopportune time, but we survived, and we actually had fun.

One of the things I talked about at the Birth & Parenting meeting was how we, Lee and I, have made a conscious decision to include our kids in our work as potters, rather than suspending our roles as artists and makers and workers and human beings in the world.  Especially as a woman, and as a mother, I want my children to see that they are NOT the entirety of my existence, but that they are so central to me and I love them so much, that I will give them an honoured place alongside me as I live and work.  I do make sure to give my kids a very generous amount of my complete focus (usually our “school” time and mornings) and this actually allows me to let them roam a bit when we’re trying to unload kilns and tidy studios and things like that.  As Horus gets older, he is more involved in the minutiae and routine and rhythm of the nitty gritty, and it was heartwarming, earlier today, to see him passing bricks to Treva as the chain gang moved the door down to get to the pots inside the still-warm kiln.

Isn’t the world a strange and magical place?  I remember, in my teenaged angst, thinking that there couldn’t be a less interesting time to be alive than in 1995, that everything magical had taken place already, and life really didn’t have anywhere to grow.  I have touched on my ambivalence towards the world of tech and nets and webs and facebooks (etc.) in the past…and I remain a bit conflicted.  But I remember sitting in Mr. Bell’s class in grade 2, listening to him tell us that he had just discovered that there was a small group of computer programmers around the world who had invented a way of connecting their computers, and of actually *speaking to each other*.  Through the *web*.  And I remember sitting up, and noticing, and being cognizant that what he was saying was somehow a beginning, and important.

Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the state of my “online presence” (dear Goddess).  I will soon be amalgamating two of my sites into one, this one, because I like this space and it’s really me, and although sometimes I experiment with trying on personaes as we all do, I am unfailingly myself most of the time.  So in addition to baring my soul about my life and my opinions and my children and my interests, I’ll also chat once and a while about food and things like that.  And pretty soon I’ll tell you about my book.  I’m excited.

I will also be posting lots of links and goodies and ideas and articles on attachment parenting and birth and health and things like that on my new Facebook Page, also called Bauhauswife.  I can’t link to it here, because I don’t have enough “likes”, but if you head to my personal page, you’ll be able to find it.  So please do “like” Bauhauswife, if you like, because I’m pretty sure that most of my  friends  are sick and tired of hearing about why it’s important to leave the umbilical cord intact for at least a little while after birth…

You may also have noticed that I have a mailing list sign-up button at the top of the page…right up there.  There it is!  I’m very excited about that.  I got help, but in general, I think I’m getting the hang of wordpress.  My mailings will be few and far -between, but they should contain some goodies, and  you might find them interesting, if you enjoy what happens here.

Oh!  And yes, we did unload the kiln.  (photos above, of course).  And it would be an understatement for me to say that we are pleased.  After trying and failing and building and firing, for the past 7 years, in my case, we have had a *superb* firing.  Phew.

Look out for articles on the following topics, coming up in the next few weeks:

*Tantrums

* The Best Positions for Giving Birth (Should You Have a Waterbirth?)

* When to Introduce Solid Foods

* Easy Ways to Homeschool

* How to be Happy with Your Children