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(Top: Our beautiful, ancient, dilapidated house.  The day before the oil spill.  Above:  Our gorgeous kiln.  Before the oil spill)

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Hi everyone,

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So sorry I haven’t been posted in the past few days, or responded to the many (wonderful) messages I have received lately! I will be getting on to all of that soon, but for the time being, the situation we are dealing with at the moment is taking all of my time and energy.

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There was a fairly catastrophic oil spill on our property a few days ago.  Since then, we have had to evacuate immediately from our house, which is now uninhabitable. We have been staying at the home of our amazing friends and neighbours Brian and Katie, and in the next couple of days we will be moving. We are so lucky to have so much: love, friendship, family, options.

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The whole fiasco has been quite heartbreaking, especially since we now know that we will likely lose the Anagama kiln we have spent the past two years building, our garden, and possibly our house…

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But it has also been a time of real hope and possibility, and togetherness.  We have been reminded of how much we love each other, and we have been shown an *incredible* amount of kindness and generosity from our friends and neighbours.  We are just insanely grateful for the love and support so many of you have offered.  You have actually kept us going.

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We have spent the past couple of days  moving most of our personal possessions out of our house, and into storage in our barn.  If it hadn’t been for Alison, Larry, Jessi, Jaye, Darren, Jamie, Carl, Melissa, and Janet, it would have just been a complete breakdown.  Thank you.

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We have dug up most of our garden, in hopes of transplanting the vegetables at Lee’s grandmother’s house, close to where we will be staying.  Our chickens have a new home with a friend, and our sweet dogs are safe with family elsewhere.

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The costs of the oil cleanup are hitherto unknown, but will likely be extensive.  We are considering some fund-raising approaches, in particular to help for the re-building of our kiln, but the picture will be more clear in the coming days.  (No, we do not have any insurance.  I know.)

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It has been suggested by a few people that we were foolish to have alerted Environment Canada about the spill, but we feel good about having been totally transparent, for the sake of the land, and our neighbours (whose property, thankfully, is unaffected).

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Despite the various dramas (facebook!), we want everyone to know that our plans for firing, pottery, writing, bauhauswife, flora & fauna, and life (!) will be going forward in full force.  (Instead of firing our Queenstown Anagama, we will be firing the Little River Anagama once again–after some vandalism repair–in August, as was the original firing date, and we will have lots of gorgeous new pottery vessels and sculptures, as well as exciting exhibits and events coming up.  And, we still have some beautiful new work available from our previous May firing, and in the next week or so, we will add new pieces to our online shop, so take a look, and let us know what you think.  Our work is also available at Gallery 78 in Fredericton www.gallery78.com, Handworks in Saint John (www.handworks.ca), Jonathon Bancroft Snell in London, Ontario, (www.jonathons.ca) and Mindy Solomon Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida (www.mindysolomongallery.com).

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I was planning to release my book project, Nourished Kids, in the coming few days, but due to the recent events, that will also be postponed.

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The priority for now, is to attempt to relocate relatively peacefully, and to establish a new rhythm for Horus, Treva & Felix, who are, as one might imagine, rather shaken by the whole ordeal.

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Thank you all for reading, looking, showing interest in our work, and supporting us.  The adventure just does not end!

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Stay tuned,

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Yolande & Lee, and Horus, Treva & Felix