Wednesday, January 23, 2008

a vocabulary conundrum

When we were packing and I was trying to eliminate the non-essentials Jim would want to keep something because of its 'story'. I told him everything in our house had a story and some of which must be sacrificed anyway. Among the things we packed for our move with a story are these JUGS Jim and his grandfather found in an old still in an abandoned shack many years ago. They had been fishing and took a break to walk in the woods where they came upon the shack and found in it a large number of these jugs. They had been used for "moonshine" during the days of prohibition. These are three of the many (27?) 'little brown jugs' they brought back from their fishing trip. This is what comes to my mind when I hear someone speak of a 'jug' so I am always set back a bit when Doug Fitch calls one of his beautiful slip-ware pitchers a 'jug'. I think these simple jugs have great integrity. Their simple, strong form is very appealing. There are no markings on any of the jugs. The two in back are the same size and hold EXACTLY the same amount--just over 2 liters. The jug in the front holds about 1.5 liters. The picture does not show the size variance very well.



I thought about going through the house with my camera for this post to show you the incredible mess I have created. But it would be too depressing for you and too embarrassing for me. We are sort of stymied while waiting for the floors to be renewed and the storage area to be completed so that we can begin unpacking all that we did not eliminate. I can't set up the studio until construction is over because it is full of the worker's tools. I do have my bed set up and it is very welcoming at the end of a long day of hauling everything around. I know there is an important lesson here--hope I can learn it--Jim hopes I can learn it as well. I am amazed and grateful at how well my body has held up to the stress I have put it through.

It took us a week to move after all the packing was done. I have thought about the families that were given an hour or so to evacuate their homes ahead of fire or flood. I have wondered how I would manage if I was given only a few hours to evacuate my home! I guess it shows the extent of my attachments.

My fingers are itching to get hold of a ball of clay!

4 comments:

Ron said...

Hi Gay, I hope you are getting some rest. Those pots are amazing! It's good to get a post from you and I hope you can get back to the clay soon.

Sister Creek Potter said...

Thanks, Ron. I do feel unhappy that I have not posted recently--no time to write and nothing ceramic to write about. But hopefully that will change SOON! Gay

doug Fitch said...

Hi Gay
I don't know if you got my reply to your comment the other day on my blog. My emails haven't been getting to you either I think. Anyway, I just want to say thank you again for the booklet you sent to me, it's wondeful and I was both thrilled and touched.

Sorry to have been causing confusion with the 'jug' thing. Do you pour milk form a milk jug or a milk pitcher?
Doug

Sister Creek Potter said...

We pour milk from a milk bottle! I love reading your and Andrew's blogs just for all these funny twists in the English language which we share--for the most part!

Glad to know you did get the booklet--I thought you'd enjoy it.

Thanks for the note. Gay