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!