I've begun work. The days so far have been sunny and wide-open; the tourists have nothing to complain about. The shop used to be an old schoolhouse; the ceilings are high and it stays cool when it's hot out. The front half of the space is filled with lovely pottery, lit just right; green stoneware and the shiny and crackly raku. There's also the big iron sculpture Gordon made, with the masks hanging that you can look through; it has a mirror in the middle. The back half of the shop is the studio, complete with clay-covered wheel, batts stacked on shelves, bisque-fired pots with waxed bottoms waiting to be glazed, and the wedging/extruding station where on Monday I wedged 17 3-lb balls of sculpture (or raku) clay. We have a 5-disc CD changer and we play everything from Billie Holiday to Bonnie Raitt to Bob Marley, alliteration not intended. We're also doing a lot of outside work, painting the exterior, hauling wood, mowing the lawn. Things are slow but then it's still June, things won't really pick up til July. I've been selling pretty well, too--maybe the pie shop experience helped?
As for where I'm living, things are good there too. Rachel (step-sister) has grown up some (well, that happens, doesn't it?) and we get along much better than before. Robin (step-mother) is going to spend most of her summer working on her new house, so this one will be left to Mat and I, for the most part. It will be really nice to have my own place and to have my brother to share it with, even if we don't have a car. Will might be a constant houseguest as well.
I was walking along the road around 7 am today, on the way to Cathy Kerr's place to get a ride into town, and I looked up at the aspen tree on the hill right before her driveway. The morning winds were tossing those aspen leaves around like froth, all those little dollar shapes shaking. I thought that it's little things like this that undo my assumptions about this place, my first impressions of it being smaller, less busy and less 'happening' than other parts of the world. There are still a million things to notice.
Sarah Cashman told me this, apparently it has something to do with the Dogme/Dogma film movement:
"The time to make up your mind about people is never."
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
the human behind the bean
I'm a 27 year old Canadian woman. I grew up on Cape Breton Island, although my parents and their families are from Quebec and Ohio. Currently I live in Cape Breton, in a small town by the Bras D'Or Lake.
I can make a good soup and tie my own shoes. I've worked as a nanny, a potter's assistant, a shop clerk, and a janitor. I've also worked in a library, and taught computers to seniors. I've travelled to Australia and New Zealand and across Canada by train. I spent two and a half years in university before I left. I like the way the air smells in the Fall.
Since 2002 - this is my blog, a place for me to write about life, what I experience, to share my photography and my writing. I'm glad you're here!
I can make a good soup and tie my own shoes. I've worked as a nanny, a potter's assistant, a shop clerk, and a janitor. I've also worked in a library, and taught computers to seniors. I've travelled to Australia and New Zealand and across Canada by train. I spent two and a half years in university before I left. I like the way the air smells in the Fall.
Since 2002 - this is my blog, a place for me to write about life, what I experience, to share my photography and my writing. I'm glad you're here!
|