Apology, Absence and a Farewell
First off, I’d like to apologize to Charan from Creative With Clay because awhile back, he so graciously awarded me “A Lovely Blog” Award. I was busy getting ready to leave for vacation for a month and with time slipping past me so quickly, I never thanked him and continue my part in passing on the award. Charan, thank you so much for the award. I truly appreciate all the support you’ve been giving me and I promise I will return the favor by giving the award to blogs that I enjoy reading.
I realize that I haven’t posted in awhile. The quiet summer I was envisioning this winter turned into a busy one full of travels. We spent a couple of weeks back on the west coast visiting my sister in the bay area and the city of my heart, Eugene, Oregon. Then together with my sister, we flew to China, where we met up with my parents for an intense 11 days of touring. Having just arrived home after a month long absence, I’m still recovering from jet lag and am slowly processing all that I saw, heard, smelled and ate.
I went to China expecting to see lots of these types of buildings, which I did.
But you know what I saw more of? Buildings like these, especially in Beijing and Shanghai.
I don’t know why I was so surprised because I should know better. Regardless, after staring at high-rise after high-rise, my potter’s mind began to visualize these buildings as vases. I think these high-rise buildings are a truer representation of China today because she is a country that is constantly battling traditional and modern ideas and practices. The great respect the Chinese have for the beauty and serenity of nature also came up quite a bit during the trip. Yet, this is the same country that has more people than trees and the people tends to be more interested in commerce than preservation. Filling a modern, high-rise inspired vase with beautiful flowers seems like a good way to capture part of my China experience.
Upon returning from China, I was shocked and deeply saddened to read a notice sent by the Studio Potter magazine about the sudden passing of Tom Rohr, a wonderful potter and instructor at Lane Community College. I was always in awe of the energy and passion Tom had for life, food and pottery and can’t quite believe that he’s gone. My heart goes out to his wife Kathryn Finnerty, his family and the pottery community. Donations in memory of Tom can be made to Studio Pottery.
There are far too many pictures of China to share in this one post so I will dole them out in the weeks to come, along with more stories of my adventures. In the meantime, remember to appreciate the ones you love because you never know what’s around the corner.
