Good times, Noodle salad.

With this last class finishing, I've completed a number of mugs and small bowls, and have eight pieces of greenware waiting for firing and glazing.  I used two blocks of Raku clay, and found that again my centering was dependent on making sure the piece of clay I was working with was properly kneaded before throwing it onto the wheel...the proper term for this is Wedging.  I usually think of Star Wars, "'That's impossible even for a computer!' 'No it's not, I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home and they aren't much bigger than two meters!'", whenever I hear the word Wedge, so I tend to avoid it for that reason.  The glazes turned out a lot darker than previous classes, and after a suggestion, I wound the handles into braids of either two or three, and despite having the wheel fall apart at one point, the class was enjoyable and productive.
Today is Wednesday, I haven't ridden my bicycle since...monday.  After watching another documentary about alley cat racing and bike messenger culture, I think the motivation for year round cycling has to come from productivity, or the requirements of ones lifestyle - despite getting out pretty frequently myself, the people who see me riding my bicycle, in the winter, always ask the same question, "Do you ride year round?"  I don't know how to address their concern any more clearly than being on the bicycle, as they are asking me if I ride my bicycle.  I've many times thought out a rational, proportionate response, devoid of frustration and criticism, but I think from now on, the response I will give will be something more like, "I do what I have to do."
That being said and done and over with, it would have been nice to ride more, given the capacity for studded tires, brighter lights and bigger wheels that are on the markets and readily available to interested cyclists.
I'm adding a few pictures of the pottery, including another piece that was broken during the greenware phase.  Having once broken an anonymous artist's piece of greenware myself, I can't feel any more upset about the accident than blaming myself for not having a job and keeping myself too busy earning a wage to attempt pottery in the first place.

Block of Raku, wet and single-fired pieces.

Wet, green, single-fired and finished pieces.   Photo by Michael McKinney.

Greenware and finished pieces.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Greenware and unfinished pieces.   Photo by Michael McKinney.

Broken vessel, greenware.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Bicycle sale paycheck.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

With the weather getting warmer and spring just around the corner, I am starting to think about getting away from the security of riding the single speed mountain bike, (I named it Richard for Richard Farnsworth from the Straight Story, in the winter you could substitute Richard Parker from The Life of Pi), and getting back to a commuter bike or a more versatile machine.  As per having sold my Schwinn, here is a photo of the check I got for selling it - five dollars went for coffee, forty dollars went towards my new bike and forty dollars went towards rent, bills, groceries....all the living that occurs between riding.