UFOs

I am tired. I am very, very tired. As the parents among us may already know, I have discovered that it is more stressful when your nearest and dearest are sick than when you yourself are sick. This weekend my mom had another intestinal bleeding episode and she waited several hours to tell me about it. (When I vented to my sweetie about this lack of promptness and how at least his parents had each other to keep and eye on themselves -- if you see what I mean -- he reminded me that his mom kinda forgot to mention her aneurysm... for 3 weeks. DOH! And yes, she is fine.)

So yes, I was staying with my mom for a few days and keeping an eye on her. We think it's her diverticulitis again (what a genetic inheritance: between my mom and my dad, no wonder my GI tract is a mess) which occasionally leads to diverticular bleeding. And since she has no GP to speak of, we were staring at an extended jaunt in the ER. (Yes folks, poor people treat the ER as a primary care facility, just one of the many reasons healthcare reform is so desperately needed.)

She is much better now, and since my sister and I can't take the idea of her being without a GP any longer (I count the government clinic/hospital she goes to as on on par with a Wal-Mart walk-in clinic -- actually, I view the Wal-Mart more favorably: they don't even pretend to be a primary care facility) we have decided that she will be using my sister's Medicare-accepting physician in the future. (Mom does not know this yet, but since we are the ones who will be dealing with her heathcare providers, we're picking someone we trust.)

As my poor sister pointed out, (a) one day, Mom will be living with her, so we might as well start building her history there now, and (b) if Mom does need to be admitted, it is easier for both of us (siblings) if she is in the CT hospital and not a NYC hospital. So Mom will be kidnapped in CT for a comprehensive physical after Turkey Day. (Sssh! she doesn't know that yet either.)

So on to more cheery subjects, like my return to the ceramics studio. I have slowly been making a dent in glazing my pile of unfinished objects (UFOs) from January, and two pieces finally came back from the kiln. The brown pieces above, although similar in color, actually use 2 slightly different glaze combos: new tyler amber + cornwall, and new tyler amber + gloss white. (Not surprisingly, I have discovered that after the past year, I approach my pottery with a more relaxed, more experimentational attitude.)

THe other photograph of celadon objects was part of a gallery display at the studio -- they redecorated while I was gone, and while everyone was gratifying pleased that I am back in the studio, it was a little disorienting because everything have been moved around and some new procedures were added re: clay processing, etc. Well hey, I was gone for 10 months!

Okay, lunch time is OVAH.