Handmade Pottery + Ceramic Jewelry

Yesterday, I finally nailed down a schedule for my after school clay class that I have decided to teach again this year.  If you’ve read any of the past month’s posts, you’ll know I have been on the fence about it – so it’s a relief for me to finally make a decision.  Instead of teaching twice a week like I did last school year, I have decided to teach one day a week this fall partly to help with burn out and also because my daughter has a super busy schedule this year including soccer practice twice a week, my clay class and a music class.  It means less of an income, but it frees up more time for me to make my own work during school hours – which is a good compromise if you ask me.

I have also been working on my website the past few days and uploaded the current enrollment form for my after school clay class to my Teaching Schedule page, along with a gallery of children’s art work which is a sub page of the teaching page. I’d be glad to hear any feedback if you have any.  Next up on  my agenda is to flesh out the gallery page for my own work which still shows under construction. Also, I am not sold on the current header image and am continuing to work on the theme template I’ve settled on.  I would like to have the colors of the little graphic icons and the text (titles, links, etc.) be in the same color family. I will be working on my website a little bit at a time when I have a spare moment or two and definitely don’t feel the same urgency as I did a few weeks ago after breaking my site.

The bear is really called “I see what you mean” by Lawrence Argent

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, I pulled my daughter out of school (with her teacher’s blessing) and headed downtown to see some of the sights and sounds of the Democratic National Convention that has taken over Denver this week.  I figured it is educational and  who knows when we’ll ever be in a city again where either party will be holding their convention.  First we traveled by light rail and went to the non partisan “American Presidential Experience” at Invesco Field.  There is so much security in town right now that it was like planes, trains and automobiles just to get there.  We were on foot from the light rail and ran into swat teams, secret service and all kinds of blocked streets which added quite a bit of travel time to our journey.  The Presidential Experience was interesting, but it is a commercial enterprise which devalues it just a bit for me.  I’m not sure I’d do it again, but my daughter enjoyed the event (especially touring through Air Force One, seeing an exact replica of the Oval Office, and seeing some of Jackie O’s Clothing) so I guess that’s what counts.

A normal 20 minute walk from Invesco Field to downtown Denver took us an hour because of road closures and other obstacles.  We arrived at our chosen lunch destination, The Market, bedraggled, hot and hungry.  Luckily the food there is delish and after refueling and cooling off, we set off for Robischon Gallery to see a political exhibit as a part of “Dialog: City” during the DNC.  In between, we saw some celebrities and almost literally ran into Senator Tom Daschle, and got caught up in all kinds of protest and demonstrators,  which was interesting but just a little disconcerting for my daughter who sort of lives in a protective bubble (like most kids should).

After spending some time at the gallery, we headed towards the convention center where many of the caucuses are taking place.  Surprisingly, we were allowed to go in and watch the caucuses after going through a security check point.  We wandered around from meeting room to meeting room and eventually went to a “watch” party which sounds way more exciting than it actually is.  We had intended to head on over to Civic Center Park where many of the demonstrators where camped out, but when I finally looked at my watch, it was 5:00 pm, so we decided to skip the park and catch a train back home.

Things are returning to “normal”,

~Cynthia