1. On August 5th, for some inexplicable reason, I was writing 2030 on all the receipts.2. I was entering a customer's phone number into the UPS WorldShip software yesterday and realized that I'd forgotten my own cell number.
3. A couple weeks ago there was a hummingbird trapped in the cabin (one of the shop rooms). It was batting its wings against the sky light despite the fact that there was an open window just three feet from it. Matt and I borrowed a ladder from Luis, the gardener/handyman, and Matt climbed up. When he cupped his hands around the bird--I kid you not--it squeaked.
4. A woman came down the path to the shop pushing this stroller-like contraption, except instead of a seat there was a metal cage. Inside were two Siamese cats. I helped her to her car with her purchases (after all, she had to push her cat stroller) and when she opened her trunk there was a blue recycling bin inside with about ten crumpled lotto tickets in the bottom.
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| Baxter takes Matt for a walk. |
6. I was sitting on the grass outside the studio at Crow Valley one day last week when my mom was glazing. I had my National Geographic Traveler out and was reading an article about ten "tantalizing" road trips. On one page there was a picture of a road near Beijing that was a tunnel running right along a sheer cliff face. Every fifty feet or so there was a window carved into the cliff so you could see out into the valley. According to the article, the entire tunnel was dug by hand; it took twelve people six years to carve it out using only eight-pound hammers and steel drill rods. I showed the picture to David, the 26-year-old Italian staying with Michael and Jeffri, and all he said was, "We have that in Italy." Determined to impress him, I showed him a picture of this incredible vineyard on the side of a volcano in Portugal, where each vine had to be planted in its own separate hole in the volcanic crust. David's response? "We have that in Italy."
8. A few weeks ago a woman came into the shop and bought this green stoppered bottle of Penny's that had been sitting on the shelf for five years. It was a gift for a friend, so she wrote a little note to include with it in the package. Because we were busy I couldn't take it straight to the shipping room--I had to set it on the counter in the kitchen until I had a free minute. Syd walked into the kitchen and shouted to Penny, who was glazing in the studio, "Pen! Guess what finally sold!" Penny was delighted and Syd was delighted and Janet, when I told her about it the next day, was also delighted. Fast forward to two days ago, when a box appears in the shipping room with the original Orcas Island Pottery shipping label on the top. I was worried I'd entered the address wrong and it couldn't be delivered, even more worried that the item had arrived broken and the customer was shipping it back (though this has never happened--if something breaks, the person just calls). Highly anxious, I cut into the box and removed its contents. There was a note inside from the woman who'd returned it, saying that her friend had sent her a gift and was "a lovely person but need not buy [her] anything." She asked that we credit the gift-giver's account or, if not possible, that we donate the money to a local nonprofit. I was intrigued and took the note and the unopened item into the shop to open it with Janet. I sliced the packing tape, unrolled the cardboard...and there was Penny's green stoppered bottle. Janet and I lost it. After we caught our breath, I asked what I should do with it. "Put it on Penny's desk," Janet said, "with a note that says, 'I'm baaa-aaack!'" I did just that. The next morning I was wiping out pots in the yard and I heard riotous laughter coming from inside. I looked toward Penny's room and she was standing next to the window looking back at me, holding the Post-It note and slowly shaking her head.
BAHAHAHAHHAHAA just... all of this.
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