The second entry in our series on the Five Great Kilns of the Song Dynasty…Ding ware was produced at a kiln in the north of China, near Hebei, during what is known as the Northern Song, the first of two peaks of imperial and cultural power during the 300-year dynastic period. Ding wares are typicallyContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Ding Ware”
Author Archives: mourningdove
Friday Favorites: Feedly Cleanup +
Here are some more favorites from my Feedly plus some other things I came across this week that I thought were worth sharing: Rise of Phoenixes on Netflix. Don’t strap in for this one unless (a) you have about 70 hours to burn and (b) you really like brocade. But Chen Kun alone is worthContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Feedly Cleanup +”
Look! I made another brick…. sourdough whole wheat sandwich loaf from A Perfect Loaf (I’m giving you that link so you can see what it’s supposed to look like. Oh well, tastes like bread.
Raven stamps are out!
Some Awesome Kid Art
I’m lucky to have friends with kids with some serious artistic skills. Today I thought I’d feature some of my favorite work of theirs. This first one is from my friend Amy’s son Graham. I love the pinwheel flower…. This next one is his older brother Ethan’s. I love the proportions here and the colors.Continue reading “Some Awesome Kid Art”
Christmas Card Design: Vote!
I like to do papercuts, a practice that came out of a combination of my childhood love of cutting out paper dolls and my adult admiration for woodblock prints (papercuts are WAY easier than woodcuts or linocuts). And for the last however many years, I’ve been doing a papercut for my annual holiday cards. LastContinue reading “Christmas Card Design: Vote!”
Elderberry Cordial
There are elderberry bushes all along the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and today I went to one of my favorite picking spots outside Bridgeport to harvest berries for this year’s cordial. I use this recipe from Hank Shaw. You just have to be careful to pick the berries off the stems because the stemsContinue reading “Elderberry Cordial”
Ceramics Saturdays: Jun Ware
In homage to Tiara Thursdays, I thought I would start a series about ceramics, a minor obsession of mine I’ve previously written about here and here. We’re starting with the Five Great Kilns of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), each of which produced wares that were collected by emperors, scholars, and aristocrats as soon asContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Jun Ware”
Friday Favorites: Vlogs (Calmtainment and Lifestyle)
I became a pretty serious consumer of YouTube vlogs over the course of the pandemic. Naturally there was a strong escapism factor, but I also just appreciated these folks who were going to the emotional effort of sharing their stories and lives with the rest of us who were starved for community. Here are theContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Vlogs (Calmtainment and Lifestyle)”
Shower flowchart: Pandemic edition
My friend Amy and I have a shower flowchart that helps us decide if we need a shower or not. It’s a long story. But when the pandemic hit, we decided it was time for an update.
The Rookery 