While living at Vito and Suzanne's, Suzanne, a potter allowed me to use her studio and kiln. At first I just used it to entertain her kids while I was babysitting. Then someone saw the work I was doing and asked me to make her a mermaid. She'd seen one at a craft fair and wasn't impressed. She wanted one for her little fountain. So I made a little mermaid, and continued making them for several years. This is one of the later ones. It's stoneware, about 10" long. The challenge when making stoneware mermaids is keeping their butts from exploding in the kiln. Little air bubbles are dangerous.
Also while living there, one day I walked outside onto the deck with Scooby, the not-terribly-bright sun conure clinging to my shirt. Scooby took off into the high oak trees and would not come down. We tried everything. I felt like a complete heel, especially looking at the kids' faces. After a couple of hours, night fell, and we stopped calling for him. The next day, someone reported Scooby hanging out near their bird feeder three miles away. Vito went over and actually managed to capture the little orange bird. Things had gone slightly sour over another issue, probably child care techniques, and this just edged them further
south. The next summer, I found another place to stay. In a way, the situation was kind of like Mary Poppins' dilemma when the kids no longer needed her. When the kids no longer needed me, the parents found that they didn't either. It was good while it lasted.
