What happens...

How quickly things can change, hmm?  I've heard it so many times;  "Shit happens.", "These things happen..it's just a matter of time.", "It's just how life is...  fluctuations, you know?"  "One time something like that happened to me.... ", "You're lucky nobody was killed."  "That street is so dangerous.. let me tell you about this time.....".  so on..and so on.

The last day has been quite the experience.  And just so you know, I'm extremely grateful that nobody was killed.

What does this have to do with Wood-fire..or pots at all?  I'm not exactly sure..but if life is life, then this does have something to do with it.  It's all part of it..these motions, these things that we so normally do.  Yes.. I'm helping with a kiln, yah..I made some pots for it.... mostly I did it just so I could be around this amazing group of people and uh huh, yeup, i split some wood, helped out.. I threw some wood into the kiln to burn.. and oh by the way... a motorcycle hit the back end of my car last night..and the guy was taken away to the hospital with minor injuries.

but are they the same?  can work, pots and every day motions... can they be compared?  I don't know how to answer that..but today I'm definitely feeling the effects of it.  I'm not injured at all.  Physically I feel fine.  Mentally.. I'm a shaken up.  I saw a man sprawled on the pavement, his bike in shattered pieces... stopped vehicles and their intact lights, waiting, beaming at us, investigating, illuminating the scene... and this person, this beautiful man, helpless... a person that I so immediately and intimately became involved with.  His name is Dolten and he's a handyman.  When we collided, he was on his way home after work, and I was on my way to a wood kiln.

No.  Pots and human beings are not the same.  We make pots to celebrate human life.  We make these things to celebrate and express our connection to our fellow man.

The guy and I were lucky.  Probably according to the insurance companies and the police, I'm at fault..because one always yields to oncoming traffic, even if you don't see them or a headlight that should be on isn't... at night.  Moments have speed.. slow or fast.  This one was fast.  I never saw him coming.

I woke up to a gorgeous Napa morning.  Now it's raining.  Sometimes..if you're up early enough to see the sun rise and taste the morning air..  perhaps you try to compare it to something else.  This morning was like the cold, spring mountain water of McDonald Pass near Helena, Montana...  I was grateful to be where I was.  I'm greatful to be where I am.

And oh how sweet that water is.