March is the cruelest month....

 Thanks to Ken Thomas for free use of his images.

I've been watching for signs of Spring. The Robins are back and the crocus have finally pushed their way through the soil. (Note to self: Plant more crocus next Fall.) We've had enough sunny days to melt almost all of the snow, but this rain and chill for the last week or so is starting to wear on me. I think it's worse to tease us with a few warm, sunny days and then fling us back into winter weather, than it was back in February when there was two feet of snow on the ground. It's supposed to be like that in February. By this time in March I'm ready for an instant warm up, windows open, birds chirping and being able to dig in the dirt. It's just not fair! And, the good ole Farmer's Almanac says we'll get a big snow in APRIL! They've been spot on so far this winter.

And, I'm ambiguous about daylight savings time. I like the idea of more light in the evenings,  but I really don't like going back to dark in the mornings when it's time to wake up. I've been getting way too much sleep, and when I get a late start to my day it throws me off -kilter until about 3:00. Plus, it seems to me that when we change our clocks it should be SPRING. ("Spring forward", after all.) That's probably because the time-change has been moved ahead by several weeks and I'm remembering how it used to be. I'm just soooo impatient for warm weather.

I've had a couple of boring days at Hands Gallery in the last week. Today is one of them. I think three people have walked through the door and one of them was the postman. Sales are still really poor and it's a wonder that we've been able to pay the bills, considering we were closed so many days due to treacherous roads. But, who's out shopping in a blizzard anyway? I've heard that all of the businesses in this area have suffered this winter - except for the ski slopes, of course.

Main Street Gallery re-opens for the season in a couple of weeks. It's always a shock when the season starts in Blowing Rock. Like, what? It's time to open the gallery again already? So, since I'm not a procrastinator, (I hate having things looming over me!) I've already started selecting the jewelry that I'll put in my display over there. I'm just grateful that we close that co-op during the winter and I didn't have to worry about driving on slick roads to get to work over there.

The latest Jewelry Making with Precious Metal Clay class started last night. It looks like I have a small, but enthusiastic group this time. So far it's lots of fun. I had been working quite a bit in my studio and have a kiln load almost full. I decided to wait and fire student work along with it, so that will happen tonight when I get home. Then, tomorrow morning will be like Christmas when I open the kiln and see what goodies are in there! I really wish ASU would let go of some money and buy a kiln for the jewelry studio, instead of me having to bring student work home and fire it in mine! And, the program director says he's going to have to go up on the cost of the class to cover his expenses. I'm talking with him about doing two sessions this summer, plus maybe a weekend workshop around a project with Copper Clay. I just have to come up with a proposal and present it to him. What kinds of things would you like to learn how to do in a weekend? Any ideas are welcome at this point.