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The weather has been hot during the day, cool during the night. The humidity has been low up until this morning. The house has been comfortable up until this morning, aided by our summer routines. Today though, the temperature is lower, the humidity is higher, and I feel uncomfortable in the warmish, clammy, clingy air. We have been using our new roaster oven with great success. As I anticipated, it has so far been primarily used for roasting one-pan dinners in the “summer kitchen”. The first loaf of bread will probably be baked in it at the end of this week, when we finish the last loaf from the freezer, where I stashed a few loaves baked during our last cool spell. The summer kitchen has so far been a very good idea, and a major factor in keeping the house comfortable despite the very high temperatures we have experienced over the last week or so. Last week I journeyed to Cone Art Kilns in Toronto and picked up my new kiln. Setting up a kiln is a whole new experience. I don’t know what I was expecting exactly; perhaps that it would be like the roaster oven, just plug it in and off I’d go. The reality is that kilns fire at much higher temperatures than a mere oven, and heats clay and chemicals, not food. The process of firing ceramics must be treated much differently than an oven. I am slowly climbing up the learning curve. The manuals are helpful, particularly for programming the firing controls. The “recipes” are not as helpful, as the provided examples are for firing glass, which is not my present intent. The telephone support is very good though, and I have been promised an email outlining some of the basic information I will need to get through the first bisque and glaze firings. A book has also been recommended to me, “Mastering Cone 6 Glazes” by Ron Roy and John Hesselberth. However, the only copy I have so far been able to find for sale in Canada is $94.00 CDN for a used paperback, out of my reach. There are many materials I still need before I can get started, welder’s goggles for viewing the firing process through the peephole in the kiln and a 20 AMP, 3 prong extension cord to run onto the porch where I will do my firing this summer. Attila and I have been discussing the ins and outs of firing the kiln during the winter months, and haven’t come up with a good solution yet. The kiln will give off fumes that need to be vented to the outside. Because food is stored in the same area where the kiln will sit, simple ventilation doesn’t seem adequate to remove all toxins from the area. I am not really comfortable firing the kiln in the same room where food is stored, so this issue will be under discussion until we come up with a solution that will ensure our safety. There is much to consider when setting up a kiln, and working with clay. Sitting here at the computer keyboard just now, I caught movement on the front yard, out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see two red fox kits, born this year, chasing each other joyfully around the trees and rocks. They ran after each other in wide circles, their dark ears sleek against their heads and their beautiful black legs loping along. They are probably the same kits I observed earlier in the spring, playing around the stump in the forest. How beautiful they are. |
RECIPES :: Cast Worldly Distractions  Toad on the window sill. Correction! - this is a Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) By the Easy Chair The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert, 2001 (I was very surprised to find this novel at the local library, which harbours a significant collection of light, often self-congratulatory, feel-good material. This book was a donation, and it is a relief to know that at least one person close by has some sense of humility and a conscience.) Quote "How can I apologize? Who can I apologize to? Who is there to forgive me?" from The Dark Room, page 257 Weather Light Rain Temp 26°C Press 100.8 kPa Visibility 10 km Humidity 72 % Humidex 33 Dewpoint 20°C Wind S 21 km/h |
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