Putting the pieces together

[offcntr]

This is the point in the Off Center Ceramics year when the summer begins to resemble an enormous jigsaw puzzle. Edge pieces are the shows, fixed in place: where we've been accepted, and when. Of course, a couple of those pieces are still missing. When they finally turn up, they may change the entire picture.

Around those pieces, we need to schedule firings, plan out the timing on throwing and glazing, guess what we need to stock up on and estimate how many of each.

Then there's the fiddly little details: booking motels, planning travel, servicing the van. Contacting the cat sitter to see how her jigsaw puzzle fits in with ours.

Random, unexpected pieces pop up: a call from a gallery, an irresistible special order off the internet. I always end up having to rearrange the pattern at the next-to-last minute.

There's always a few blue-sky pieces, ones that might fit anywhere. Can we make it back to the midwest this year? What are the chances of a few days off, just for ourselves?

There is a certain satisfaction to having the puzzle finished, the schedule locked in and the plans all set. But right now, it's kind of fun to move things around, test the fit: a lid full of pieces and possibility.