News and New in the Shop

Our Coda-bear, smiling for the camera.

It's been a busy week around here. Lots of work and changes, and then a big setback for one of our fur kids, Coda.

I was outside, doing some cleaning and tidying up. The dogs had come out into the beautiful, sunny day and were chasing each other around. Then I heard the "yip!" I turned around and Coda had her leg drawn up and wouldn't put any weight on it. My heart sank, because I'd seen this before with our old dog, Gromit, when he blew out his knee.

By the end of the day, she still hadn't put her weight on it and we had made an appointment with the orthopaedic specialist the next day. They confirmed it; she'd torn her cruciate ligament, may have torn another ligament and possibly torn her meniscus, to boot.

Fortunately, there's a surgery to get her fixed up, and she'll end up with a steel plate in her leg. Yes, it's expensive, but our girl is only 2 1/2, and we want her to have the opportunity to run around and have fun for many years to come. It's still heartbreaking to see her in pain and not be able to tell her that she's going to be good as new in a few months.

Meanwhile, I've been slowly getting pictures taken of the last kiln load of textured yunomi and cups. This one is my favorite, I have to say, because of the way the colors  turned out.

I've been playing with the tumbler shape, too, for those with smaller hands who still like their tea served in handle-less cups.

They're available in my ShellHawk's Creations shop on Etsy, if you're interested!

Well, time to get ready to take my girl in to get her surgery. Wish us luck! 

Fur Kids

So now that I've written an utterly depressing post, I feel compelled to give you guys a little happy from my life.

As you know, we lost Josey last year, just before Hallowe'en (which was extremely inconsiderate of her!). Coda, our "new" black German Shepherd, came to join us shortly after, from Westside German Shepherd Rescue. I posted a couple of pics when we got her, but not too many since. Here's a collection of them, celebrating her becoming a year old and a month more...

On the way home from Los Angeles.

German Shepherd: Face-hugger edition

 She was a very girly love-bug from the start, I have to say. Cute and knows it!

With partner in crime, Sam, who is still my tiny little puppy, even though he's 85 pounds!

I happened to walk by this photo op, and couldn't resist taking this shot.
How darling is our girl? :)

"Of COURSE I'll smile for the camera!"

 She is definitely the apple of our eyes. Always happy and smiling, sweet and loving. We really scored with this one!

Oh, and? We're guessing she's around 100 pounds, now. She's about 1 1/2" taller than Sam! And still clonking her head on tables because she's not used to being so tall and keeps trying to run under them without ducking her head! Totes adorbs!