We are high-tech here at www.greyhoundsculptor.com. Just a sharpie, a plain white piece of paper, scissors and a jar…. and, ta-da, we have a winner!

So I wrote all the entries’ names on paper….

…cut them apart….

…folded the paper and put them all in this cool Greyhound vessel.

(If you want a vessel like this totally stellar cool vessel check out Robin W.’s pottery on her etsy store! I own several pieces and they never fail to make me smile)

The winner is Hope! Email me for your new sterling silver Pendant!

Thank you to everyone! Hope your Thanksgiving holiday went well!

Time is up! Wow I’m so in awe reading all your Thanks! I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning. See you then….

The tradition on this day is to list the things that one is thankful. I love this game, and play often.

Here are mine for today (in no particular order).

• I’m thankful that I called the Greyhound Pets of America 1-800 number in 1995. What a wild ride it’s been.
• I’m thankful for family. For health. That we all have enough.
• I’m thankful for plumbing. I love my washing machine, my hot shower, and running water in general.
• I’m thankful for the kids who visit the library and make me laugh.

And all sorts of other things….

So here’s the challenge. To celebrate all of you who give your thanks and praise for my work, I’m giving away one of my new sterling silver pendants with a bright finish.

To enter the contest, answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

“What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving day?”

Please, one entry per person. No entries after 9:00 pm Pacific Time Saturday, November 29. I’ll announce the winner on Sunday morning.

If you’re thinking that the pendant would make a great gift to show someone in your life how special they are, the pedants can be found here and here. Email if you have question or for non-US delivered purchases.

Working on the email today. I shoot for keeping my inbox down to ONE page.

Sometimes I do Great. Not lately.

If you’ve emailed me in the last… three months… gulp! … and haven’t heard back after today, Email me again if you would. I’ll answer. Promise.

I’m going to apologize right off the bat. This is one of those update posts.

First off, holy cow. I’m going to run out of the sterling pendants. I know the USPS people at our local post office pretty well. Now I’m running out of polite conversation. I’m now forced to print all the labels online and drop off the packages at the post office…. So Thanks!

Speaking of the pendants - a contest coming soon.

Earlier this week, my intention was to post a series of photos about how I ship sculptures & memory boxes. This involves packing the car and heading to the nearest UPS Store - except the UPS store is 80 miles away. It is kind of interesting. Lots of Pronghorn. But I forgot my camera.

Sage, Annie and Winchester are doing fine. The cut on Sage’s foot is healing. Between Sage’s injury and the winter weather the amount of exercise these pups are receiving has decreased. Everybody, Winchester included, has been very good about this — lots of bully sticks to keep everyone distracted — but I can tell they need more exercise. I feel the same way.

Hopefully winter will break a bit. Uck. I’m tired of the snow already. I really, really hate the gray cloudy days. I can handle any amount of snow if the sun would shine…

Okay, well enough of that. Today is going to be a good day!

Added quite a few pieces to my etsy.com store.

More to come. Mostly tiles and such.

It just happens. Even if I try to stop it.

My creativity pool empties.

This could be attributed to a couple of things — the after effects of a big show, cold weather, the lack of sunlight we in northern climates face. Is it because I push so hard to get ready for the Greyhounds Reach the Beach event in October? Or much needed rest after the long drive to get from North Dakota to Delaware and back? Or is because I came back to demands from my library job? Maybe it is the weather…

Evidentally I’m not the only one.

Whatever the cause, I can’t seem to do much in the studio. And I’ve tried. I cleaned and reorganized the studio. Ordered glazes and other materials. Started on a coffee table commission. Bought a new sketchbook for the new year. Thought about what pieces I’ll enter in the Art Show at the Dog Show. Added a few things to my etsy store and worked on a shopping cart system for this website — both need more work.

I need to get going. I know it. My email inbox is full of unanswered questions. Can I ship sculptures to Belgium? What is the postage on the sterling pendant to Switzerland? Do you have any memory boxes/urns in stock? And I’ve been promising — for weeks — more pieces in the etsy store.

Then there are my goals — go through the tile designs and decide which to retire, another sterling pendant design by January, get working on the Dakota Creative Connections grant, register for a workshop, test those glazes, photograph the new tile designs. Come on, Sarah, get going!

Anybody else feel this way?

Sometimes we get blizzard warnings… and nothing happens.

Not this time.

This was the scene of the studio from the deck at about 5 PM as the rain began to turn to snow.

And this was the studio this morning (about 8 AM). What you don’t see is the 3 foot snow drift on the deck on the house.

Or the 5.5 foot drift over the fence on the east side of the yard. Or the wind. But the best part is that it isn’t that cold. Temperature is hovering at about 27 degrees — when you factor in the 15-40 mph winds it feels about 17 degrees outside.

So how do the Greyhounds react to this?

Like silly freaks. They love the snow.

They don’t stay out very long, however. Neither do photographers…