Ceramics And Pottery Masters

[Mrs Glockrunner]

https://biggeekdad.com/2017/02/ceramics-pottery-masters/

[janice6]

8 hours ago, Mrs Glockrunner said:

https://biggeekdad.com/2017/02/ceramics-pottery-masters/

Admittedly, not in the same class as the video, but.  This video on pottery brought back some wonderful memories of my Grand Father.

One day we went to visit my Grandfather in Red Wing, MN.

He was in his 90's and hadn't had much time with us lately.  We decided to take him around the town to see what it had become, since his coming there around the turn of the century.

We took him to the St. James hotel.  When he came to Red Wing, it was the largest building West of the Mississippi. 

He said that as he walked from Wisconsin to the Mississippi river valley going West, he saw this looming structure on the horizon that impressed him with it's size. 

It was the St. James Hotel in Minnesota.  All brick 5 stories of it.  One story was below street level facing the River.

He stayed a night or two before finding a place to live.

When the manager of the Hotel saw us with our Grandpa he asked if he could help.  We told him our Grandpa stayed in the hotel around the turn of the century and we wanted him to see what changes had occurred with the hotel.

He was wonderful and gave us all a grand tour of the hotel.  He even told Grandpa they had a restored room exactly as it was when Grandpa stayed there.

He showed us the room.  Grandpa shocked him by saying it wasn't the same! 

The manager wanted to know what was different.  Grandpa told him the chair wasn't where it was now and the bed was turned from when he was there.

Then we took him to the Red Wing Pottery, where he used to work, his first job in Red Wing.

Of course the pottery was long gone, but there was a building commemorating it.  The building held pottery items that the workers made for themselves.

My grandpa started crying when he picked up the Coffee cups displayed.  He said many were friends of his that have long since passed away.  He missed many of them.

When I was a little kid, my parents used to ship me off to Grampa for a couple of weeks during each Summer.  

He was a well driller for his whole life in the Red Wing area.  He took me with him all the time to work.  He would talk to me all the while. 

He told me many things and among them was to get an artesian well, all you had to do was slant drill into the base of the Bluff (there were many). 

You had to know very little to be successful, he said.  If you drilled deep enough damned near anywhere, you could find water.

Along with my father, he was my mentor.  He taught me that hard work would always see you through, and never, never, give up on your dream.   I truly admired him.

I found he was right.

  

[Fog]

I've got a guy trying to sell me his pottery business. 

I've never even made a single piece, or even touched it before it was fired and ready to drink coffee out of.

But he thinks I should buy it from him. Dunno... I might just for the heck of it. I like trying new things, sometimes.

[DWARREN123]

Not worth buying, in my opinion, if it doesn't make you happy and you have some experience with it.

[Mrs Glockrunner]

Janice6 that is a wonderful story.  Thank you for sharing it.  

Your grandfather sounds like he was a wise and wonderful man.

 

[janice6]

On 4/12/2021 at 4:46 PM, Fog said:

I've got a guy trying to sell me his pottery business. 

I've never even made a single piece, or even touched it before it was fired and ready to drink coffee out of.

But he thinks I should buy it from him. Dunno... I might just for the heck of it. I like trying new things, sometimes.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[janice6]

17 hours ago, Mrs Glockrunner said:

Janice6 that is a wonderful story.  Thank you for sharing it.  

Your grandfather sounds like he was a wise and wonderful man.

 

Thank you, I thought so.