I am taking off my hat for you all!  My hair is growing back all curly!














We had a wonderful time in Israel. Really an incredible country with so much history. Very, very interesting!

This is a picture of a view from Jerusalem taken from the Mount of Olives. You can clearly see the Shrine of the Mount of the Rock with the golden dome located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The sights significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, know as the Foundation Stone, at its heart.







Here Adriaan and I are standing on Masada with a view behind us of the Dead Sea and Jordan. Masada “fortress” is the name of a site of ancient palaces of Herod and fortifications on top of an isolated rock plateau. So incredible!
Of course, we also swam/drifted in the Dead Sea. Amazing!

It has been exactly a month ago that I wrote a blog. Too long, but lots happened.
Of course, the holidays and we went to Hawaii with the whole family (almost). Unfortunately, the girlfriend of my oldest could not come, because her Grandma was very terribly ill. Luckily, it seems she is somewhat better now.
We had a nice time and some of us did some diving; we all snorkeled with the Manta Rays!; we did some deep sea fishing and could a tuna!; we traveled some around the island; had a wonderful Luau dinner and relaxed near the pool and the sea with lots of snorkeling. We saw also dolphins and some turtles! How lucky can you get!

After the New Year I went finally back into my workshop after 3 1/2 months. I tried during and after the radiation period, but somehow I was quite tired. Not that I did not do anything (I did go to Holland), but I got another breast infection and having two antibiotics is tiring your body.
I started first with spraying some small works and checking if it still all worked and that the kiln was working properly. Then I sprayed 2 big plates (17.75″ x 19″ x 1″ or 45cm x 48 cm x 2.5cm) for an order and today they choose one of them and will hang it on their wall. It turned out very well. The plate is called “Schellen” (Shell) plate. Their last name starts with schellen, so, it is a very appropriate plate!!!

A wonderful start!!!!

My life is still planned around my Herceptin treatments. They go all fine and you kind of get in the habit of going to the hospital. They know you by now and it is a welcoming place in the sense that they are there to help you. It feels to me like that. I understand that for others it may and will be completely different. Again, I just feel very lucky and thankful.

Next week, I will go to Israel for a week with Adriaan. Can you believe that? It is just wonderful. It is my birthday next week and he has a boardmeeting there and I don’t want to be by myself, so, we make it a little vacation. We are looking into this already for some time but every time there was something else and the company is about to be sold or they are working on it and the temperature is very nice now. So, it seemed like the right time before the chance is gone.

I will keep you posted!

I made some movies:
- http://youtu.be/FkhGZV_EPwc About the exhibition.
- http://youtu.be/_F4vxCZ_DNQ About the historical surroundings of the show.

- http://www.flickr.com/photos/swanica/sets/72157628372545471/ A slideshow of the exhibition and the surroundings.

Tegelen is a village in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. It was an independent municipality until 2001, when it was merged into the municipality of Venlo.
The name of the glacial era of Tiglian (part of the Pleistocene) is derived from Tegelen because of the many fossils found there from this era in the local clay.
During excavations in Tegelen Roman pottery and tile ovens were found. The Sint-Martinus church is mentioned in diocesan and monasterial archives dating back to the year 800. Because of its strategic location, various castles and reinforced farms were soon established. The most important of these were the Castle of Holtmühle (with the barn Tiendschuur) and the Munt. During the Middle Ages, there were several battles in and around Tegelen, because of its proximity to the walled city of Venlo.
Early in the 19th century Tegelen developed into a regional centre of industry. At first, tile and pottery factories were established, and later that century, metallurgy and tobacco factories. After 1900 agriculture was added to the mix. Pottery and related industries were very successful in Tegelen from 1750 until World War II. They specialized mainly in the low fire red earthenware with a lead glaze. The pots were decorated with slips in many colors and engraved.

The centuries old expertise in ceramics and pottery is kept alive by courses held in the ceramic center of Tiendschuur.

On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by a significant earthquake.
The world-famous pottery village, Mashiko, about 90km northeast from Tokyo was also heavily hit and the potters’ houses, kilns, workshops and their works were severely damaged. Mashiko has a 10,000 year old pottery tradition, in this highly regarded pottery village in Japan.
Ceramics Center Tiendschuur Museum in the Netherlands is 75 years and treats its visitors on an exhibition of ceramics of 15 potters from this village from a country par excellence: Japan!
The Tiendschuur shows the finest ceramics in the world and supports its creators.
The proceeds from these exhibition sales go to the potters in Mashiko and the Mashiko pottery fund.

This Saturday I will go to Holland to be at the opening of the Exhibition of 15 Mashiko Potters in the Tiendschuur Ceramics Museum in Tegelen in the Netherlands. Through the hard work of quite some people it was made possible. But money is still very much needed. Please, find it in your heart to donate to this fund to save the village of Mashiko. I know it is not an easy time for everybody and it is present giving time. Please, see what you can do and look at the information for donations on the bank info picture.

During my drive home I photographed some trees with beautiful autumn colors. The sun was shining on it like high lighting all the leaves. Just beautiful!

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Some years ago Bob showed and taught me how to throw big, but when I read he and his wife were doing this workshop together, I was ready again to learn from this amazing knowledgeable couple. The workshop was at the Junior Museum and Zoo in Palo Alto and it was so fun to go there, because I have been there a lot with my boys when they were small. They were set up in the Clayroom. It was great to see them and meet some other friends.

Bob talked about the clay, the throwing techniques and the position of his body and his hands. Here he is centering the clay.




Opening up the centered clay.

Pulling up the clay.

Putting slip on the outside and then decorating the slip with any kind of object which can make a mark like a piece of a comb.



Expending the cylinder which makes the decoration very interesting.

Sandy uses an already leather-hard decorated slab to make a vase.

She is tracing the shape of a vase and cutting it out.

Scoring the borders and putting slip before putting the two slabs together.

When the piece is assembled there is still a lot of finishing work left to close the seams properly so it won’t leak and the make some repairs in the decoration at the borders.



Thank you for the wonderful day!

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The Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California was founded in 1945 to promote ceramic arts, craftmanship, and personnel expression. The membership reflects a diversity of California ceramic artists in design and inspiration. The complexity of the natural environment and the many cultures of our residents have created an environment for artistic creation. Artists have benefited from this atmosphere. The book is a sampling of the members and their ceramic creations.

And tomorrow I will have my last radiation treatment!! DONE! And one answer on the question on what I will do with all my time…….. Return to my workshop!!!!

For Adriaan’s birthday we went to Teatro Zinzanni’s in San Francisco for a dinner/circus entertainment!









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In the meantime, it is almost a month ago that I wrote a blog. I have been very busy. First of course, I have my radiation every weekday around 11am. I often go on my bicycle and like that a lot. Only 6 times are left. The last 5 times will be “Boost” radiations: not so strong as the former ones, but cover the whole breast from up front. It has now a nice pink color and has some burning sensation underneath my arm. But I think I am doing pretty well and have still quite some energy left.

I sold 2 cars for a friend of ours. We help each other. You place the add, answer emails and telephone calls and show the car to prospective buyers. Not that I know much about cars, but I sold 4 of our cars during the many years we live in California now and it is fun to meet all kinds of people, who are mostly very nice. Then I am socially quite active and meet with lots of friends. We went to our oldest son Roland (still for his birthday) and worked on taxes and finances (which always continues).

I did do a workshop at the De Anza College with the Taiwanese ceramic artist Ah Leon. He is so technical in the making of a teapot! I have lots to learn. He also is very talented in making objects from clay looking like wood like teapots (of course) and a life size wooden bridge or a classroom with wooden desks and chairs.






I saw the wonderful big exhibition of the Ceramic Annual of America in the Festival Hall of Fort Mason in San Francisco. Po Zhou also had his work there as well as Barbara Sebastian. Just beautiful!








And then lots of other little things, especially when Adriaan returns from travels. Of course, he is jet-legged and then a stormy guy as always

I had a wonderful time in Canada with my sister Maaike and husband Ruud. They live in British Columbia above Vancouver. Their house has a view over the ocean, they have a garden with lots of flowers and a vegetable garden, some ducks, some chickens, a cat and a Malamute dog: big and beautiful. We stayed mostly around the house and on Saturday had a forestry tour for around 80 people from their village organized by Ruud, who is a forester. British Columbia is beautiful!

Then on Monday the 12th, after my return I had my Herceptin treatment. Now, it took only around 3 hours. The next day, they had a trial run for the radiation. On Wednesday some r-rays and then they told me I would start radiation the next day. I was a little surprised, because I am still very anemic. But I don’t have any chemo anymore, so, it only can get better! So, today I received my 8th treatment out of 33. The most time I spent is in the waiting room, although sometimes I can come in right away and the adjusting for the right position and pulling on the sheet underneath me for 1 mm to the right or 1 cm up etc. Then the zapping is for 30 sec. and 10 sec. on the left side and around 45 sec. on the right side where they performed the lumpectomy. So, that is all very fast. In the meantime, I am back in the workshop again and that feels wonderful! I feeling better and much stronger and even bicycle forth and back to the hospital again. The weather is still beautiful, so I have to take advantage and get the exercise.

Thanks to you all, family and friends for your continued support!

I took an open bus tour of 2 hours and saw the big rock formations from a far. We stayed in a lovely house and then we went to the Mariposa Grove with the gigantic Sequoia’s in the south part of the park.  We had a wonderful time. The park is just very beautiful.