Rainy Monday

It's an awfully miserable late June Monday morning in St. John's, about 7 degrees and pouring rain. It's the kind of morning where I need an extra few minutes and some indulgence to get on with my day. This is the breakfast I've made for myself - it's a bowl half full of green seedless grapes, topped off with hot oats and smothered in real maple syrup. This should do the trick.

The bowl comes from King's Point Pottery. I bought it at the Christmas Craft Fair in St. John's in 2003. It is one of the very first pots that came out of their soda kiln, and as such I feel it has a bit of historical significance. That kiln, built with so much care and passion by Linda and David, is the first and still the only soda kiln in the province. In fact, it's the only reduction kiln of any kind that's ever been in consistent use here, a testament to the vision and ambition of its creators. The bowl is two-toned in that way that only an atmospheric fired pot can be: one side, licked by flame, has a characteristic orange peel surface, while the other, sheltered from the most direct heat, is a speckled grey stony matte.

I use this bowl almost daily and have ever since I acquired it. It has traveled everywhere with me - to Regina, Red Deer, Corner Brook, and the Grey Islands, becoming along the way one of the most useful things I have ever owned. It is always at the front of my cupboard and has been filled with food literally thousands of times. Take a moment to think about that number, because one doesn't have that kind of tactile relationship with just an everyday ho-hum object. I have cradled this pot full of food in my hands almost every single day for ten years. I have washed it, always by hand, each and every time. I have held it to my lips to sip or slurp more times than I could even guess at. I have this type of connection with very few objects, the only other one that comes to mind right now is my beloved bicycle.

Well, enough procrastination, breakfast is done. Off I go into the elements.