My Pottery Work

The first picture is of a vase, for me, it came out pretty good. The second  is 3 plaques, hanging in my bathroom. I have more plaques, only if I had the room to hang them. Wife might object to that. The 3rd is of a kiln guard. When he is on top of the kiln, do NOT open the kiln. Check the temperature of the inside, by looking at the digital temperature gauge in front  of the kiln first. It has to be around 70 degrees, before opening it. The temp inside the kiln can go up to 2100 degrees. That temperature is needed to glaze fire . For bisque fire, you need 1800 degrees. The bottom picture is of various  pieces. I made the vase in the first picture, the other pieces were made by my wife. All of them were made in July/August 2013.

Building House

Labas Drauge. Cia seima Lietuvoij Nama stato. Family members are building a house in Lithuania. As you can see, it is well constructed and solid.Sitas Namas bus labai gerai sustatytas. The roof is made out of solid material, which will last for many, many years. Stogas ira labai gerai sudetas, jis islaikys daug, daug Metu. Kai bus gatavas, reikes vel atlekti ir geraus Alu isgerti. When it is finished being build, I will fly back, and celebrate it, buy having some good Lithuanian beer. You must try it.

Family and friends

Family and Friends.  Seima ir Draugai.

Kugelis

  

Kugelis  a Lithuanian dish and tradition.  Mano Mamyte man sakydavo kad jinai Kugeli darydavo daug kartu kai ji gyveno ant savo ukio. Ir cia Amerikoij ji daug kartu Kugeli man padarydavo.  My mother, when she lived in Lithuania on her farm, used to make Kugelis many times. It was one of her favorite foods. It is easy and not complicated to bake. The ingredients are also simple. You do not have to go to the dictionary or the internet to find the meaning of them. My mother used to bake it, because when they were living  and working the farm, they grew the ingredients themselves.
             The ingredients are   8 good sized potatoes,  4 eggs, 1 package of bacon, 1 good sized onion, 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 teaspoon of pepper.                                    You begin by chopping the bacon and onion into real fine pieces. They go into hot pan , and fry them until they are some brown and a bit golden. Grate the potatoes, squeeze out the water. When bacon and onion look good, put them in a big bowl with the grated and squeezed potatoes, the 4 eggs, milk, pepper. No salt, because the bacon has enough salt. The bacon fat goes into the bowl with the rest. Mix everything together real well. All then goes into a glass or metal rectangular baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Baking dish then goes into oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Out it comes, to be enjoyed.You could place some sour cream on it. Well this is how i make it. My mother used to put some secret ingredients into it, naturally hers was much better. I wish she could be here to make me Kugelis.  On the bottom picture, the pottery was made by my wife.

Pottery--is Molio

These are some of my accomplishments in pottery. It takes time to make a piece, then let it dry. It goes then in the kiln for a bisque firing. After that you put on a glaze, coloring. Now it goes back into the kiln for a glaze firing.This is where the glaze or color gets baked into the piece. Wollah, its done. Right, it only took me 3 weeks to do the bottom pot, from start to finish. I work on one piece about 3 hours a week.But there might be 2-3 other pieces that i am working on. When one is drying, i start on another one. So, there might be 3-4 pieces that i have in the kiln to dry, and then 2-3 pieces for me to glaze. This kind of a hobby keeps me busy and out of my wives hair. Not really, we work with clay and make pottery together. Zmona ir as, abudu mes su molio dirbam. Mes su juo jau 3 metus dirbam.

My parent's land

This is what my parents property looks today. When the Russians were killing everyone in their path during WW II, my mother managed to save my sister and me, and make it through Poland into Germany. My father and my mothers brother died by Russian hands, by being starved to death in a prison camp. This property went through many hands. A family member has it now, but has no money to do anything with it. Only Lithuanian citizens are allowed to buy and own property in Lithuania. I tried to get it, but no luck. But then, what would I do with it anyway? I am here in the US. I will see it this year again. Maybe I will plant some flowers or a tree, if it will be OK with the people that own it now. My mother passed away 3 years ago here in Utah, she was 95.

Family

Prie Ukio Jurbarko apylanke.Gerai susiaiti su Draugais, ir isgerti skanu Alu. Rytoj bus grazi Diena, tai busim su Masina kur isvaziave.

Jurbarkas countryside

This is property of a relative in suburb of Jurbarkas. Giminiu zeme priemiesti Jurbarke.

Vytis in clay

My wife and i have been working with clay for a couple of years. She is a teacher for a pottery class at a senior center. She does pots and cups and other pieces, i do plaques, as this piece, Vytis. I should follow the rule of having a white knight and white horse on red background. But, i added my own colors. Vytis was used as the State Emblem first in 1366 by Grand Duke Algirdas. As of 3/11/1990 the Vytis is the official state emblem of Lithuania.

More Photos

This is the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania, in the old town of Vilnius. This history of it started in the mid 13th century. King Mindaugas erected the historic Christian temple. Took this picture in July 2011. For more info check out   www.way2lithuania.com

I took this picture of the church in Vilnius, do not know the name. Maybe i will remember one day. Next time i am in Lithuania, which will be soon, i will go to Vilnius and get the name.

Traku Pilis (castle) Located in Trakai, Lithuania.  On an island in Lake Galve. Construction started in the 14th century by Kestutis, Grand Duke. Completed by son Vytautas the Great in 1409.

        This is a picture of the inside of the castle.

Labas drauge

This is an empty can and bottle of beer,that i brought back from Lithuania. I drank them there. Customs looked at me a bit funny. I also had a nice piece of smoked meat, that they took away from me as i entered the US in Chicago. Wife said that i should have eaten it on the plane. The meat and the beer came from Jurbarkas, Lithuania. Jurbarkas is a city in Taurage county, by the Nemunas river It got its official name in 1259, Jurbarkas(Georgenburg). Population about 35.200. For more info please check      regionai.stat.gov.lt