Lots of food and pot-buyers today ...

Lots of pots went out the doors today, the first day of our weekend Holiday Open Studio. And lots of glass, paper, jewelry and other work by the guest artists in the upstairs gallery.

We've been doing this group kiln-opening/craft show here at our place for the past six or seven years and it's slowly grown to the point that we hired a policeman to direct traffic this year. Lots of folks crowded into the studio at 11 o'clock for the kiln-opening, helping to move the still-warm new pots from the kiln to the table. It seems to have become a bit of a tradition to come out that Saturday for bagels and coffee and eggnog (some with Brenda's bourbon addition), hang with friends for a while, make some new friends, buy work from the makers and eat chile dogs at noon. This is a very Falmouth-oriented event, since it's so close to Christmas there tend not to be a lot of out-of-towners. Everyone knows somebody connected with the show.

Our friend Ed Sholkovitz has become the chile dog king, taking my New Mexican red and his steamed dogs and combining them into a fine non-vegetarian mid-day repast. Then Mike and Tammy Race showed up with shrimp 'n' grits and oysters on the half shell, Janet produced chile-spiced chocolate cookies and ... some kind of chocolate toffee candy ... and there were muffins and other baked goods on the dining room table. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

And a good firing, in spite of the fact that I realized about an hour in that I'd forgotten to put cones behind the peeps. Yikes. Opened the damper and let it cool for an hour or so, then carefully installed the cones, all of which seemed to work as they should.

Oh, and did I mention we sent a lot of pots off to new homes? I love that.

More tomorrow. Lots of stuff left. Come on down.

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Photos: Top, the crowded studio at kiln-opening time, with glassblower Bryan Randa shamelessly mugging for the camera. Center, part of the studio pot display. Bottom, the upstairs gallery.