The Joy of Winter

Vase by John McNeil.

It’s quiet at our pottery in Door County in the winter. I don’t mean no customers. I mean, it’s quiet. The snow muffles the noise cars and other vehicles make. And softens the grinding and scraping noises the snowplow makes while it’s cleaning the highway.

When I take the dogs out first thing in the morning, before the sun is even up, I can hear the little chickadees and nut-hatches and other winter birds chirping or otherwise talking to each other, or maybe to themselves.

Snowfall at night is another time I like to escape our warm and cozy barn. Sometimes I leave those puppies inside so I can focus on the sound snow makes falling on the snowy ground. Or feel each flake touch my face. I’ve never grown out of the whole magic of snow and my fear of slipping on ice hasn’t crushed my appreciation of winter’s beauty.

Getting back into the studio means making lists of products to make, inventory holes that need filling, brainstorming new ideas and eliminating products that just didn’t get the response we hoped for. Taxes. Paperwork. Accountants.

Bidness takes over and soon I stop going outside for fun and only for a run to the Post Office. I spend too much time here, online, managing our online presence and not enough time in the studio. John spends all his time in the studio with breaks to clear snow, haul out wood-ash and haul in wood for our wood stove.

Author Diane McNeil escapes computer work by indulging in one of her favorite warm weather activities.

So that’s why this afternoon I grabbed my phone and John, slipped my naked feet in my big snow boots and slipped outside with my fleecy red robe over my clothes so John could take some photos of me reading and sipping coffee while sitting on my bench on our circle. It’s where you will find me as the early morning sun peeks over our building when the weather is finer. Grabbing a quiet moment before the hullabaloo of the season propels us forward to another wonderful, quiet, beautiful winter day in the snow.

We’re open every day here in the winter but we don’t get too many adventurous souls down Garrett Bay Road. Those who do usually ask us what there is to do up here all winter. There are other questions but this is probably number one.

It’s pretty busy up here with music and theater, silent sports and raucous broom-ball, learning and volunteering everywhere. We focus on reading, walking, napping, visiting and filling our shelves with more beautiful pottery that makes our life wonderful, and yours, too.

This article originally appeared on ellisonbaypotterystudios.com on Jan. 17, 2014.

Ellison Bay Pottery Studios, open daily, is located at 12156 Garrett Bay Road in Ellison Bay. For more information call 920.854.5049.