Life Changing Square

This humble looking little apparatus is a godsend for small businesses. This one is the Square which allows me to have credit card sales anywhere I can connect to the internet and have my android or Iphone. It is supplied to small businesses for free and I have been using it for about a year. I now laugh when I get a delivery from a huge multi-national delivery service or go to Kid City and they are hand writing paper slips for credit card sales. When I bring out the Square and my phone, some people seem to be bamboozled and perplexed, but I have not had anybody reject the offer so far!

I am not being paid for this blog post I promise, even if it sounds like a promotional. I just would like to let you know about my own good experience. The only downside has been using it in metal roofed venues, where internet service can be poor. When I am out in the wilds of Manitoba with no cash machine for many, many kilometres, it is great to have a mobile device!

Never having been good at paperwork, I am highly appreciative of the great record keeping and instantaneous transaction process. PayPal plans to bring something to Canada but that is going to happen at some unknown date in the future. So for now, I am grateful for the Square and the other crafters that have shown me how to use it effectively.

*********************************

This post is the personal opinion of Nancy of NancyBloklandPottery.

Crafting and Its Wonderful Lessons for Life

I have often been overheard to say that when the pack up time for shows arrives I am jealous of the fibre people. I love all kinds of crafting, but sometimes I bemoan my lot as a potter because my goods are fragile and heavy.

The truth is I likely wouldn't trade my art form for anything else. I have been making and playing in the clay for 30 years this year, and while I have tried to retire a few times, I keep coming back. The physical process of making the clay has allowed me to have exercise without ever going to a gym, and the centering process of being in correct position in the clay is always good for my inner being. Centering is a great metaphor, but it does have a physical effect on the potter, as you cannot make a good pot until you and it are centered.

There are endless great metaphors, and I just saw this great one on lisa b. walker's blog, so I am reusing it: 
The handle of a pot, he writes, “marks the journey from one world to the other; it is the suspension bridge from the world of art to the world of use.” Clay is protean, he suggests, endlessly malleable by human hands, and yet ultimately the potter must consign his works to fate and accident, to the ruthless caprices of the kiln." Adam Goodheart reviews "Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay" by Christopher Benfey in his NY Time 2012 article entitled ...The Shape of Things to Come

I will be off on vacation for the next few weeks, with lots of time for reflection--beware.

Thank you Nancy for this inspiration - Enjoy your vacation!
When Nancy isn't soaking up the sun, she can be found in her little pottery studio making beauties for local sales and her Etsy shop.