Chickens for the Cure seek new cause

The runs were fun, but Desdemona, Roxanne, and Brunhilde are sorely disappointed that Komen for the Cure has cut off grant funding to Planned Parenthood. They're clucking about finding a new cause where they can set up egg production. Suggestions?

Race for the Cure 2011

Here are JM and I in our sweaty post-race glory. On our team of 20, we were the sole competitive 5Kers this morning at the Raleigh Race for the Cure. Other Team Amazing Us members did the recreational 5K or the Sleep-In-for-the-Cure. J didn't beat her personal best, but she did manage to sleep until a respectable 9:30am, while L stayed in bed until an impressive 10:30am.

The advantage of doing the competitive 5K is the same as the disadvantage: it starts at 7am. Starting early means cooler temps, no lines for parking, no lines for the shuttle bus, and being surrounded by a sea of runners rather than walkers; but it also means leaving Durham around 5:45am.

Next year, I plan to organize an environmentally-friendly Durham satellite team: rather than getting up pre-dawn and converting gasoline into exhaust by driving all the way to Raleigh, we'll get up with the sun and go for a 5K run/walk on a local trail. Alas, we won't bond with 25,000 other runners/walkers, but we'll bond with one another. And planning a year in advance to stay local, as opposed to wearily suggesting it the night before, will mean we're being intentional about it rather than bailing at the last minute.

Our team raised $2,700 this year, thanks to numerous generous donors, and 33 chickens found new homes.

Unfortunately, the list of friends for whom I run grows longer every year. This morning's run was in honor of CB, BC, TS, LF, JdM, JK, FO, CL, LC, and JF.

Chickens for the Cure, 2011

Oh so fine! These photogenic chickens are part of a team that has been doing a few hours a week on the elliptical trainers at the Y in preparation for the 2011 Komen Triangle affiliate Race for the Cure on June 11. While you're unlikely to encounter Desdemona, Roxanne, or Brunhilde on the race course (after all, the Raleigh event draws 23,000+ participants, and small birds do get lost in a big crowd), you can encounter a chicken in your very own living room. Repeating last year's offer, for every $50 that you donate to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on behalf of me or my team, I'll make sure a unique, handmade, wheel-thrown and altered, wood-fired, North Carolina chicken with an authentic clay pretend egg inside wings its way to you.*

That's right, one chicken for $50, two for $100. What the heck, if you donate $150, I'll persuade four of these gals to move in with you. Sure, it would be cheaper just to buy chickens directly from the artist, but then you wouldn't have the satisfaction of supporting the quest for a cure for breast cancer or helping to fund early-detection, education, screening, and treatment programs for under-served women. And with clay chickens, you don't have to build a coop, fend off raccoons, or eat a dozen eggs a week (although they won't get in your way of doing those things, if that's what turns you on).

If you would like to run, walk, or sleep in for the cure on June 11, feel free to join Team Amazing Us. If your race fee plus additional donation totals $50, there's a chicken in your future.

*Offer good until supplies run out, which should be a while. I'm currently cohabiting with dozens of chickens.

Race for the Cure

This morning I got up pre-dawn and drove down to Raleigh with a friend for the 7am Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure competitive 5K. I learned that it's much easier to run with a few thousand people who are mostly running than with 20,000 people who are mostly walking, so even though I'm not really a pre-dawn person, I will probably stick with the competitive 5K next year rather than going back to the recreational 5K.

Celebrating BC, CB, TS, and LF, and missing LC and JF.

Chickens for the Cure

It's kind of buried at the end of the previous post, so here it is again: For every $50 that you donate to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on behalf of me or my team, I'll send you a unique, handmade, wheel-thrown and altered, wood-fired, North Carolina chicken. Details and rambling in the previous post.

Wattles, rattles, and the Race for the Cure

Last weekend, E and I went to visit our friends R and Ie. We finally met their chickens, including the intrepid Batty, who survived a horrific stray dog attack last month. You can follow the saga on R's blog.

Ie is an accomplished Chicken Whisperer and patiently allowed me to photograph him holding various chickens. Later, he walked into the kitchen with a pocketful of eggs--five in all. Those are industrious chickens.

Inspired, when we got home I added wattles to some birds-in-progress. I meant to do just a few, but then the wattleless chickens looked naked, so I did the whole flock.

Given the pictures I post, it must seem that I spend all of my pottery time making chickens and Klein Bottles. I do make mugs and bowls and plates and other fine functional pieces, but they're not as entertaining to photograph. Maybe that should be my new goal.

Why all the chickens? I'm planning a wood firing with some friends in June, and we never seem to have enough small things to tuck into the empty spaces between bowls. Chickens tuck well. And everyone can use a chicken.

You can't tell from the photos, but most of the chickens contain a clay egg or two, so they rattle. Rattles and wattles: two words that ought to rhyme but don't. One member of this flock is eggless because the local Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure organizers phoned at a critical stage in her formation to tell me to pick up my team box, and I forgot to drop in the egg.

Which got me thinking. Want a chicken? For every $50 that you donate to the Race for the Cure on behalf of me or my team, I'll send you a unique, handmade, wheel-thrown and altered, wood-fired, North Carolina chicken. That's right, one chicken for $50, two for $100. What the heck, if you donate $150, I'll send you four. Sure, it would be cheaper just to buy chickens directly from the artist, but then you wouldn't have the satisfaction of supporting the quest for a cure for breast cancer or helping to fund early-detection, education, screening, and treatment programs for under-served women.

We're loading the kiln the same day as the Komen race--June 12--so chickens will be available by the middle of next month. Depending on the clay and the spot in the kiln, chickens will range from white/smokey grey to cream to brown.