the adventures of clay ball

 Delicious shopska salad recipe at bottom of page!

 

 

 

We were expecting visitors!  My younger sister Tessa from our home planet, her husband Thor, & their new baby Joy came to Earth for a visit!  

 

LB & Seala were watching the sky all day for their familiar slender, blue space kayak.

 

 You can imagine our surprise, then, when what we saw instead was a comfortable, familiar green space canoe pull up to our windowsill…It was my oldest sister, Shining Dove, & her family!  They had heard Tessa was coming, & had flown up from the South to see us!

 

Shining Dove & her family are the first clay balls, as far as I know, to come to Earth…Shining Dove came to Earth 6 years before I did…Her husband, Sound, a very wise & respected scientist on our home planet, was invited to come to Earth by your queen…the Queen of All Bees.  The Queen is, of course, worried about the sickness that has come upon many of the Earth’s bees, & so she sent an urgent  message to our elders, asking for Sound & Shining Dove’s help. 

 

So, they have been living here in the South ever since, & their 3 beautiful children, Sun, Flicka, & Sophia, were actually born right here on Earth.

 

Shining Dove also has a  farm, which produces delicious goats’ milk, eggs, honey, & lots of vegetables…& there is usually a tiny kid or 2 stowed away when they travel…oh yes, here she is…!

 

 

 

 

  

  

Then, not 3 minutes after Shining Dove & her crew arrived, Thor, Tess, & Joy floated down from the sky!

 

 

Thor & Tessa are amazing & talented artists, and they were also invited to Earth, for a cultural exchange program with artists in Bulgaria!  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Even baby Joy is the tiniest of budding artists–here is an early work, “Still Life with Bulgarian Peach.”

 

 

They had a wonderful stay in Bulgaria, & spoke very warmly of their time there & the kind people they met, as well as the beautiful land.  After their work  in Bulgaria was completed, they decided to explore the Earth a little more &,  much to our delight, come visit us!   We were all so happy to see one another again…

 

 

  

 

…then, precisely 7  minutes after their arrival, our dearest Mom pulls up in her old-school space kayak! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom!  We didn’t know you were coming here to Earth!  I think Mom was starting to wonder what on Earth was going on with her family!?

 

 

 

 

 

…then Star & his family flew in…including Baby Star….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 …and so here we all were!   A spontaneous, surprise, family reunion!

 

 

Thor & Tessa brought us a gift from Bulgaria…

 

 

 

 …an amazing handcrafted  plate…

 

 

  

 

 

 …wrapped in a giant crossword…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 …and sudoko, that game, which has taken the entire Universe by storm!

 

 

 

 

Then, much to everyone’s greatest happiness, Thor & Tessa prepared us a Bulgarian meal, complete with…

 

 

 

 

Bulgarian Shopska Salad!

 

Ingredients:

 

2 to 3 cucumbers, peeled & cut in thick slices, which are then halved

 

1 to 2 tomatoes, cut in wedges

 

4 to 8 oz. feta cheese, grated

 

1 tablespoon chopped onion

 

oil

 

(parsley or other fresh herbs, optional)

 

Mix  the cucumbers & tomatoes, a little bit of oil, onion, & parsley.  Add the grated feta cheese on top in a thick layer.  If you let it stand for a while, it will form a natural little sauce from the cucumbers.

 

 

 Enjoy!

 

love,

 

Clay Ball