The newest Zotter

My niece Jennifer was in Pittsburgh recently and stopped by with her daughter Emma. My grand-niece is the newest Zotter and is even cuter than her photo. It is funny how children even as young as Emma fixate on my beard. I wonder why?

I am hoping to visit all of my brother Paul's clan this Summer. They have a nice little chunk of upper Bucks county PA with plenty of room  to live and play. Hopefully, I can get out there soon enough to help with their gardens.
You may have noticed the undecorated Christmas tree in the background. I left it up for Mr. Sparrow that wintered with us this year. Last week, when it warmed up I let him out, but he knows where the seed is and I'm sure he'll be back with friends. I don't know what it is about the local sparrows but in the Summer they fly in the shop and just walk around, even with my Jack Russells watching.-Walt
Walt

We thought it would be fun to put a Santa hat on Walt and have Emma imagine him as Santa.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I consider St. Patrick's Day in Pittsburgh to be the unofficial kick-off for Spring. Both people and this logo come out of winter's slumber this time of the year.

It's hard to imagine a more Irish personalization than on the pot below.

A Pittsburgh tradition since March 17, 1869, our annual St Patrick's Day Parade is one of our rites of Spring. Traditionally held the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, rumor has it that we have one of the largest parades in the country. The weather was actually decent this year for the parade. And by that I mean that it only rained "lightly" for the most part. I never knew we had so many bagpipe groups in our city.

The kids love the candy and beads. (ps so did we.)

We wish there were more floats in the parade. This was one of the few.

The parade "pros" know this parking garage is one of the best spots to watch a Pittsburgh parade rain or shine.

We do have Three Rivers

Pittsburgh is usually not known for being particularly "boatie", but we do have Three Rivers. The sight of boats heading toward Heinz Field and PNC Park during sports seasons is fun.

 A sign of spring for us is when we see boats heading towards the public boat launch at the South Side Riverfront Park down the street from our studio; and when we start seeing these "boatie" logos appear.

The bridge below is the Birmingham Bridge. It was seen in the movie "Striking Distance"

with Bruce Willis.

Here is a link to more info on Pittsburgh's water life: http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/recreation/a/water_sports.htm

March 14th: It's Walt's mom's birthday today!

Happy Birthday Mother,

If you've been lucky enough to grow up in a family like mine, you know it's all about parents that are all about their children.

Mom is still charming our every day, and as you can see, she looks incredible. Mother wrote on the back of this photo: "Not bad for an old broad". Well said mother!

Happy Birthday Mom,

from your favorite son,

Walt, Jr.

I'm your fault and your Walt, your loving son, Walty

Happy Birthday to the incredible woman that brought this world so many wonderful Zotters!!! to the mom of my best buddy Walt,  edrieker.com

Happy Birthday, love Anna Rose

Mrs. Zotter, I'm continually in awe and admiration of your zeal and zest for living. I love you, Jocelyn

Spotlight On: Our Distelfink Symbol

In the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch areas of Zotter the Potter's home state, it was common practice to decorate homes and barns with hex symbols. Chosen by each family for it's aesthetic and meanings, the symbols were used to represent and decorate. It is from these hex symbols that we got our "Distelfink" logo.

MC with Distelfink logo

While it's always funny to me when it is referred to as that "chicken" thing, the  Distelfink was the good luck bird of the Pennsylvania Germans. It actually was a stylized version of the goldfinch. The goldfinch eats thistle seed and uses thistle down for its nest and was called a thistlefinch from which comes the Pennsylvania Dutch "Distelfink". This single distelfink sign is a symbol of good luck and happiness. The heart adds a measure of love. We wanted to include the Distelfink to our logo selection because of it's meaning, and because most people don't have barns to decorate.- Jo

One last salute to winter...

Before we say hello to Spring, we wanted to give one last lingering look at the beauty of winter as seen outside of Pittsburgh in Washington County. Even when it's too frigid to be out and about, there's always a warm cozy drive available to us Pittsburghers any time of year.

Cows in a snowy pasture

MC with Cow logo

I am always interested in how our customers pick one logo over the other. Because most of our orders are placed online, we very rarely have the opportunity to ask. The "Cow" logo is used on this "Howard & Mary" piece. I imagine it going to some bucolic setting much like the pictures shown below. But, it could just as easily end up in some big city apartment whose owners enjoy a collection of "cow" themed memorabilia. We'll never know.-jo

Snow covered field

Cow and condo

Silo

Blue field

We are live!

Our blog has been added to our website. It's official. We now have an interactive link to our website visitors, and we are excited by the possibilities. Feel free to bookmark our blog and visit often. We'd like that.

Hawk on Cactus @ Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, AZ, Jan2010