This is my real day off. I appreciate the one day I get to catch up on everything. Today however it's going to be difficult because I am having a foot problem, making it hard to walk. I will probably end up going to the doctor again, which I can't afford.   It will definitely affect my ability to waitress.  I really like my job too, except I never have time anymore to work in the shop.  If I got laid up just enough to sit and do sculptures it wouldn't be so bad. The bad thing , like many people, I don't have insurance right now. I am jumping through the hoops to get Minnesota care, a subsidised health insurance program, from the state. It is really humiliating to go through that too. I bet a lot of people give up, and just  quit. I have never taken welfare dollars in all these years. We have been able to support ourselves up until now.  I wonder now, if it was worth it.  The art world does not care if you are a working potter. The big clay people teach it, or run large production potteries.  Most of the big boys have a spouse that has a "good" job that supports the efforts of the potter.  I'm wondering what we were trying to prove supporting ourselves doing something we loved. Lots of people have said we were crazy over the years.  We did try the production thing when we were Rockhard Stoneware,and when we did that , we had criticism from the big guys because we were being "too commercial"  The fact is , if you are making your sole income from what you produce, you have to produce a lot of it. AND SELL  lot of it.  For me RH was wrong for other reasons.  When it ended, I was relieved, and scared, about how we were going to make it on our own. It was like jumping off a cliff with no knowledge of what was below. 

   Well we have gotten this far. We have both reached 51 this year. We have survived on what we make, and  somehow we have always gotten by.   With most of our friends looking forward to retirement, I look forward only to being able to keep working in clay. 

I think I will expand on my clay philosophy later in the history of morris pottery which I am working on for the web site.  I don't mean to rant.  Everything happens for a reason.  Fame and recognition for what I produce is not my goal.  My reasons, I guess, are totally selfish. I just love clay. And when I get done here, I am going down to work in the shop on some sculptures and some plates.D