Well Our wet heavy snow is still here, and if you believe the weather man it's going to be 60 degrees by Tuesday.    This is pretty normal ,I guess, we've been  spoiled by mild winters the last five or so years, so we are not used to lingering snowstorms, especially into April.  

I'm hoping the roads are clear because we're heading to New London today to play music for a party.  Bill said he is going to crank up the pizza oven before the party.   We should have alittle practice time before the actual gig.  Bill has a new squeezebox.   I don't get out much, so this will be a fun time.    I've got a lot to do before we take off, so I don't want to get sucked into the computer all morning.

I'm going on my last days at the cafe, two years just whizzed by.  There is  alot I am going to miss about that job.   I liked it. I liked the people I waited on, and I made new friends.    I watched babies grow up.   My favorite two year old came in yesterday.  I always ask him if he wants to draw.  He always does.  He asked his mom to draw a football.   Then he proceeded to draw the football field complete with goal posts!   Another of my restaurant friends is recovering from back surgery, and his wife now needs the same thing.   I will be helping them with their garden this spring.   I'll miss the regulars and the discussions on politics and economy and the state of the world.  I'll miss the garden trading that goes on all summer.  I'll miss some of the people I worked with.   But I just don't have the time.  I need to be in the studio .  Since I found my ideal market place I now need to create more work.. The decorating is easy, and I still love slip trailing after all these years.    To make my sculptures, I need long extended periods to work. I also need to get back to them every day  so they don't dry out on me.  I can keep them workable for up to a month, but I want to speed up my process a little bit, and get in the rythm of the firings, so I have lots of things to put in every month.  I feel I am on the verge of what I have been working toward my whole life.    The ability to make what I want and have a market for the work.   I certainly didn't think it would take this long.... Long in terms of my life with clay, and long in terms of retooling after Rock Hard.   It's been five years since  the partnership ended .

I really have learned  alot , and mostly what I don't know.    The end of Rockhard Stoneware, was not only the end of a business partnership, but it was almost the end of our marriage.   I'm glad things worked out as they have.   We didn't give up, not on our relationship, or our mutual love of claywork.  And now, we can both work at what we love to do and have found new love and appreciation in each other , too.    Well I need to get to the shop now.  It's going to be a big day.........