bodner045

Walking the beach in Costa Rica, leaving footprints searching for inspiring sea shells. Photo by Susan Lyons I called a business meeting at Brookside Pottery for everyone who works there today. Well, that means I talked to myself about the business. It was a quiet day and I listened carefully. After attending the Luna Women's Short Film Festival, I began to think about the different way I want the pottery to be now. I survived the move and the giant scale down. I have tried to slow down and enjoy life and make my one of a kind pieces again taking more time and care. I have tried not to bring to the new environment the problems of the old environment. And now I think I see the ideas I need for the third section of my pottery book. It involves being conscious of where you are, why you are there, and who you are. Thanks to over caffeinating myself, I came to several conclusions as well as having much more to think about. I have never had to write a mission statement or bylaws or...

Several years ago we were passing through Shreveport LA on our way to New Orleans and happened across a restaurant across from Centenary College. The painted sign on top of their building (if I remember correctly after all these years) read something like "Best Strawberry Pie...." and we noticed it got a favorable review in Southern Living magazine. And, it is still there and the pie is still fine! It is good enough to pull off interstate 49 and go find it. And, if you want to stretch you legs on a trip, walk around the antique store next door. It is full of reasonably priced old stuff. WalMart stuff has not hit their shelves yet. I saw a tobacco press, a wooden butter fish mold, silver, dishware and more things to poke. Until a little over year ago there was also a fantastic used bookstore there as well. Now the formere book store owner has remaining books in one of the booths in the antique store. I bet you will lick your plate for the remaining real whipping cream in...

Time to hang up the Mardi Gras beads and get back to making art. What a fun trip. Great food, great environment and an incredibly friendly place to visit. I don't know if it is because the community came together in crisis and got their priorities straight or if it has always been full of southern hospitality. The whole four days we were there I only ran into one cranky local. Everyone else went out of their way to be friendly and seemed to have a good pace of life. They eat such great food and hear such wonderful music I guess it would be hard to stay in a bad mood. I saw cigars being made and pressed into wooden molds in New Orleans cigar shops. Later in Louisiana I saw antique the same molds for sale. Never would have known what they were otherwise. We saw the French Quarter and how it survived the traumatic hurricane, an incrideble embarrassment for this country. We drove around several of the poorer neighborhoods and saw how they still need a lot of help just to get ba...