Serious Fun

One thing you need to know about the lonely potter is that he is a glass-half-empty kind of person. In fact, not only is the glass half empty, he is sure the government siphoned off  the top half, and what ever is left is unfit to drink because of someone's incompetence. The other thing you should know is that we need rain. Badly. This creates a dilemma for the lonely potter - whether to be more frustrated by the lack of rain which is holding back the growth of grass and other good things, or by the occasional showery day, which will inevitably interfere with something he had planned to do that day. On those days when this frustration combines with a painful arthritis flare-up, it is very hard to make the lonely potter smile.

So it was with great trepidation that I woke the lonely potter yesterday, pointing out that it really was mid-morning and the darkness was a result of overcast skies, not because  the sun was not out yet. To my relief, he took it well, merely sighing and painfully flexing his swollen fingers before getting out of bed. Perhaps it was the anticipation of waffles, whipped cream and fresh strawberries that put him in a good mood, or maybe he had just made up his mind to do something productive, no matter what the weather did. It was, in fact, a very productive day, but not in the pottery studio.

Aside from pottery, the other great love of the lonely potter's life is the horse. This beautiful, intelligent, sensitive animal remains the last vestige of his boyhood dreams of the wild west, where a man's best friend was his horse. When we moved to this acreage he had four horses, but tragic and mysterious circumstances have led to the deaths of two, leaving a very despondent lonely potter and two bewildered and tightly herd bound horses. For quite a while it has been easy to find excuses to not spend time with the horses. By the time they were fed, watered and  groomed his energy to do anything else was spent. Lately though, whether as a reaction to Spring or a result of recently meeting someone who loves horses as much as he does, the lonely potter has begun to pay more attention to "his girls".   Daily training sessions, no matter the weather, are starting to show results, both for the horses and for the lonely potter. There have even been days, when the training has gone well, that the shoulders are a little straighter, the head lifted a little higher, and there seems to be a smile. Could it be that the lonely potter is having fun?  Judge for yourself.

There you have it. Cloudy skies, rubber boots, and, it appears, a happy lonely potter and his horse.

 If this keeps up, can more activity in the pottery studio be far behind?