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I wasn't sure I'd make it to Clayfolk at all. The weather report told of a "bomb cyclone" off the Oregon coast, feeding into and "atmospheric river" over southern Oregon and northern California. I left town after the Club Mud meeting, around 1 pm, and drove into increasing rain, along with ominous LED highway signage warning that I-5 was closed due to blizzard conditions 155 miles ahead. Since I hadn't programmed my GPS yet--I tend to wait until the last leg so it doesn't keep interrupting my podcast with redundant directions--I know I should continue on I-5 south, buddy--I had no idea whether the blizzard was before or after Medford.

As it turned out, I was fine, no snow on any of the passes I traversed, just a lot of rain and a bit of wind, not really noticeable with as heavily loaded a van as I was driving. Got into town around 4:30, found my motel with no problem, and flopped on the bed for a nap. Had supper at a tiny BBQ place in a residential neighborhood where pulled pork and rice, with two sides, garlic bread and water set me back twenty bucks.

I'm working solo this show--Denise had a health issue that cropped up, making it impossible for her to wrestle boxes for restock, so we decided it made more sense for her to stay home with the kitties. She could have come down and stayed in the motel room--it has heat, after all--but that added layers of complication as well. So I call her every night.

Set-up went smoothly. I was down as soon as the building opened at 7 am, had the booth mostly assembled by 11, stocked by 12:30 pm, so I had my lunch, chatted with other potters, and sold a few things off-books to my neighbor's partner and another Clayfolk member who always comes in early to get first looks. (All permitted by our rules--we can buy direct from each other and knock off the 15% show commission.) Stopped at Harry & David to buy some pears and went back to the motel. My friend Carol and her two daughters were setting up her booth, down t (Read more)