Pots, Pals, and Panera Bread

Pottery class last night, lunch with a friend today, and a coffee date with a stranger tomorrow.

* I am thoroughly enjoying my class. The clay I was given a few weeks back is nearly gone and so I took a bag from home, one that has been sitting in a cabinet for a year or so. I'm back to making figures, this time with pets. No sadness. Just contentment. And pets.

I followed the pottery teacher into the front room to look at the bowls set out for today's Chili Cookoff. She showed us a few she'd made and then I checked out a few others. There was a wide variety covering the tables and shelves. I picked a few up to look at them. A blue one caught my eye. I picked it up, turned it over, and got a surprise. My names was on the bottom! A lost bowl found. How I missed it on the shelves, I do not know. I could have taken it home, it was mine after all, but I didn't. It will go home with someone visiting the Chili Cookoff and that's okay with me. I already have a collection of bowls in the attic.

* Lunch at Panera with my friend Marlene. We haven't caught up since the end of July and both agree that is just long to wait between lunch dates. We sat and ate and talked for hours. I love her! I also ran into an old friend, one I babysat for many years ago. Her son is 31. I started watching him when he was five weeks old, so that takes us back a few years. Maybe she and I will meet for lunch some day.

* Tomorrow, after church, is my meeting with a stranger. We are going to be friends too. I'll call her Betty, but that isn't her real name. We already have so much in common that I'm not nervous at all. I have looked for someone like her for many months. She is a gift already.