I’ve been home from Massachusetts for exactly three months now. I made a small body of work this summer at the university, but cleared my things out before the school year started. I knew it would get too crowded for me to use a whole table in a public space for my work every day. I haven’t worked with clay since halfway through August.

After I left the university studio and drove home to Wyoming, I started looking for a job almost right away. I like to keep busy in productive ways, and I need to build savings for grad school. I applied at Shopko, but that same day one of my old employers sent me a message saying that one of the mugs someone had bought was cracked and she asked me if I could replace it. I sent her photos of all of my newest mugs to choose from, and she ended up wanting them all, plus some bowls. She buys pots in bulk/wholesale from me. I packed them up and took them to her that afternoon. I mentioned that I would be hanging around the valley for a while and that I had applied to Shopko.

The next day, she asked me if I would like to come back and work for her again. I said I would love to, so now I have my old job back from years before at the botanical lab/health food store, but it’s better now. I mainly just run the botanical lab operations: making tinctures, blends, salves, categorize the data for each batch, and pack and ship orders.

Now that I have work to keep me busy during the week and a comfy routine, it lets me relax enough to think up creative ideas. This weekend I decided to start painting again. I haven’t done much painting since high school, but I think I am better at it now than I was then. Usually I paint on clay, but paper will do for now until I figure out my next clay opportunity.