Trip to Marshall, Texas

It was a beautiful sunny and warm January day when Loretta and I drove to Marshall, TX, to visit the Marshall Pottery and attend a book signing for a new author friend, Patty Wiseman. Loretta and I left Camden at 8 am and headed south to Ruston where we took the I-20 West through Shreveport and into Texas. It was a little longer route than going through Hope and south on I-30 to Texarkana, then to Marshall, but because it was foggy when we left town, we thought the southern route was best.

It had been a long time since I have been to Shreveport but we drove through with no problems. It was fun to see how the city had grown and changed since Gil and I lived there in 1975-1978 when we moved from there to Italy. There is a new interstate highway now going south (I-59) and a lot of new businesses along I-20, East and West of the city. It was not a long drive after we crossed into Texas that we came to Marshall and took the exit that led us to the pottery in just a half a mile. I had been wanting to go to the pottery for many years, but just had not had the chance before now. Loretta had never been there either.

The pottery had lots of things on which people can spend their money like home decor, candles, furniture - even jewelry. Some of those things are rather expensive, and some are rather cheap - like the plastic pots made in Taiwan and China. My interest was strictly the original signature Marshall pottery made right there. I found many beautiful pieces but specifically wanted a spigget for the large beverage urn that I had found a few months ago in a ditch in Camden. The urn undoubtedly fell off someone's truck when moving and was left in the ditch unharmed or unmarred in any way. Also found in the ditch was a lovely bowl and pitcher without a scratch! So I found the spigget needed, and a lid for the urn and also bought a small milk pitcher to match the other pieces.

After we left the pottery, we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant. It was a good lunch and we lingered over it talking and havng a good visit. Then we headed to the Marshall Mall to find the book event. I had met Patty Wiseman on one of the author fadebook sites and she had graciously produced a trailer for my own book. We hope to attend some book events together in the future, either in Texas or Louisiana. Patty and several other area authors were having their event in the mall that day outside a nice book store. Loretta and I met some very nice people that day and learned about their books, several of which are e-books to be found on the Kindle or Nook. We drove home and got in about 7 pm. It was a good day.