The Daily Beef: Peter and his Pottery

I spent the weekend in the pasture (AKA Tuck's house) and I'm still exhausted. The women in his life spent some serious time bonding. We went hunting. For pottery. A sale. Got up at 4 AM on Saturday morning and traveled to Mound Bayou, Mississippi. It was quite the experience. I was there for what I called "sisterhood bonding"...I was excited about the pottery but didn't need a thing. We arrived in the sleepy town at 6 AM. I was instructed to jump out of the car and run to get a place in line...since no one else was around...we took our spot at the dead end of the line. I tried to be sociable but it was EARLY. We sat for 2 hours. A lady came around passing out raffle tickets. At this time my crew (a pack of women ranging from me (23) to 59) informed the lady that I traveled the furthest distance that day to be there...all the way from the Big City...not entirely true not entirely false.

Well, I won. A vase that not even 10 minutes prior I had described...to a T...that I needed to find inside the store. And I won it. I should have been done. But then, Peter...the potter...came out. He described that you could enter the sale on the outside or the inside. Only two ways. The entire line...of probably more than 200 women (and four men) turned on their serious game faces. I was too delirious. Then, out of NO WHERE...these three ladies walked up and cut in line. Oh no you didn't! Well, at least that's how my Grenada ladies felt. Two of them got straight up confrontational (hood rat) on these ladies and I about near died. The trio would not even acknowledge our outspoken ones...but minutes before we entered they retreated to the back of the line.

Two seconds later you would have thought a gun had been shot, signaling the start to a serious race. We were off...and by off I mean running. I had no idea what to expect but we were RUNNING through this place...ten foot long tables...everywhere...piled high with this fired mud...we were furiously grabbing pottery and hurling it into bags (some even had trashcans)...paying no attention to price. Literally four minutes later, the pottery was cleared from the table and all the women were out on the lawn sorting and pricing what they had scavenged.

It became a barter game after that. I'll trade you this turkey (yeah, right) for that punch bowl...this vase for those coffee mugs. It was a game of cat and mouse. Always watching for that prized piece...hoping that someone would give it up...and YOU would walk away as the proud owner.

I checked out quickly...after I scrutinized over the perfect coffee mugs. I did good and will one day update with pictures. I discovered that elephants, turkeys, and punch bowls are the most PRIZED pieces. That Peter makes WAY too many egg platters...that or no one needs one...probably the latter. Who makes deviled eggs that often? I learned that I might have been dead tired but my adrenaline picked up very quickly and I LOVED the rush I got searching for my perfect pieces.

I'll be back. And next time...watch out. I'll be ruthless.