I take vacation days just to go to the pottery. The last time I was in his studio, Lee had just picked a gardenia for his lovely wife. How romantic! If you want to meet him, you must go to the studio in Merigold in the morning. One day while there I was examining the jade tripod bowl, and he said, “That’s my tribute to Mississippi State University (which is an agricultural research school known throughout the state for their exquisite dairy products, for one thing.) I didn’t get it, so he said to turn it over, and I understood immediately. (You will have to look at a picture to get the joke.) However, the first time I met this saintly gentlemen, he was dressed in a flannel shirt, boots up to his knees, and shorts. He offered to carry out the bags of pottery to my car. I really thought he was the gardener! Actually he IS a gardener, and a trip to the studio would not be complete without a stroll through their decadent garden rooms any time of year. Not only are the flowers terrific, but it is filled with pottery, some of which marks the effects of weather and time. I visit the studio monthly and each visit continues to be a holiday. Sometimes the studio is quite busy, so I sit in the huge wicker chair and listen to Pachelbel and Handel while enjoying the Theodora Hamblett art on the walls above their pottery. Pottery visitors love to tell their stories here too, and they tell them here on too, which is what I love about Mississippi.