Thanks for asking, Rowana...the first 10 years we both worked in the computer software industry in LA, and spent every available weekend camping. Finally decided what the hell, and bought a 160 a. hill farm in Ark.,...the cheapest land we could find w/ fairly reasonable weather. Like a different planet, however, compared with Los Angeles...I learned to grow and can/preserve all our veg/fruit, butcher (ugh, never got used to it) all our own meat, live w/o indoor plumbing. It was like going back 50 years in a time machine, but an incredible revelation. Loved the people, and the oral tradition of the Ozarks, now largely lost to TV and inmigration...only wished I'd been able to tape record some of those wonderful stories. But played some great music there....musical friends were far flung, but when we managed to get togehter it was great. We made our living as potters...and when health problems drove us back to rural California, continued to do so.

It was a great 40 years together...life as a craftsmen not rich in money but in every other way an incredibly rewarding lifestyle. It's difficult, being alone now...had to kill my first rattlesnake a couple of weeks ago...my husband was crack shot so I was spared that chore...but sad as I am I know how lucky I was to have lived such a life. I think back, now, to what my life would have been like had I...we...continued to do the conventional thing, working for big bucks in the computer field...and know I am richer by far with the life I've lived in the country.

I was thrilled to find Mudcat, just a few months before John died...what a great resource and connection to the music I've loved since I was a kid with a Harmony guitar, searching out English folk songs long before Joan Baez came on the scene...and a great bunch of people....

Thanks again for asking....Nancy