Local ceramic artist Jason Stokes will travel to Japan in April to work and study the country’s rich heritage of traditional wood-fired pottery. Stokes, 34, is one of three potters from the Gulf Coast Kiln Walk Society that have been invited to tour the country to spend time and work with Japanese artists who use traditional methods to create ceramics.

Looking across the table at Mattie and Robert Bartlett, I couldn’t resist: “Y’all quite a “pear,” I quipped.

“Yep,” drawled Butler, Ala.,-born Mattie. “Been a pair 52 years, and we had twins, so we’re a pair with a pair.”