March 1, 2010 The Olympics
are over and I will admit that I got caught up in them more
than I had expected. Having
a good TV to see the images certainly helped.
Yesterday was full moon and so was my day for the
Inipi prayer at Friendly Forest. It was a super day for many
reasons. The weather was mild, and since it was a Sunday
I had also attended church services in the Village. Unexpected
circumstances prevented two participants from coming so that
left two of us. My prayer companion is tri-lingual in Dakota,
Cree and English, so his prayers were in all three languages. It
was good to hear Dakota and Cree used within the Initi again. It
was a very good prayer experience for all of us and I thank
Creator for those gifts of connection.
I have added the finish to the plate with the Wolf
face. It brings out the image - wood contrast better
than the unfinished surface.
This week will see me continue to prepare my house
for the House Concert guests on Sunday. I need to be
ready to move furniture around and bring up extra chairs etc. This
is causing me to want to de-clutter my living spaces. That
instinct is at war with my hoarder instincts. Perhaps
there will be a compromise?
February 24, 2010 Since my
last post here I reluctantly traded in my 2005 VW Golf TDI on a
2010 version of
the same car. I like the newer version and it still gets
me the same fuel efficiency with even more power, but that puts
me back into debt to VW Finance. My rationalization was that
I would need to be putting that same kind of money aside to be
able to replace the 2005 model at the end of its expected life.
This way I have the security of a full warrantee plus
a few new luxury features. Time will
tell if it was a wise decision.
I have also started back to adding images to some
of my turned birch plates. I just finished a special request
piece. The unfinished wood image is shown here:
The plate is 14 inches in diameter.
I have also been working to organize a house
concert at Friendly Forest for the first Sunday of March. I
have invited two local musicians to share their talents. We
have invited about 30 friends to share the evening of
good music after sharing pot-luck desserts. The one thing
we have absolutely no control over is the weather. I look
forward to meeting friends and listening to good music by
Walter Berg and Dan Dyck.
February 6, 2010 I took some
time this morning to do a search of my name using Google. I
found things there I had totally forgotten I had ever written or
posted. Along
with the endless repetition of information on my Green Party
candidacy in 2003, there were references to my work with
the Prince Albert Food Charter group, and even old Letters to the
Editor that are in the archives of the Prairie Messenger, the Catholic
Weekly Newspaper for Saskatchewan. Some of these letters
date back quite a few years.
When I wrote the letters I was feeling very
strongly about the issues, and on reading them back I find that
my thoughts have not changed, nor have the circumstances
that I was "railing" against.
While it seemed a bit disconcerting that documents
that I no longer had in my own files were still out there
in cyberspace, I also thought that I should gather
them in in some fashion. What I have done is added them
to my Soap Box Forum Index.
While I was working on those pages I also deleted
some that were clearly more dated and some which had been
contributed by others who probably had also forgotten about
their authorship of the items.
Clearly it is time for me to do a significant overhaul
of my entire web site. Since you are reading this entry now
and perhaps you also check out different parts of this web site,
I would appreciate your comments about what you have seen,
what you would prefer to see, and how you found the navigation
experience.
I am still trying to keep the site pages simple and
quick to load. I vividly recall my many years of being
on a slow "dial up" modem connection and cursing site
developers who made pages I could never load because of all
of the large files they contained.
Use the contact information in the left
column on this page or on my Contact Page.
I have also been considering updating
my vehicle to a 2010 model. Whether the final agreements
are going to happen will depend on what I am offered on my
present 2005 VW Golf TDI (GLS). I have been delighted
with the car but would prefer the security of a warranty
again.
February 3, 2010 It snowed
some over the past few days and I decided to take advantage of
the sunny weather to clear the snow from my yard and drive
way.
The sun is higher in the sky and my air lock
is beginning to get warmer with that sun. Soon on an
afternoon like this one I will be able to open the door to
the house and access the warmth that has been generated that
way.
A friend and former member of our community died
a few weeks ago. The service was held in our village and
the community came out in good support of the three children
who were able to make it out. I have very good memories of this
man and his children as the children were growing up here. Rest
in peace, Adrian.
My General Electric wall oven, installed some
20 years ago, works fine, but over the years the plastic knobs
on the timer and clock have become brittle and have broken. Sometimes
the buzzer mechanism would go off without warning and I was
having increasing difficulty finding out how to stop the
irritating buzz. Last week it started to buzz and nothing
I tried would work to stop the noise. The only way
I could get some peace was to turn off the breaker
in the breaker panel. I took the control plate off and saw
a mass of wires and no wiring scheme. I did not want
to disconnect a wrong wire and create a bigger problem
so I called an appliance repair shop. The charges to
come out here were high .. over $150 or $160 just to
come out here. The only alternative was to wait till
there was another service call in the area and then share the
cost of travel. After more than a week I decided to
take another look myself. Once I had the panel opened
I found a browned and crispy paper which had the wiring
scheme. I handled it gently and made a copy on my copy machine. Well,
it was schematic, not diagrammatic and did not help me enough
to give me confidence. But I did see a small unit that looked
like a coil magnet ... clocks don't need magnets, but buzzers
probably did, so I thought I might pull one black wire out
of that coil. It worked, and nothing else on
the stove or oven seemed to be affected. I taped off the
end of the pulled wire and reassembled the panel and put
the breaker back on. The simple pleasure of using the
oven or the stove without the irritating sound of the buzzer
became one of the simple pleasures of the day. There are
so many other simple things that we take for granted and ignore
and so deprive ourselves of great satisfaction and even joy. We
need to stop and look and listen and then just smile at
what delights us.
January 20, 2010 My four-footed
friend King has made a bit of a comeback for which I am very grateful. I
hope that he is able to have comfort and dignity
during these final times before his passage to the other
side. I have made some modifications to my home to help
him maintain footing when he is able to stand, and
I try to be there to assist when he needs it.
Later this week I will be hosting some young friends
who are coming to our community for the funeral of their father. He
was a good man and I appreciated him as a friend when he was alive. I
am pleased to be able to be of some support to his children
at this time. I have known them since they were children.
There are times when I take up a cause in which
I believe strongly, and currently I have undertaken such
a cause within my own church. I believe that all Christians
are called to be prophets, and that means seeing things with a
new set of eyes. It is not acceptable that we perceive
and respond to our community as if we were just a secular society. In
our church we are to be a community / family of believers dedicated
to living out the teachings of the head of our community. That can,
and often does, mean that we do things differently and from different
values. The Sermon on the Mount / the Beatitudes, call us
to see with new eyes, to live in contradiction to the
teachings and wisdom of the world. Surely we should do so
within our own Christian communities as well. Enough said. I
will see where things go and I hope that I will be able to speak
the truth in charity.
Another pyrography effort:
January 16, 2010 If you
read this page and have been to Friendly Forest over the past 12
years, you will
likely remember my canine companion "King". This
morning he did not accompany me up the stairs when I got
up. A short while later I heard a bump and went to investigate. I
found my friend on the floor, unable to stand and clearly
struggling to breathe. While he seems to have stabilized somewhat
I must face the prospect that he may have started on his
journey to Creator on the other side. If you knew him and
he gave you delight in being who he was, I would request that you
ask Creator to be supportive and gentle with this wonderful being
he brought to life and who he brought to be my best
friend here at Friendly Forest. He might still regain strength
and be with me for a while longer, but even if that
were so, it will be borrowed time. We owe so much to so many,
and I know how much I owe to this friend and to Wayne who made
sure that King would find a home with me when Wayne himself went
to the other side.
January 6, 2010 It is a new
calendar year and when I just typed in the date I still made it
as 2009 before
I corrected it.
I have been turning more large plates
/ platters in birch wood to serve as a canvas for more pyrography
efforts. This morning I completed a set of four images;
eagle, bison, bear and wolf (my spirit helpers). I decided
to use a simple board as a practice piece. I hope to get better
but I am still pleased with what I have made as my first effort. I
have added images of several stages in this process on my Wood
and Shop page. I am sure that there are better ways of
doing this and that I will learn some of those better ways. For
now, however, this is what I am able to produce.
The Christmas and New Year period have been wonderful
around here. It is beautiful and we have had some fresh snow. Still
I can walk my forest trails without the help of snowshoes. I
have had guests and enjoyed our times together immensely ... as
did King. King has reached the conclusion that guests
mean additional access to food and treats. He is usually
correct in that assumption. Once guests have departed, he
settles right back and stops agitating for those treats.
I will post images of the completed animal
images here. Eagle was from a pattern by Sue Walters. The
other three I made working from a photograph of the animal.
December 22, 2009 Solstice
is past and final preparations for the Christmas celebration are nearly
completed here. I have a few phone calls to make yet but
all my letters are off. I have created a generic Christmas
letter again to spare me repeating general information on
each letter. I
am adding it here as a PDF
document for anyone who may have missed
getting a letter. A few addresses may now be obsolete. I
have also added images to two more plates;
December 19, 2009 It has been
foggy and hoar frost is forming everywhere. The frosty
outlines of everything distracts my attention from the dark
of our winter days as we near Solstice.
This morning I started to make line images of some
animals. I want these to apply to wood for wood burning /
pyrography. I started with full photographs and then
traced the major tonal areas onto parchment paper. At first
I made a temporary light box by placing a sheet of plate glass
over a laundry basket. I had placed a desk lamp into the
basket and turned the bulb upward. Then, with image and paper
taped into position so they would not move, I traced the
outlines for Wolf. Later in the morning I also did
some by
taping the sheets onto the window. The regular and somewhat
brighter light from outside made the task easier. I then took
these tracings to my scanner and made jpeg images for my
file. By flipping the image horizontally I will be able to
make my transfer sheet that corresponds to the full scale image
that I started with. The outline will be the
guide for the initial line burning, and the full tonal photo image
will guide the shading work with the pyrography tool.
I also took a few images of the frosty morning. Here
are a few images:
December 17, 2009 The bitter
cold has
ended for the time being and seasonable temperatures seem nearly
balmy! I have tried my hand at adding one of Sue Thomas'
wildlife images to a birch plate using pyrography. It
was my first effort with an animal image and I am pleased
with the result. I am also pleased that I had some experience
using the pyrography tools on simpler subject matter. Here
is what this efforts looks like:
I am trying to complete Christmas messages to friends
and family and am using regular mail. However, if time runs
short I may resort to electronic mail for some as well. If
you have followed this journal over the past year, there
is not much new in my letter.
December 13, 2009 The temperatures have continued
to be very cold with wind chills of minus 52 degrees the
other evening. Nice to be able to stay indoors and work on
other things.
I have finished a few other items and
today finished one of the large birch plates. I will show the
finished item here but am also showing the stages of
the design completion on my Wood
and Shop page.
I have started on my generic Christmas letter and
hope to get them sent soon. I have also been busy doing
some tasks for our "Helping Hands" project. We are
trying to support local families who are experiencing tight budget
problems at this time. Our community has been generous and
at this time we have identified 16 local families to get this support. It
is very satisfying to be able to help this process happen.
December 8, 2009 Winter has come with temperatures
in the minus 30's. This has given me ample reason to stay
indoors to work on things here. I am "rubbing out" the three
tray bottoms and have the platters to do yet. I am
finishing three birch boxes and am using colour to add to the impact
of the simple boxes.
I have assembled three sets of napkins and
napkin rings and am still making the fabric bags for my finished
wood items.
Click on the link to go to my Recent
Work 1 page
to see the latest items I am making.
November 30, 2009 This
morning as I stood
on my deck overlooking the pond at Friendly Forest, sending my heart
and mind upward in morning prayer time, I was struck by the
sounds coming from the pond.
Because there is still no snow
cover over the ice, there is no blanket to muffle the sounds that
happen as winter progresses.
There were pings and slight
booms and crunching sounds as ice sheets shrank and
split and moved against each other a bit adjusting to the
weight. But there were also sounds of "burping" and "stomach
rumbles" that we might be more familiar with from our own digestive
systems trying to deal with a meal that does not fully
agree with our system.
It made me think about what
interpretation might have been given to these sounds if I did not
understand the expansion
of ice as it freezes, the shrinking of water as it cools
to the freezing temperature, the difference in temperatures between
the water under the ice and the colder air above the ice,
and the release of decomposition (digestive) gasses from
the pond bottom where micro-organisms are busy feeding
and recycling organic
matter that has settled to the pond bottom.
Even though I
might understand the natural explanation for these sounds I am
able to give it another comparison as well; Thunderbird
has come to cleanse the land and the hearts and bodies of the
Nations of the earth, and all that is negative, all evil spirits,
have been driven before the wrath and flash and thunder
of this great and powerful spirit of Creator's cleansing
and healing work. Evil has been driven into hiding in the
waters where it finds refuge. Here, in the waters where evil
has been chased, it rumbles and belches its discontent at being
confined within the pond and its inability to contaminate and undo
the goodness that Creator wishes to reign on the earth. Although
natural science offers one explanation that applies to the natural
world, ancient stories also explain what applies to the
spiritual world, and the relationship for good that exists between
Creator
and the creatures that Creator loves.
I had these thoughts as I rotated sun-wise through
my meditation prayer ,and as I faced the home of the West
Wind I saw the nearly-full moon still above the horizon, shining
brightly with the reflected light of the still hidden sun. All
through the night with its clear skies, the moon has declared the
bright and life-giving power of the sun, Creator's first gift to
the Nations on the earth. Although we may not even see it,
the life-giving power of Creator is always with us, and we need
the light of full moons to show us what is, but
is not seen ... that is what we are to be for each other in the
night times of our lives.
And so ends this morning's reflection..
November 27, 2009 I have finished making the
series of serving trays and have added images to two
more. Although
they still need more work, this is what they look like:
Although similar, they are not identical. The
Birch and Walnut side walls really differentiate them, and still
more from the Padauk-sided one shown below.
I refer to these two as my "Signature Trays", because
the image attempts to communicate both my given name and a
profound lesson taught by the Sacred Tree.
November 20, 2009 The weather
is still holding unusually mild for this time in November. No
complaints from anyone that I have heard. I have been working in
the shop on some
special orders. I have completed a custom order table / stool,
have completed one special serving tray with more in progress,
and have made a custom box from
Birch wood. A patterned , heavy green fabric that I
have been using for gift /presentation bags has attracted
good attention. Although it adds to my costs it makes a suitable
way to present the items. These bags protect the item
finish and can be used as a gift bag. I
will take a photo of this and add it to my site shortly.
I am also adding these images to my Recent
Work Page.
November 11, 2009 While there
is still snow on the ground, the weather has temporarily turned milder
and the sun has been out. I have been making more wood items
which are featured on the Recent
Work Page. Here are two of them.
For people awaiting promised wood items, I will be
making a series of serving trays and birch wood boxes as
my next-in-line work.
I have started Karen Armstrong's book, "A Case
for God" and believe I will find it all most interesting. I
now have a stack of at least 10 books waiting to be read. Somehow,
while the weather is still decent outside it seems inappropriate
to be sitting indoors reading books. However, the nights
are getting much longer as the sun sinks into the southern
hemisphere.
October 31, 2009 The weather
is grey and snow has started on this Halloween day. Anew
beaver lodge has taken form on the pond .
I have created a page outlining
a grievance I have with SaskTel, a crown corporation which is determined
to exhibit the worst attitudes of corporate greed and disrespect
for its customers. Click
here to see the context of my anger
and disgust.
I have finally taken photos of recent work and have
posted to my Recent Work 1 web page. Here are a few
thumbnail images:
October 13, 2009 Thanksgiving day
was like most in the past two weeks, cold, snowing and wet! That
was what it was like outside. However, inside with a warm
house, good food and wonderful friends, Thanksgiving day was just
great!
I was able to host ten friends. Although roads
were wet they did not prevent anyone from coming. Now to
deal with leftovers. My planning did take that into account,
and the best parts are able to be frozen for meals later
in the year.
With the outside so cold and wet and white it seemed
like a good time to do some shop work. I worked at making
a platter with lid. I added leaves as a decorative top, using
a wood burner tool. I still need to finish the wood however. The
inside will be finished with a poly-resin finish to make it food
safe and essentially waterproof as well. That will darken
the wood and give it a rich amber colour, but to keep the outside
a
blonder colour I have been considering using a varathane finish.
The wood is birch and the handle is black walnut. The
lower portion is 16 inches in diameter, and the lid is 14 inches
in diameter. The white ceramic bowl is 4" in diameter
and is for dip / relish / etc.
October 7, 2009 The weather has changed; it
is wet and cold with snow predicted later today and for the
next few days! I have taken a few moments in the shop over
the past weeks and produced a few turned pieces:
These are made from a few pieces of spalting birch
wood. The vase necks are Wenge and Walnut.
In August I made a purchase of a wonderful art piece
by artist John Giesser of Big River . It is an eagle carved
from two moose antlers. I love the piece and thank John for
sharing his gift with me. Following are a few images of this
sculpture. It presents a new perspective from all angles
... the mark of a great sculpture.
September 20, 2009 Summer
has been late and seems to be merging with the Fall season. We
have not yet had a frost. That is nearly a month later than
normal for this area. I am not complaining. Here are
a few Sunday
morning images:
Dolgo crab apples ready to be picked and processed.
A clear sky at 06:00 is clouding over. In a
few minutes there was thunder and rain, providing me with an excuse
to not work outside today.
Pin cherries that have escaped the birds and squirrels. I
guess there have been too many other treats available this
summer. The berry and nut crops have been good.
I have just finished a custom order trestle-style
table. It is a shorter version of my own dining table. I
will post an image later when I have added the final
coat of varathane varnish.
August 11, 2009 This morning
I made a trip out to Big River Taxidermy and met with John
Giesser, the owner. We had a very good and interesting visit
and I came home with one of his art works. Thank you
John for your hospitality and for sharing that wonderful
piece with me.
I have also finally finished the purpleheart table
that had been commissioned some months ago.
It was designed for a special location in the
new owner's home. Although I really dislike working with
that wood, I drudgingly admit that it is a good looking wood when
it is all said and done. I now have a few other things I
have promised and still have to complete.
I have had the pleasure of good friends stopping
by during the summer. It gives me an excuse to not do some
unpleasant chores and to just enjoy friends and pretend to be really
retired.
I had a really wonderful time praying at
the Whapeton Sundance in July. I am thankful that this spiritual
community is open to allowing people from different backgrounds
to come to pray with them like this. While I have not been
called to actually participate as a dancer, I go to support those
who do with my prayers, and also join my petitions to Creator "so
that the people might live."
My second dog Elmo is having a few weeks of holidays
from me and this place. His former "master" / friend had
some time off and was able to take Elmo back for a while. I
am sure both will be enjoying that time a great deal.
Over the past year or so I have been finding more
and more people who are sincerely interested in knowing more about traditional
First Nations ways of praying. They have not been so fortunate
as I, to have been found by teachers who have helped
me in learning about this way of life and of prayer. It
makes me realize just how fortunate I have been in this regard.
If
a visitor to this site does want to know more about what
I have come to understand about some elements of this spiritual
tradition and are unable to find an elder for yourself, and
are unable to come out here in person, get hold of me with an inquiry
and perhaps I might be able to direct you to others or point to
a few answers and support your own enquiry with my prayers as well.
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