Christmas ‘22 Workshop Update
What are the blessings of winter? I know the season can be difficult and fearsome. But I leave this query to you and me, so that with open hearts we can notice the blessings.
This week I’ve been blessed by food prepared by friends and family, baking cookies, a friend sharing Chanukah candle-lighting and berachot with me and others, reading scripture…
Here are two links where you can donate to help with people who are hungry.
In the workshop, I’ve just completed a set of somewhat-feral boat oars. These are made from black locust cut from the fence-row and some scraps of red cedar I gleaned from a neighborhood church basement clean-out. These are for a small double-ended dory I built a couple of years ago as a prototype of sorts. I finally got around to fitting it with thole pins, a means of providing a fulcrum about which the lever of the oar can function. I tried to leave them looking a little tree-like, rather then perfectly straight and cylindrical. Once this icy weather passes, I’ll head out to test them, and share pictures.
In the new year, I hope to have plans to share about a spring retreat to help you live faithfully with the gifts of these seasons.
There should also be a half-day class about the 11-12 century mystical theologian, Hugh of St Victor. He offers a spirituality for teachers and learners grounded in scripture, attentive to nature, and well suited to those of us either with a generalist mind, or for practitioners of various manual trades and professions. Well, that’s what I think anyway!
I also continue to invite you to visit at the workshop. You can help with various small projects, or just hang out and drink coffee while I tidy up or sharpen tools. You can also help with a new wooden boat I plan to build this winter and spring. It is a small ‘semi-dory’ that could be rowed, sailed or run with an outboard. A generalist’s sort of boat. I’m laying down lines for a model as the first step on preparation to build. Let me know if you would like to stop in.
Christmas blessings!
