Cedar walking stick

cedar - 37" - $60

sold

There must be a sin in there somewhere...

The close of a good day. I spent the last couple of hours sitting on the porch with my wife drinking coffee, next to a grill loaded down with hamburgers. Kicked back with our feet propped up we watched as the whitest clouds I've ever seen slowly passed overhead against a pure blue sky....

The grass was cut, lightning bugs were swimming around in the humid air, James was desperately trying to figure out how to launch a ball from a contraption he made to "reach geocentric orbit" (his own words), Patrick was inside doing psychology homework, the only sound we could hear was the wind in the trees and the slow sizzle of the hamburgers on the grill... Occasionally we would peer over the porch rail to locate James as he was at the front edge of the yard and out of earshot.

I spent the day riding on the kawasaki mule, shooting guns with my nephews, playing with kids, and walking with my mother. To see the excited look in the eyes of kids at play and to hear the wisdom in my mothers words seemed to be fitting somehow, from the oldest generation to the newest. Of course it made me think of my father and what he would've been into today. If he had been my age he would've waited until we were all done shooting and bragging, then step up and rip the dead center of the targets out in rapid fire and smile smugly as he walked away without a word. Later in life he would've driven out there on the kawsaki mule and sat by watching as we shot, telling us what we were doing wrong then praising us when we did it correctly... and dammit, he was always right. During the last part of his life he would've sat on the patio saying to us, "Now ya'll don't shoot the chillun, keep an eye on them out there.." as we would come inside to get a drink. Lord I do miss him on days like this. With all the kids around and a continual filing in and out of family he would've been in his element.

From our place you can't see the road, its about seven hundred feet up the driveway. When darkness began to take over we called James in to eat burgers. I reached over, picked up the camera and took the shot above. That's our view of the road from our porch at dusk. This kind of evening is exactly what life is about...

Spring

It's early. There is a thunderstorm passing us by to the north, you can see a bit of lightning and hear the rumble of distant thunder. The windows are open and the light pat of rain can be heard outside in the trees. The deep smell of new green in the woods is thick and intoxicating. Everyone is asleep and the darkness seems complete at this hour.

There is a stack of freshly cut wood nearby ready to be carved into hiking sticks, a pot of freshly brewed coffee is waiting for me to consume it. The aroma of the coffee is dancing with the freshness of the rain and the green growth of spring wafting through the open window in front of me. There are a multitude of reasons for me to me irritated lately... yet right now I can't think of a single one of them.

Every spring I read The Lord of The Rings by Tolkien. I never set a time to begin it, the appropriate moment just seems to appear for the adventure to begin. I feel that time is at hand. When I was a small child fumbling my way through the books for the first time I never imagined the impression they would leave on me. The story is the ultimate telling of the human experience. Loyalty to honor and friendship beyond anything else, the realization that when all else is stripped away those are the things left.

Within the realm of our mind we build many castles, both dark and grand, it seems a true shame that when we complete these fortresses we seem to spend most of our time lingering in the dank solitude of their dungeons, allowing our minds to become overrun with the blackest moments in our lives. This time of year brings everything back to the beginning. Not a time of starting over, but a moment of reflection over what has transpired and clarity of what is to come.

Many people attempt to define themselves or even try to "find" themselves, feeling that along the way they have become lost. You were never lost. You've always been the same, coming to terms with this is why so many people seek refuge from something, never realizing that its themselves they are running from.

The influences of other people or situations in life are many and varied yet the only constant in all of these moments is you. Surely we change over time, life is a grand ride through rough and still waters, but the core of who we are remains constant. What we have dealt with shapes who we are to an extent, yet to define ourselves this way isn't what needs to be done. People seek solace in many ways and from many sources only to realize nature itself shows us every year what needs to be done. That is simply to remember who you are.

Regardless of our lives to this point. Be it many places and many people, both good and bad as we feel it, the core of our existence remains unchanged. The only thing brought to bear is what do we do with it? Choices...

The house begins to stir, people wake from their slumber and the day starts anew... What do you choose to do with it? This day will never come again in your life, make it extraordinary...

Terran Ambrosone

Three years ago I started wood carving. When I had completed my first piece I went on line and googled 'hand carved walking sticks' to see what was out there. There were hundreds of sites, shops and pages to be found. I clicked on 'images' and began thumbing through what lay before me... it was then I became a fan of Terran Ambrosone...

At the time she had a site that contained many how to videos and photos of her work. Whenever I would become discouraged with my lack of ability I would head over to her site for inspiration. And she has indeed inspired me for the past three years. I became familiar with all of her work... oil paintings, digital art, wood carving and she is now thinking about ideas for children's books... The woman is unstoppable...

There were many late nights when I would be stuck not knowing where to go to from the corner I had carved myself into.. I would head over to the computer and go to her site just to get an idea of what to do next.... then realize I had been sitting there for a couple of hours thumbing through the pictures and videos, cursing her talent and shaking my head...

One night I was going to show Julie a walking stick she had done when I noticed that her site was gone... I panicked... I searched all over for her and found only a few links mentioning her. I was devastated.. I had lost the one person that had truly inspired me in my hobby. Periodically I would browse the internet looking for her work.. Over time I started the facebook fan page we have and one night as I was posting some photos on it I began to go through the fan list... And there she was... I couldn't believe it... Terran Ambrosone was following my blog and was a fan of our page... I felt like a little kid, I was so excited... Immediately I jumped on facebook and sent her a sappy email of the "ohmygod ohmygod' nature, not caring how silly she might think I was... She was very gracious and extremely nice to me.

Terran has recently started another web site at http://terran.yolasite.com/ and I encourage everyone to go check her work out. She has provided me with the photos I have featured here on this post, its so cool to be able to speak with a personal hero... Her email address is terranart@hotmail.com if you have any questions for her she will be glad to help out. I am looking forward to watching her site grow and develope into a huge success as she features her work...







Terran comes from the West Kootenays in southern British Columbia and has spent the past decade on Vancouver Island... She recently moved back to her birthplace in the West Kootenays and is surrounded by its beauty as she creates her work, and with views such as that, who could blame her.... Her carvings are in the Alberta Provincial Museum, she is a veteran of many juried shows and has won many awards. Her work has been featured in several galleries... She was president of the Vancouver Island Woodcarvers Association, and was also involved with the Nanaimo Arts Council. Today I consider myself honored to count Terran as one of my friends...

An oak hiking stick

With the new week I am starting on the poplar series of hiking sticks. This oak hiking stick I finished last week. The piece came from my brother David. After the flooding a few months ago he brought me this oak stick. The stick had washed up on the banks of the Chattahoochee river in Heard county where he has some property leased for a hunting camp. He was near the river once it had begun to recede and picked it up, using it help balance himself as he picked through the tons of debris washed on shore. The hiking stick is 47" in height has three faces carved on it and a leather wrist strap run through. The price is $50 You can email me at crickhollowcarving@gmail.com or call me at 678-423-6541 if you are interested in purchasing it.

Poplar hiking sticks, a weekend sale, & easter... all at once....

This has indeed been a busy weekend. Last week I was working to build inventory for a sale we had on the Court Square in Newnan, our home town here in Georgia. Once again, many thanks go out to Earlene Scott for allowing us to set up shop for a few hours in front of her book store. We visit her most every Saturday after we eat breakfast on the Square, it has become part of a weekend routine that I enjoy doing with my kids because its one of the things I was fortunate enough to do with my parents when I was a child. Every time we walk through the doors of Scotts Bookstore I am instantly transported back to my childhood. Its good for the soul to visit with old friends, and to support local businesses.. Especially when they provide the excellent service you always find at Earlene's store. I was fortunate to meet a wood carver at the sale who does very impressive work. Michael C. Moore had a booth there and I found his work to be very inspiring, he is a tremendous talent.

When the sale was over we enjoyed some deep fried mushrooms at the Redneck Gourmet, on the other side of the Court Square. With the events in town over for the day we headed back out here to Crickhollow to get ready for egg coloring and food prep for Easter. My mother is in Charleston for the weekend with my sister, before she left she told us that she wanted me & all my brothers to get together at her place like we always do and have a fun time. We met up with my younger brother and his son and spent the afternoon visiting my two older brothers and then we colored eggs with our kids. Today we all met for a really good meal and egg hunt for the kids. We are very lucky in the aspect that most of us all live here around each other on Doc Perry Rd. So the festivities of the last two days could carry on until everyone was near the point of exhaustion and we were forced to head home when the kids heads began to droop from going as hard as they could for so long. So I decided to post a few pictures of some of the things I have seen and done over the past two days.

These are some pictures of a couple of poplar hiking sticks I made for the sale. The first one is 63" long with a hand grip carved in and leather wrist strap. I also carved a face on each one. I plan to do a line of this style, they seem to be fairly popular... The 63" hiking stick pictured first sales for $50. The second one shown here is 56", that one is on sale for $40

The 56" hiking stick...

These are a few shots from the sale on Saturday... The first one is a view of the wood carvings, note the poplar hiking sticks, Here you can get an idea of the height of each.

A few of the wands I made for the show, along with the Ouija board...

This is Kitty and her mother, they stopped by and picked up a couple of items when we first set up. Kitty's mother is in a local orchestra as a violinist and picked up a couple of wands saying, "Oh look.. conductor batons..." A use for the wands I had never thought of... Kitty picked up a snake walking stick for her brother & a keychain for her about to be sixteen year old son...

This is Dale, he does an impressive Snape.. He liked this wand... I hope it serves him well. and yes, when you click the link, thats me as mad eye moody...

Jaxon enjoys his first sale on the square!

Julie's jewelry is always a hit at the shows & this Saturday was no exception...

She just added a line of rings that has been a great hit...

One of the kids decided the Ouija board needed a planchette...

This little guy decided to take up a spot overlooking the table from the top of one of my walking sticks..

This is Paul, a friend from highschool who stopped by. He & his wife picked up a couple of sets of earrings & a key chain. He owns a local business.. check him out & give him a call if you need any work done!

The rest of the weekend was spent around here at Crickhollow, enjoying time with the family, riding the kawasaki mule, eating good food and enjoying life as it was meant to be spent...


Here James is practicing for marine corps sniper school...

Uncle David shows James how to operate the pressure washer

Once he got the hang of it he wanted to clean every inch of the tractor & driveway...

Here he is listening to his uncle Michael explain the finer pints of fence building... The outhouse was built by Michael on a lark... I still get a kick out of it...

He takes everything his uncles tell him to heart and always is ready to hear more..

coloring eggs the night before Easter...

This morning I found a few minutes to hit the woods and "shop" for some more poplar pieces for hiking sticks. It was very peaceful out there this early in the day.

The egg hunt went well & everyone had a great time.

Even Patrick emerged from his fifteen year old's video game stupor to enjoy the day..

the dogs got in on the egg hunt as well..

Here I am with my brothers. This is, from left to right, Michael, me, David, & Stuart..

James enjoyed everything this weekend & is currently passed out, sound asleep...

James and his cousin Silas inspecting every moving part of the kawasaki mule..

Silas loves going for rides with me, James, & his dad...

He almost fell asleep on the seat of the kawasaki waiting for the next ride...

One of the things I love about living here is the small town aspect of life. When we were at the sale there was a constant stream of family and friends that came by to talk, hangout, and see what we had. No one was pretentious or ill tempered all day long. Everyone you encountered was happy to see you and pleasant. Its life as it was meant to be lived, gathering in town on a Saturday just to be out and about enjoying life, good weather, good company and to pick up a few things that might be needed... This entire weekend served to remind me that I am a truly blessed person to be surrounded by such fine folk as this.

P.S.... Happy birthday to my mother.. Today she turned 24 again...