Sculptured Wood Beauty
’’....a time to turn the page! He who lives in the woods and forest, will at getimians break forth into the many places of solitude, where he sits with the wood spirits as they offer forth words of wisdom and truth….”
….as i walk out the stories that have been written within my-self,
mine eyes have be-come more conductive to light and darkness,
which has be-come a most use-full tool in my tool wrap called life,
for what individual can dream and then see their dreams bear fruit….
….in my earliest blog stories here i talked of the connection that feeds,
that connection was of what will each of us do with imagination and dreams,
one can take the approach that all this is an abstract of deny reality in seeing,
or one can choose to be-lieve for the betterment that comes from excogitation….
….so once again i started be-lieving in my-self and decided to conduct from life,
which in turn took me back to my tree roots where i embarked to be-come intertwined,
with wood once again and then a lumberjock friend sent me a beauti-full wooden box,
that wooden box be-came a tease to me as i watched it day to day from a spot of envy….
….that was when I remembered this piece of a wooden burl in the barn be-coming enamored,
enamored with beauty of a maple burl from where I sat was the passion that be-came fire,
now that one has beauty and the passion of wood brings us to a point of action and decision,
by which we will all be known of men as a talker or doer before the doors of truth and love….
—by flp
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Once upon a time about three years ago I cut a maple, in order to relieve the stress being put upon that part of our land of too many trees that were beginning to clutter. My wife was with me clearing the clutter of fallen branches while I also de-limbed. We were breaking new ground and creating a new road into a part of the forest we had never taken the atv into, except by walking. When I’m working out here with my wife….there’s not much stopping since she’s the opposite of me….no-silence, no-meditation out here, but we also know each other very good in the forest which makes for good, safe work together out here.
As with all log gathering, very often you will come upon a tree that for some reason of design just draws you. So it was with this tree, and even though this one had a burl on the side of the tree, that alone is not the purpose of why I cut this tree. So I took the chain saw and brought this one down and the next step in this logging process would be my burn pile. Can I count the times that a piece of the tree is saved from the firewood pile not to face into the belly of the beast….our wood-stove?
”….if one could walk into the mind of a wood burl, what would the understanding be. Greater and larger trees than this one have all met face to face with the wood cutter, who ply’s his trade so that other’s might have wood. It’s not the wood that one takes, but the wood that is found that produces sculptured wood beauties such as I have loved. Together, tree and I conduct an agreement that passes the rights of one into the hands of an-other. By this covenant we will live-die and abide….”
“….did you take the time today to really stare into the face of this cut maple burl? On the face of it there appears the saw marks that re-moved the burl from from the tree and this is all bathed in light. Next I look deeply into the inner face, where the soul of this burl draws forth her strength and beauty. Here I find darkness so that just like a lady she might enshroud her-self till the time of more exposure….”
This log sat in the deep woods some years, far removed from other’s eyes till I could finish the atv road. And then my strength gave out, excessive anemic condition, along with all else that comes with liver dis-ease….the whole package and more. Next came the settling in of what the doctors and surgeons told me, so I put away all my logging and woodworking tools….this be-came my hell on earth. Over a year ago a friend of mine dragged the log in to be cut up that day for firewood, this is when we noticed the burl and cut her off. The covent we made (tree and I) back then is still in effect today, plus I realize this one piece of ‘wood art’ might be my last. These decisions are not in my control any longer and so I live the moment of now in each and every day.
There is a lot more yet to come as I transform this ‘in the ruff and buff ’ burl into what I hope can be worthy of our covenant (between tree and I) and that this burl will have some-thing to say beyond words.
Thank you.
GODSPEED
freeman
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’’....work smart, work safe, and live, to work the wood….’’