Moving from spring into summer I find shop projects are winding down and I’m getting ready for a few busy months of teaching. I’ll be at The Wooden Boat School for two weeks and the Chewonki Boatbuilders program is happening this year! That’s always a full two weeks of intense work. 

I’ve been working as a craftsman, as a designer and maker for almost 45 year now. First in my teens as a laborer and then as carpenter, builder,  cabinetmaker. woodworker, boatbuilder and teacher. Now I’ve rolled all these all this into the simple title, Maker. This has seldom been an easy path. I took a break from university in ’77 to bum around a bit and to learn carpenter. Not a hard decision at the time and in hind site a good one! 

Like water in a mountain stream tumbling and bouncing off of and over stone I’ve found my way. Perhaps there was an easer path but I’m satisfied  with the one I chose. The wear and tear of this work however now demands that I make some changes. That I find a way to slow down. My passion for this work demands that I keep designing and making.  It’s a conundrum and one I will slowly sort out over the next year. 

The stream is still tumbling down hill and I’m still held fasting it’s current. Looking around, I still see a job of work here and there that I like to get after.