the copper heron

Our son Ben is becoming an accomplished smith, self taught, and pretty soon I hope to post the beautiful gates he created for our back entryway. We have a deer problem, of course, and the gates will keep them on the other side of the few edible plants that they love in the back and side yards. If you are interested in anything similar, I'm sure Ben will design and create one to your liking, too.

Hello mates. Hope you had a grand holiday season and are poised for a terrific new year. We will miss you again, this time at Gichner's. Boy, it pains me to fail to be present when so many of our good buds will be there for what promises to be a great demo, as usual, and then the copper workshop afterward. Ken is only recovering slowly from that pesky stroke in February, and it just seems sane to stay here. You know you are guaranteed a great time next weekend with David Hutchison in charge. So be well, forge brilliantly, and miss us, just a little ;-)

I have decided we will miss MASA this year. ABANA stressed Ken, in a good way, of course, but he is still getting back to where he was. I hope there is a good turnout for we know the Chris Holt and John Steel are an amazing team. Blessings on you, my friends. We will see you sometime in the future, I have no doubt.

We were at ABANA - what a great event. I gave them the remaining 200 soft cover 'Lives Shaped by Steel' and hope that everyone who didn't have one took one. It feels wonderful imagining that more folks will be able to marvel at what some East Coast artists did a while ago, and are still going strong. A huge thank you to the cast of 100s who created the event, and especially JoAnn Bentley - boy, she and her team worked miracles with over 1200 attending. Now Ken and I have to figure what to do with our new-found enthusiasm and ideas. Stay tuned :-)

Hey mates, I know I have been silent for a long period of time, and this is just to tell you we are still attending to the aftermath of Ken's 2nd stroke in February. He is coming along, but it is a slow process, and since I am chief caregiver, there isn't much time left over for book things. I do dream of getting back to interviewing you creative artists, and finding a different format to let folks know about you all. Right now it is dreams, but we still hope. :-)

P.S. Anyone else who want one, call me, and I'll send it for the price of postage. Really.

I have about 250 paper bound copies of Lives Shaped by Steel and have a notion to offer them to JoAnn to give to people who don't have it when they register at ABANA. Rather do that then take them to the dump. :-)

With time rushing past, it will be the middle of August before we know it. Hope to see you all at ABANA.

Had a thrill to get a book order yesterday. Only 999 more to sell and then I can think about what to do next! :-) Time goes quickly past with so many therapy sessions for Ken to attend, but other parts of life will be just around the bend. Thanks for hanging in, my friends.

Oh, Leigh Morrell just wrote Charlie Orlando died this morning. What a loss. He was a wonderful, talented artist and just plain good guy. Lame words for such a rare being.