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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Emphatic Fall Flowering

This lovely plant lives in the backyard against the "shed" here in North Central Florida.
Once a year and only once, it blooms. Always in the Fall when the leaves are starting to turn and fall off the trees, as if it "knows" that a brilliant spot of color is just the thing to brighten the time of year.

Isn't nature great?!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Peace One Step At A Time

September 21, 2011 is the International Day of Peace worldwide. It is a day that was established in 1981 by United Nations resolution for strengthening the ideals of peace in the world.  A day of peace in the world - both personal and political.
  Peace Within - Observe a minute of silence at noon.
  Peace Without - Do an act of service that benefits the greater community.
  And perhaps, a commitment to a daily peace practice in all relationships. Joining with others to build a culture of and for Peace.

To me, Albert Einstein said it beautifully: "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Where Has Apprenticeship Gone?

I'm passionately interested in learning real metalwork jewelry fabrication and design. It's the next step to me in my design and fabrication journey.

I've been looking into it and what I have found is that there are hundreds of books available, a few classes available - on the internet or otherwise but learning "at the knee" of a real person doesn't seem to be around anymore.

O.K., let me say, I HAVE books on it, can take ANOTHER class on it. These only teach the very basic techniques- the Baby Steps! I've mastered the baby steps and need to move forward from there.  To really get it- perfect technique, expand creativity and marketing knowledge, you simply can't beat learning from a Pro!
For the Pro- well, they get ane eager set of hands, willing to work on those things they have gotten bored with, help completing custom orders or repairs. In other words, an extra set of bench hands.

So where has apprenticeship gone?