Hello stone guys and stone gals. I’m still working on my ‘Stone Washi’ sculpture, but it turns out I was wrong. Washi is the Japanese word for paper, but the word Kami is the word that is used to signify paper, hair, and God. I thought about changing the name of the piece, but it is too late. “Stone Washi” it is.

 

I want to thank all of you for the wonderful Memorial Day weekend at Fort Casey. Especially Alex, Penelope, Suz, Bobby, and Larry and everyone involved in making this year’s hand carving retreat such a success. Especially to all those who came so far to attend: it added an additional dimension to the experience. I learned a lot from watching each of you carve, and all of you were encouraging, and so damned optimistic. Still it took both Bobby and Suz to knock the true edges off a perfectly good piece of masonry stone. Once I did, and dug back into the stone, what liberation.

 

Speaking of masonry, it was a great treat to be with so many masons and stone tradesmen and women. Ordinarily masons can be quite competitive. After all, our livelihood depends on it. But we carved together, worked side by side to build the meditation circle at Earth Sanctuary, and, man, did we talk stone.

 

I even talked to my stone in Larry’s writing workshop. “Think about textures; think about the surface of the water. See how the wind can change it; the tides, too.

Think of the feathers as little boats adrift on a sea of air.” That’s what it said to me. And when I complained that “Stone Washi” looked more like a crane, or an eagle than a raven, we had this dialogue:

 

“I think the Raven looks more like an eagle or a crane.”

 

“You have to love the eagle and the crane.”

 

“What if it is a toucan?”

 

“Love the Toucan.”

 

“Are you saying whatever happens is good?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And what if I really want a raven?”

 

“Think of it as a raven.”

 

“This is a piece of stone.”

 

“The stone is in your mind.”

 

“You’ve got that right.”

 

“Don’t fight the stone. Train yourself. Train your mind. Train the stone.”

 

Sounds like I was away at stone carving camp too long, but I guess we got there, that weekend, as we moved together to the tink-tink-tink-tinking rhythm of our hammers, and the ringing of the stone. Thanks, see you all again soon