3 years of cliffhanger, I came back to lodge, resonance....then radio silence like always. I don't even know if anyone reads blogs anymore. I know I sure don't.
This should be a podcast or youtube channel or something, I know, but its not.
There is the snark we know and love.
In my, as of late (15 years or so), cryptic, trying to write again, crappy no voice way, I left off getting back into the craft, I had my shell cracked and got inspired to fix the old sign to our lodge that had been left to oxidize in the basement of our building.
Well here it is, a quite magnificent copper and bronze masterpiece of early to mid 1900's craftsmanship made by an illustrious brother of my lodge Clifton Meek. He was a cartoonist who created a funny mouse that is reputed to be the inspiration of another cartoon mouse that became a household name and foundation stone to a media empire. But I digress.
The sign itself had hung on an ornate cast metal pole in front of the old lodge building and had been taken down and saved in the move to our new merged lodge building. There it sat, in all of its Statue of Liberty green patina glory, until that conversation from my last post sent me down to retrieve it and restore it to its former grandness. (I know, I know removing the patina probably killed its value)
During my restoration I dug deep into its history from a makers mark on the bottom of the sign, which lead to me discovering brother Meek and his quite amazing story. The link I provided in his name gives the quick biography of him but on top of that he turned out to be quite an interesting man. After his fame in cartooning he moved to Norwalk Connecticut and found an old anvil at a tag sale which sparked a new chapter in his life, founding The Silvermine Forge where this and many other historic metal works were created.
Although I had never reached fame and fortune as a cartoonist my life, I have taken a similar turn where I too spend most of my time in a fabrication shop making beautiful things in steel and wood. Brother Meek was also a very deep and profound thinker and was a very prolific writer for the Theosophical Society (scroll down to his name on this page for his writings its worth it.) As I cleaned, polished and restored his work, I delved into his deep thoughts and loved every bit of it. It awoke in me many things that I had missed for so long.
When I finished the restoration, I created a lecture and power point presentation that I presented along with the sign for the brethren that was well received...This was all done three years ago...
So where the heck have I been you say?
As with all my other posts, sitting in the corner of my mind waiting for the day that I attempted to actually start writing again and here I am. I have been trying to revive my writing voice for a long time and needed some prompting to try and perform CPR on what has been something close to death. It took a Grok Bot, a couple of margaritas, classical music and dedicated time. Lets hope this starts something good again.
