Maya heard the bacon in the frying pan....
Oh my goodness....what a beautiful a loving song.....
Diamond Willow hiking sticks...these things have a place in my life, I am just not sure what that is. I began making them after Suzie died and placed some 'Suzie Stix'. That was for me, not for her..I found that by kind of throwing myself into the finding, cutting, cleaning, prepping and putting on a Varathane coating...3 of them...it gave me something to do besides drink. I had become a habitual drinker in the time leading up to and following Suzanne's death and knew it to be a bad habit. I wasn't a 'drunk' in that sort of mindless stumble..I just drank a lot.
So..I made hiking sticks and drank coffee instead, sitting outside or in the basement of a condo...for a year, I did this and ended up with quite a collection of the damned things. Then, I took to the road along with about 100 'blanks', as I refer to them, as. Stripped of bark but otherwise untouched. Gone for a year and a half..I never did a darn thing with any of them and ended up burning the whole bundle in a campfire in a kind of ceremonial cleansing. Plus, I had slipped back into that drinking thing again, while in the US for a winter. Liquor is so damned cheap down there. I could consume and consume and did.
Heading back to Canada, there were decisions to be made. Choices of paths...to continue on with that lifestyle, an attractive way of life for me, or take Sharon up on her offer of having a new life. Move back to Kitimat and begin again. I kinda figured if I was going to do that, that I would have to reign in my drinking a bit. Just a bit. So..I gave away this huge stash of booze I had accumulated..gave it away while still in the US...I don't think that the guy I gave it to has forgiven me for that.
And now, two years later, I am back to the Diamond Willow Hiking Stick project. The guy that actually showed me his way has died...RIP Bobby...and I think of him and Suzie any time I am working with the wood. (Bob Hill was the only person that showed up to walk with me after Suzie died. All of my so-called friends in Vancouver...only one guy cared.)
It is incredibly therapeutic for me. Soothing. Lots of shit rolls thru my head and goes away. I have now collected another batch..maybe 100 of them ...hahahahaha..fuckme....and I have stripped all of them and prepped a bunch for putting on a Varathane finish..three coats, first one today...and then I have a plan. Gotta have a plan, eh....
Buddy that builds hot rods in Princeton..Leroy..opened the door for me. I was talking to him about this and he suggested I leave one wherever I happen to be camped. Just leave it. I am going to try doing it with a GPS co-ordinate. I will post that here and on my FB page and maybe, if it seems no one is going to get them, on the Geo-cache world site. What I would like..I think..is to be advised that the stick was recovered and perhaps a bit about the person that has it and what they plan to do with it. I was thinking of a separate Blog even but that seems like a wee bit of over-kill.
I got these ready yesterday
And today I applied coats of Varathane...some with a Varathane stain as well, just to see if I liked it a bit darker with a bit of a colour undertone.
I'll be able to handle them tonight, how they look.....
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