Luelle and I just checked another one off our Bucket List… sailing through the Panama Canal. We left from LA and stopped along the way down the coast to Panama, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Costa Rica and a few more. The Panama Canal was awesome, but mainly because I had read Path Between The Seas, the definitive work on the Canal. Solid history but written as a story including the intrigue, deception, heartache and the final victory. Don’t do the canal without reading that book. After the canal was Cartagena, Colombia, then straight to Fort Lauderdale.
So how did the American Woodturner save my vacation? Well, this trip was 17 days and there were several “sea days” no ports of call, and no tours. Sure there were lectures and jacuzzis and all you could eat and drink. But after a while relaxation starts to set in. That’s a good thing. That’s when I pulled out one of the three copies of American Woodturner that I had brought along for just such an eventuality. I read it cover to cover and I was really reading with different eyes. I had read it before but it had been in between the hustle and bustle of “normal” life. I normally skim and read a few articles and come back to the magazine, (or not) as I’m able. Reading it in a full on relaxed state is a whole different experience. From this deeper reading, I found: Demonstrators that we need to host Classes that we need to offer Audio Video that we need to catch up on Tools that I need A new twist on my career as a wood turner… Needless to say, I was glad I was a member of AAW and had thought to bring old copies of the American Woodturner magazine. Actually I can’t imagine being a woodturner without joining AAW and getting the magazine and all the other benefits of membership. As a member, I get access to all the old magazines, all the way back to the beginning. Those magazines have some really good articles, some of which have strongly affected who I am and who I am becoming as a Woodturner.
To summarize: It’s really good to get to a state of deep relaxation. This was the longest vacation with the most sea days we’ve ever had. Subscribe to American Woodturner and make sure you read it in a relaxed state to get the most benefit from it. Just a final note. I didn’t come home with all my magazines. One evening we shared a table with the world’s most travelled film director. Marlin Darrow has been making film documentaries internationally for over 40 years. After reading the recent article about Glen Lucas mastering filming and editing and listening to our librarian, Burgan, about Glen’s training DVD’s at the last meeting, I was primed to ramp up our video training efforts.…. So I asked Marlin to another dinner for some deeper level discussion about filming, editing, publishing etc. I hope you’ll be seeing the results of that meeting in months to come. We discussed the difference between art and craft and what it takes to raise a training video to the level of an art piece . It turns out that there was an exhibition of Salvador Dali’s sculptures on board. Now there was a tortured mind and a genius for sure. And Marlin had done a documentary on Dali so was quite familiar. Anyway, I sent Marlin home with the American Woodturner and our mutual promise to continue our dialogue. I’m staying curious to see where this goes. Bottom line: Don’t miss out on the fun. Join AAW. Relax. And read the American Woodturner. Sit back and see what happens!
Happy Turns,
Dave Robinson
CAT President