Throughout the fall I have been busy cutting a lot of pine for bulkheads and staging as well as small oak and locust logs for framing. I’ve been working my way through the log pile in order to get at some the larger oak logs we will use for the Beal’s backbone. A few weeks ago I reached one of the big logs I’ve spent the fall anticipating and on January 22nd we put a large white oak log on the mill from which we hoped to get a couple of sternposts for the Beal.

Last winter Mary Kay helped KD and I apply to the MCC for another Last winter Mary Kay helped KD and I apply to the MCC for another Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant. These grants are awarded to master artists to take on apprentices and teach them about traditional skills not offered in a typical academic setting. We were very grateful to find out that we had been awarded the grant in January. This time KD is named as my apprentice for the Sylvina W. Beal’s rehabilitation.

Here on the marsh at the edge of the Essex River, the ebb and flow of the tide is central to our life and work. While it is true that “time and tide wait for no man,” sometimes just when it seems the time is right, we are faced with the wrong tide. In those moments it is important to take a breath, reassess, and remember that there will be other tides and better times.