The warm, morning sun lighted my outdoor workbench as I used a C-clamp to secure an L-bracket that needed adjustment.  This work setting always lifted my mood, and I pondered whether it was due to being engaged with a project or simply working outdoors in pleasant surroundings.

As I paused to recall previous occasions when I had enjoyed this setting so much that I didn't want the job to be finished, a dreamy feeling came over me.  Something from the past, further back than specific memories would allow, intruded upon the moment and gave new meaning to my present task.  A vision conjured itself, as if to make specific this vague new emotion.  The vision was of an ancestor shaping an arrowhead.  My ancestor was the tribe's appointed toolomaker, and one job was making weapons for the warriors.  He enjoyed his work, because he was born to do it.  He was one of the first artisans.

So now I felt like I was born to be an artisan, and this workbench in the sun is where this artisan belongs.

After bending the L-bracket to the desired angle, it occurred to me that I probably should make some other brackets, bent at different angles, just in case I needed them in the future.  And this is how I've come to have several brackets, just in case they're needed, with fond memories of making them at this outdoor workbench, lighted by the warm, morning sun.

This site opened:  April 11, 2001.  Last Update:  April 14, 2001