President’s Message – March/Apr 2008

Harbingers of opportunity to gather with your mates in the fields of Dreams have arrived. Robins and meadow larks singing, seed catalogs in the mail, potting soil in the stores and daylight savings time all portend our first symposium, the Hand Carving Retreat at the Pack Forest Conference Center near Eatonville, WA.

The subtle sequence of hammer to chisel to stone evokes the ancestral roots of our art – the thoughtful and imaginative process of creating art from stone. To this is added the magic ingredient – that of your fellow stoners. They’ve been winter shut-ins or else hardy souls laboring in the not so warm and sunny climes of the great Northwest. Talk of stone and tools and an eagerness for old friendships is to renew a stoner’s soul: the engine of creativity.

I understand the expense of gasoline and resultant increases in the cost of most everything we purchase might compel many to Bambi up and try the, “Go nowhere, do nothing” diet. I ask you to consider the wisdom of feeding the creative side. And of course the government is here to help you out just in time.

Rebates! Help save the country, spend it. Indeed do, spend it on a symposium and help save the country and NWSSA. Fuel prices this summer will be high for you and for our three symposia.

Remember that spending to attend a symposium is an investment that provides assured dividends and the viability of NWSSA depends on your support. We have up-front expenses at every symposium that we are locked into. If you do not support the organization, we as an organization cannot prevail in this economic climate.

If there are things you wish to know about how the organization operates, come to a BOD meeting. There will be one at Pack Forest. Your voice will be heard.

Your Pres, Elaine