The week of May 23rd through May 30th has been a very busy one for me. On May 23rd my son (soon to graduate 8th grade) was nominated by his teachers for and Academic Achievement Award. Seen here receiving it from his writing teacher who called him a "warrior/priest." Little did he know that the name "Kenric" means: brave leader in Danish.

So, Kenric's Papa and I are not suprised that his teachers are discovering his awesome-ness!

Another awesome fellow is Harry Caldwell IV, from Seattle, WA. Harry is the only winner in the Professional Division of the Harmony Jewelry Design Competition! He was able to attend the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) most recent conference at the Westin Hotel downtown Seattle. Here he is posing next to the Harmony Jewelry Design Competition Winners display in the vendor room at the SNAG conference.  

Quite the cutie isn't he! Congratulations Harry! The SNAG conference was a wonderful event. There were over 900 attendees and the presentations during the conference were all exceptional. The Professional Developement Seminar was one of the stand-outs for extreemly helpful information about professional photography. The Pin-Swap was (as always) a lot of fun! Meeting and socializing with all my fellow metalsmiths was (as always) the best part of the conference.

And now for somethiing completely different: In the Masters of Education program I am in we had to write an "I'm From" poem to introduce ourselves to our class-mates. I liked the one I did so much that I thought I would share it with everyone. Hope you like it too!

“I’m from”

I am from the middle
Mid-century modernism
Middle America, middle class
A middle aged, middle child

From making crafts in Grandma’s kitchen
With sunshine through gingham curtains,

Fresh baked rhubarb crisp and home canned pickled beets
That were worth fighting for

I’m from my father being stationed in
Alaska during the Korean war
Training dogs and learning to ski
Then...his bring those loves home
And sharing them with me

From sneaking out of bed
When cousins slept over
To lay on our tummies under the dinning table
Watching as our parents listen to
George Carlin and Dave Brubeck
On Vinyl

I am from metal
Inside and out
Saw cut, cast, forged,
And sometimes totally hammered
Alchemical ascendence, iron to gold
Plain as dirt and twice as complex