Randy | April 5, 2009
Each of the axes in the following shots started life as a small hand axe pretty much identical to the one held by the kid above. A commonly encountered hand tool, they were often forged by local blacksmiths by hammering a flat plate of steel around a mandrel that created the eye for the handle, […]
Randy | March 24, 2009
A kitchen knife wielded by a master is magical to behold. One seeking to succeed in an endeavour should aspire to start nowhere but at the beginning, and only through the development of sound technique can speed and style be built. In my recent travels I encountered some training videos on the subject of kitchen […]
Randy | March 14, 2009
“I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.” ~ Henry David Thoreau Many experiences in my life have contributed to […]
Randy | September 26, 2008
Everybody’s heard this riddle Q: What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? A: Finding half a worm. Many years ago I was driving through the Annapolis Valley on a beautiful late summer day. In the car with me were my ex- wife (front passenger seat), her mother (rear right seat), and her mother’s […]
Randy | September 3, 2008
There’s an old saying: “Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.” On 5 July 2007, Sea Kayaking the Inside Passage posted this story on their website under the heading, Kayaker Fights Off Starving Wolf. As a wilderness survival instructor, and bush traveller of no small experience, I read this article […]
Randy | September 2, 2008
This website is an outlet for a man, blessed by The Gods and disdainful of the clods. It’s the lectern of one who, like some hoary old primate in a tree, has finally reached that level of enlightenment from which he feels unapologetically compelled to fling turds of wisdom upon all who pass by. Each […]