Mini Marvels - Bushkraft

It's Mini-Marvel time!

Australia is a huge, beautiful place filled with treasures that many a man has yet to see. Pete from Bushkraft has had the pleasure of being able to find some of them for himself and we've been given the pleasure and honor of being able to share in his finds through his shop.

His pieces are stunning and his wife shows off her own talents right alone side him with some gorgeous wire-wrapped pieces. Not only is he one talented lapidary, he's also SUPER sweet and I am glad I had the opportunity to meet him...:) It would be so great for the gang from The Lapidarium to hop across the pond and see the world through his eyes!

I asked him to show us into his world and here's what he had to say!

Well what can I say ..... perhaps I should start with a big hug and a thank you to Sha for inviting me to say a little about myself and my life.

I love my life, I love my planet, I love living in the Western Australian bush and am honoured that other life forms choose to share the experience with me, including of course my wonderful wife, and four gorgeous daughters, I also love kids and old ladies, and just about any thing with skin, fur, feathers or scales, and I also love philosophy (which is a bit like saying that "I love the love of knowledge" which doesn't make sense)

I dislike, bullies, greed, cruelty in any form, the finance industry, corruption in government, pettiness, and people who do not understand why duty, honesty, loyalty, and Integrity are so important, Oh and politicians that think it's OK to tell whopping great lies to the very people that put them in power, and men who use their size or physical strength to intimidate or to give them an unfair advantage.

During my life so far, I have been a soldier, an adventurer, and an explorer, and like most Australians I have traveled extensively overseas, I have no idea if there is a God (sometimes I wish that I did ) but I do believe that life is about learning and passing on that information to others so that they in turn can pass on the knowledge, in this way the accumulated wisdom of experience is passed on down the generations, this is how it has always been and this is how it should be.

I have a tremendous respect for the natural world and greatly admire those indigenous people of this planet who remain connected to the spirit of the land, to me the belief that every creature has equal value makes sense, none should be considered vermin because every species plays its part in ensuring that the planet works, the biggest danger to the planet is man, in many areas we have become an introduced feral species that has reached plague proportions, we have become so obsessed with progress that we missed the chance to learn from the ancient peoples who really knew the ways of nature, and could have taught us things that now we will never know.

I am happiest when I am in my outdoor workshop with a piece of wood or a lump of rock, a dog or two close by, sometimes a cat or a chicken will join us and quite often Tommy our pet goat also will stand watching from his compound, this to me is what makes life worth living, I know that it sounds strange but that piece of wood or rock is somehow able to tell me what it wants to become, sometimes I put the material next to the saw blade or the grinder and it says "no not there" anyway between us we are eventually able to produce stunning pieces that were designed and formed by mother nature sometimes over millions of years, but crafted by man, and I am able to proudly say (to myself of course) "that man was me" !

I am a sentimental but stubborn bugger and I always try to be true to myself, I cry when I see kids in pain or when someone achieves an impossible goal (like the girl staggering towards the finishing line in an Olympic marathon ) I built the house that we live with my own sweat (and the odd drop of blood) helped on occasions by my long suffering wife, I put little value on how folk look I am far more interested in how they think and what they can do.

Take care and thanks for taking the time to read this stuff.

See? What did I tell you...SUPER sweet! I doubt his wife is at all long-suffering with such a wonderful man in her life...;) I'm right about his cabs too so you should run over and check them out before they are all gone!
♥