Bernard Ten Bears
Hi.
My Blog name is Bernard Ten Bears. I am not a Native American, though I have tremendous respect for what they believe about how very lightly people should live on the land. Native Americans treat the land with the utmost respect. They believe that it is a part of them. I find this very commendable in a time where people seem to have not much honor and not much respect for anything. I believe I am part of this place that I live in too. The original Ten Bears was a poet. He wrote about things that I enjoy most: freedom, love of his people, and descriptions of the world we live in and how he related to it. I wish he were from Maine. Then I would consider him nearly perfect.
My Dad talked about the old days like he had been on this earth a hundred years before I arrived. He was gone to be with the Lord before I got to tell him that his immigrant ancestor, 11 generations before him, laid his eyes on the new world first in Boston, from the deck of the ship Griffin, on September 18, 1634. The group he came with had been imprisoned in Newgate Prison (the "Clink") for not accepting all the tenants of the Anglican faith. He came here to escape from religious persecution (and was basically banished with his friends). My Dad was indeed interested in his roots, and so am I.
I have a boy. He's six years old. I had a good friend tell me, "you give him roots, and God will give him wings". So I have indeed tried my best to carefully and deliberately learn the things I have been led to believe that he should know about his roots. And I will pass them on to him. I do pray that this will be part of the the wind beneath the wings God gives him.
This is what you get to see and hear when I write an article on this blog. I write about the things I collect. They all have a history. I love to talk about my collections. I write about some of the obscure histories I have learned, about some happenings that interest me. I like to write stories that I have heard from family and friends and tend to jot them down to keep in my personal journals, (mostly just for me, but sometimes I share them). I have written many poems, one of which I had published in a magazine. I have written a few short stories and I even have the makings of a novella, whatever that is....( a short book I guess). I like to write about projects I've tried, like making things out of wood. I like to write about different techniques for outdoor cooking. The loggers in Northern Maine in the past century ate doughnuts three meals a day. They were cooked in a cast iron kettle on an open fire.This is my latest need-to-learn-how-to-do-it project.
I have a few weaknesses that keep me from trying to write professionally. The lack of a proper education is one. Another is that I like to write sticky sweet nostalgia, which doesn't seem to sell very well (and I do like sticky sweet nostaligia).
Another weakness I have is that I seem to like to build my outdoor fires a bit too big (as you can see from the photo that accompanies this "biography"). Please don't hold this against me and no I did not burn the bacon and I did not burn my hand. I did burn the pancakes a little, but this was my first attempt at pancakes over an open fire. I'd have just eaten the bacon and kept on snowshoeing, but my wife and son wanted pancakes. So I made pancakes.
I share a little knowlege, you share a little knowlege, we both know more and have a little fun entertaining ourselves in the process.
Please continue to follow The Sharpened Axe. The keeper of the blog is my nephew.
He and I especially share a love of the outdoors. We not only share a love of the woods but also share a love of knowlege as well. If you will trust me, I can share with you that he was the cutest and most interesting little boy. And now, he is one of the wisest and certainly has become one of the kindest people I know. He is a good nephew, a good son, an excellent husband and father, a great son-in-law, a loyal brother to his kin. I find so few people who are trustworthy in my days. He is all that. When he reads this I hope he can keep his thoughts in the modest places they should be. He is no trouble in a world full of it and I have had a good time writing for you on his blog, which seems to be a great hobby for him. How does he find the time to make it function?
Take Care.
BERNARD TEN BEARS (Chingatchgook)
The Development of the American Felling Axe in Northern Maine
Bean Hole Beans
The Raker Tooth, a Product of the Industrial Revolution
Coal Burned Bowls
Re: Micmac Baskets
Historical Basketry in Northern Maine
WARNING: COLLECTING AXES IS ADDICTING
IMPROVISING TO MAKE A VERY USEFUL YET CHEAP UTILITY KNIFE
Sharp Words on a Sharp Axe
Swedish Axes from Sportsman's Guide
The Most Ignored Tree in America
