This Substack is a revival of sorts. Part of an endless cycle of revivals and reinventions I suppose. Much as a cedar tree prunes older branches, and sprouts new ones in different directions and forms as it adapts to changing conditions and climbs to new heights.

After an 8 year hiatus from my former Timberlines blog I am shedding that business focused writing branch, one that chronicled over twelve years the birth of ForestChoice, Pencils.com, Palomino and our revival of the Blackwing pencil and the journey to our family businesses Centennial in 2017. Occasionally I wrote clunky poetic or awkward metaphorical posts about that adventure. These flashes of creativity emerged as fresh twigs only to be pruned quickly by a return to my more natural documentarian style. Ultimately, my blog posting withered and died as I focused on writing and publishing my book, The Story of CalCedar, in honor of that centennial.

And then I stopped public writing cold. As a business we cut off the limb that had sustained our company for a century by exiting the wood-cased slat business and went all in on Blackwing. Meanwhile our team, more talented than I, having long since taken over the creative voice for Blackwing has lead today to our ethos to Slow Down, to disconnect a bit and nurture our own creative branches.

Now, with that older blogging branch long since dropped to the forest floor and decaying, a fresh limb has sprung forth to which I am giving sustenance here in this new revival of Timberlines on Substack. My metaphor may still be clunky and awkward as are my poems. However, through the recent encouragement of others and at their recommendation to focus on haiku and senryu to sharpen my skills, much as a blade sharpens a pencil to draw a new branch …. Oh shit. I told you it would be clunky.

What you’ll find in Timberlines

• Poetry: mostly haiku or senryu, some efforts at longer form poetry mostly crafted in quiet moments with a Blackwing pencil in a ForestChoice John Muir Observer Notebook

• Photography: glimpses of my revelatory moments and experiences exploring nature, art, music, science and culture, which inform or enhance my life

• Transparent Reflection: Occasional deeper journalistic dives into themes covered in my own creative explorations OR around our mission at the Blackwing Foundation to encourage and helping children to explore, find and share their unique creative spirit

• Community: I plan to share and discuss the creative work of those that inspire me and others on our Blackwing Foundation team along the way. Poetry, art, graphite pencil drawings, creative writing, and more. Also I am hoping to connect with others who can help us spread the word about our free Pathways to Creativity lesson plan series to teachers and schools in your home community.

• Blackwing Foundation Elevated Arts Monthly Newsletter: Learn more about what we do to provide access to quality arts and music education at K-12 public school.

• A Curious, Adventurous Spirit: I hope to push my own boundaries and to connect with and learn from like minded souls who are willing to join me on this journey to give fresh voice to my artistic side here in Timberlines.

Why subscribe?

All Timberlines creative content will be freely posted to subscribers without paywall.