Home From Vacation

Just got home from a vacation with Lynn and we had a great time!

I wanted to tell you about on thing that we had the opportunity to be involved in.

Monday’s weather was not conducive to any out door activity because of rain so we decided to visit the historic Blacksmith Shop down by the river in downtown Galena. What was, from my best guess, a 30 to 45 minute tour with a real blacksmith turned into an afternoon we will never forget. Being a Monday there were very few people around and John and I, being history buffs, peppered this poor man with question after question. His knowledge of the early 1800’s history was fantastic and we learned a great deal. As we drew the afternoon to a close, the blacksmith asked if we had a bit more time to participate in a project with him. We, of course, said YES! From a couple of scraps he had in the shop he let both John and I help make wall hooks out of rod iron in which he put in twists and turns and we got to hold the pieces that we were helping with in the forge and crank the blower until the metal reached the right color then we held it as the blacksmith would continue to pound and shape it.

Lynn and I have a wonderful reminder of a rainy day experience that we will never forget!

I Remain, Pastor Steve