The Roastery at Innisfree: Well, hello

I haven’t updated this site in quite a while and, unfortunately, it shows. Changes are coming, but it may take me a while to get them implemented.

In the meantime, if you want to see a real-time list of what I have in stock, I sell my coffee through the Miami County Locally Grown Virtual Market, and the varieties and prices on that site are up-to-date.

So, what’s coming? Well, first off, I plan to update my varieties and prices here. I’m also in the process of moving into a new roastery that will make roasting coffee easier. Once that’s up and running, I plan to revisit my current varieties of coffee to add some and, perhaps, discontinue some others. My main focus will be on adding sustainably grown, fair trade, organic coffees from sources I can verify.

Until then, stay tuned. More is coming.

DLH

Read more at my The Roastery at Innisfree weblog...

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Creativecraft: What I’m into now

My creative undertakings are coalescing into several projects that I have something to show in the near future:

First, I am revisiting an old project focused on small drawings using a variety of methods I can produce in a short amount of time and in quantity. These will be mostly non-representational creations focusing on geometry, shape, and color; although, some of them may be as representational as I get.

Second, I have revived my “ambiart” painting project that involves creating small, color-swatch paintings designed to be color accents.

Third, I am transitioning my 3d-drawing toward kinetic sculptures inspired, in part, by my recent discovery of Greg Olijnyk‘s work and revisiting some themes I once explored in other media, including cardboard, once upon a time. I envision these sculptures involving motion, motors, lights, and even sound.

Fourth, I have discovered both fabric painting and wet felting, and both these discoveries have lead to a new idea that is still very much in development at the moment that may also involve sculptural and technological elements. I hope to have something to show for this undertaking after the first of the year.

Finally, I am working toward getting my newest LEGO studio into some kind of working order so that I can pursue my latest passion in brick building: micro cityscapes. 

As always, I tend to be far more ambitious in my pursuits than time and stamina often permits. Nevertheless, I intend to give all of these projects a fair go, and I hope to have some examples to post here in the very near future. Stay tuned.

DLH

Read more at my Creativecraft weblog...

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Education: The tension of lifelong learning

I am firmly in the camp that believes that lifelong learning is directly linked to living life to the fullest. I believe that, when we stop learning, we start dying.

That tension has come to a certain head for me in the past couple of years as I have discovered that I have slowed down in my own intentional pursuit of learning. There are a variety of reasons for that slow-down, some legitimate, others not, but the result has been that I can feel my mind slowing down and taking my body with it.

I believe that central to that slowdown is the fact that I have not pursued an organized and intentional path of learning for quite a long while. Random learning has its place, but intentional learning is a practice and a discipline that helps form the entire mind and body into something better than what it was before the pursuit.

I do not yet have good answers as to what or how I will pursue intentional learning yet, but I believe being aware that it needs to happen is the first step in pursuing the solution and producing a result. Stay tuned here for more on this journey I am beginning.

DLH

Read more at my Education weblog...

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Gaming for the Rest of Us: Making games

One of my long-time passions has been tabletop and role-playing games. I’ve played various games since at least high school, and continue to play to this day.

One of the exciting things I’ve been involved with is the development of the Purgatory game and No-Class gaming system by my friends over at Broomstick Fighters (Facebook Page). Purgatory is a weird-west style game with Cthulhuian overtones, and the No-Class system is a new take on the mechanics of role-playing.

It turns out that I also develop my own games, though they are in various states of disarray. If you’re interested in keeping track of my progress, you can watch here, on my gaming page (Facebook page), or head over to my Engima22 Productions Unlimited site (it’s woefully out of date, so be patient).

Game on.

DLH

Read more at my Gaming for the Rest of Us weblog...

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Brickcraft: Update

My brick building has been languishing for a while now, mostly because I moved my studio a year ago and still haven’t finished the new space yet. I still intend to build, but finishing the space may be delayed while I see to other things. Stay tuned for more updates.

DLH

Read more at my Brickcraft weblog...

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