I am a life-long wood carver.  I have been hand crafting personalized outdoor welcome signs and engraving name plaques for folks since 1966. Woodworking has always been my passion and the tree has always been a friend, a provider and a healer.

Anna Fraser had this to say about the tree and it's a personal favorite of mine:  "All things create each other continuously. We are all One. All of us faces of the Great Mystery. All of us connected. One living warm golden heart."

Western Red Cedar is one of the few wood species that are just naturally at home outdoors. When properly finished, Western Red Cedar will gracefully weather for decades, even in harshest of environments. Its natural resistance to moisture, decay and insect damage make it the ideal choice for a surface that is exposed to sun, rain, heat and cold all year round. Along British Columbia’s Pacific coast, aboriginal people have used cedar bark to make rope, clothing and baskets for thousands of years. The logs were used for canoes, totem poles, masks and long houses. The hallmark characteristic of Western Red Cedar, its natural durability, has preserved examples of native culture for more than 100 years.

For centuries builders and artisans have valued Western Red Cedar for its natural beauty and durability. Cedar's unique aroma comes from naturally occurring thujaplicins in its heartwood. These aren't exotic plants or an endangered species. They are the fragrant natural compounds that give western red its pleasant aroma and protect the wood from deterioration. These compounds resist moisture and are toxic to decay-causing fungi and insects and preserve the wood to give it long lasting appeal. Unfinished cedar has richly textured grain with colors ranging from mellow ambers, reddish cinnamons and rich sienna browns. Its warm coloring is complimented by a uniform, fine-grained texture with a satin-like luster. Because cedar is virtually pitch and resin free, the wood easily accepts a range of finishes, from oils and stains, to solid coatings and paint.

My  reverence for this great and beautiful Cedar tree stirs up these sentiments -  advice perhaps -  from the perspective of the tree:

• Your whole being is a lesson in awareness.
• Size matters.
  
• Seek the security of solid ground and reach for infinity.
  
• Crown, trunk and root: mind, body and spirit.
  
• Tree houses are cool!
  
• Sing in the breeze.
  
• All that falls will rise again
• Everybody loves a swing.
  
• Never trust lumber that doesn’t smell good.
  
• Put back more than you use.
  
• Take in the sunshine.
  
• Grow some thick skin.
  
• Live large.
  
• Moss grows where the sun don’t shine.
• You must receive and give in order to flourish.
•  Live in total connectedness with your surroundings.
  
• High and low feed each other.
  
• Plant, Nuture and Celebrate Trees.
• The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.
• The second best time is today.