The bell above graces the courtyard of the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi, Italy. St. Francis is buried in the church so it's a Grade A Pilgrimage site. The bell is a gift to the Basilica from an American Atelier & I believe that it has been fashioned from reforged bombs or other armament. Or maybe it's been made from the twisted steel of Nagasaki. Or maybe I just associated it with Japan because on the January day I took this picture the only other visitors were a caravan of busses stocked with Japanese. It's a Peace Bell of some sort. Pooler Jones whacked it with a stick & said it rang in E-Flat.

Two weeks after we milled the trees into the timber which we would need to make Temple Bell models, we were back in the shop to block out the feet of our Verticals & see whether Slag's prototype for the steel "Jugs" was going to work. The piece's feet will be sheathed in these jugs & also secured to the earth thru their evolving tech. Then we did the mortice & tenon work on the Verticals and after - on the Transom or Lintel. Simon, from Dublin, came by & we abused our position as hosts by setting him to work. "The Irish love to work, don't they?" Skippy asked, his innocent doe eyes glistening. "Sod off, you wanker!" Said Simon. We were also joined by 45 Turkey Buzzards who have been riding the Raptor Stream back North for the new seasons.

"Truth appears differently in different lands and ages according to the living materials out of which its symbols are hewn."

-Joseph Campbell -

Hugh of St. Victor taught that "the function of symbols was the mediation of Divine truth to human beings living in a Material world." He also believed that god had placed "special powers in words, herbs, and stones."

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