Reblogged from Jim Webster, aka Tallis Steelyard:

I confess that I hold all skilled trades and crafts in high regard. I care not if a man is a farrier, a white smith or a poet, if he is an exemplar of his chosen art, then in my eyes he is the equal of any. Even the clerk who can write down his columns of numbers in a fair hand and then make them dance for his pleasure is somebody whom I am happy to consider my equal. Each in his own way has grasped the essential poetry of his art.

But then over the years I have done many things, worked with many skilled men and learned much. I was a clerk for Miser Mumster and learned the joy of numbers. I have trimmed the feet of orids, I am carpenter enough to be able to replace planks in the barge, and have even worked as a builder, not merely a builder’s mate.

It was this latter skill that I was called upon to display not too long ago as these things are reckoned. I had somehow become enmeshed within the coils of the shrine of Aea in her Aspect as the Personification of Tempered Enthusiasm. Thus I will often drop in and am occasionally asked to help out in some minor capacity. In all candour I cherish my connection for the never-ending stream of stories the shrine produces.

Continue reading at Tallis Steelyard