wood carving clubs?

folks i posted this on my facebook carverswoodshop group  in the doc section, and thought for those that are not part of the group i will post it here,  keep carving, arleen

carving clubs?
hi folks i have to be honest,  i never got into a carving club untill three years ago,, why,  well i had to farm, which didnt allow me to attend the meetings on time, plus i didnt know of the one in lancaster till a few years ago, and well, my first impression was not good of the one that i attended back in the late 80s ...  it was not the lancaster club it was another one, plus it was so far away, i could not get the farm chores done and drive the distance to get there on time..... so today, i do go to a great club, its the lancaster county woodcarving club,,,,,  i found the folks there to be friendly and helpful when needed,   its about 35 min drive for me, .   it doesnt matter what group of folks you decide to join in life, when you have folks that get together, there are bound to be times when folks dont agree,,,, at lancaster i found that most of the members do agree and a lot of issues, but some may not,, and thats fine,,  no matter where i worked, or any group or club i been in,, it only takes one person to really mess things up,  your going to have this,, i going to say something that i would not normally do,, but here i go,,, at my church at one time i was very plugged in,,  i went to many of the events, and helped out were i could,  as i got deeper in how things were handled well i didnt like it as much,, to few people ran it while the rest rode along,,  and some things i really had a hard time to adjust to as new pastors came into the church,,, so over the last 20 years, i go, i enjoy it and i dont get into the politics of it,,  its much easier,,  i still support it but, i find sometimes it would upset me to a point if i didnt justt step back that i wouldnt go at all,,  here is the lesson,, people are people ,, we are going to disagree on things,, it depends how much i want to be right about about a subject,,  or weather i can handle the changes,, and folks there are changes in life , jobs,  etc,  i decided then,, why stress myself out,, just go and enjoy what i did in the first place, or just stay home,, it not worth getting upset ,, so go to a club if you like, if you enjoy the company of other carvers then go,  if you enjoy watching how other carve then go,,,, if you enjoy learning about carving then go,,, if you enjoy getting new ideas  then go,, if you need help ,, then go,,  i sure most carving clubs are there to help you ,,  and hopefully you will enjoy it,, and if not,, carving is a wonderful hobby, you can be a loner at it or have fun sitting with folks to chat and carve,  and that is  what we do at the simple meeting i have at the mall, sad to see the mall meeting end but i sure to figure out another spot,, i not calling it a club, just folks that want a simple get together, and learn and chat,, and if you find a group you just dont click with well then find another, dont stop , just keep looking , or start your own, with some carving buddies, take care and keep carivng