Mat Woodworth (boldlinedesign@gmail.com), a most talented commercial artist, drew our Lewis family crest, and Monica and Ray Sommerville of  Sommerville Pottery in Pulteney, NY are making pottery including handmade mugs, trivets, cheese boards and other ceramic items.  Click on “Lewis Family” to get to more photos and pricing information.

We are one of many Lewis families from Wales.  Our crest was borne by Rhys Goch ca 1070.  Rhys was a local tribal chieftain from the area near present-day Abergavenny, Wales.  The crest is a Welsh dragon with a bloody severed left hand in it’s mouth.  No one knows the exact story of the dragon with the bloody hand.  There is a woodcarving of the crest in black oak over the fireplace of the dining room at Gregygnog, a manor that is now a residential educational center of the University of Wales Institute of Rural Health.  It is #10 at this web page Blayney Room Lewis Crest

In December the State Forester spent a day in our 30 acres of woods by our home, and is developing a Forest Management plan to carry out over the next five years.  The management objectives are to improve the forest for watershed, wildlife and recreation.  Because of the diversity of the forest, and the management objectives, the forester enrolled our woods as a Certified Tree Farm with the American Tree Farm System.  We named our farm “Highland Tree Farm” (we had to name it to get it enrolled).   Here is the sign we have posted to show we are a certified tree farm.

Soon the forester will visit out other woods near Alfred, NY, and will certify it.  We are naming that farm “Deer Run Tree Farm” in honor of all the deer that live there.

After nearly 20 years not being on university faculty, I am back in the classroom.  This time I’m at Alfred University in Alfred, NY teaching “Management and Organizational Behavior” in the College of Business.  I have 36 bright students, and am thoroughly enjoying the chance to be in the classroom.

After 12 years living in New Jersey, and working in New York City, I am so thankful to be back in Western NY.  I learned a lot in those years, and saw a lot – including 9.11 and the aftermath – and am grateful for all those years meant.  Now it is time for new adventures, new explorations, and new horizons.

Here is our new home: