Actually, I have both an excuse and an invitation: I have been consulting on owner built ovens extensively, including traveling to Spain to assist in the construction of a 4 meter square double chamber baker's oven.
I also built one just 25 miles from my shop in Maine with the assistance of two expert masons (How fun is that?).
But, another reason stems from my wife's retirement and my spending more time with her. I still take on projects that don't interfere with our schedules but far fewer than in the past.AND, I here introduce you to a photographic project that I am touring nationally: www.mergings.net
To all of my loyal blog followers: please take a look at Mergings; you may add that to your list of frequently viewed blogs, OR you may continue to sift through the 475 past posts for the information about building and using brick ovens. Future posts will be written when new and essential details are added to the lot.
I still welcome questions about brick ovens and I have projects in the works for the future including continuing to bring my portable oven to the Kneading Conference in Maine.
Thanks,
David Neufeld