Benchwork Week At the Woodwright School!

Y'all.  I have not posted in over a year.  Like, maybe almost two years?  And there's so much to catch up on...I may not (probably won't) cover everything in whatever posts I post next, but this was just too awesome not to post.

Anyone here watch PBS?  This school was founded and is run by Roy Underhill, the Mr. Rogers/Julia Child of ye olde woodworking tools and methods.  He uses a foot-powered lathe and a hand-powered just-about-everything-else.

And for five days, he and his co-teacher Bill Anderson taught us ten students to do the same!  I used hand saws, hand planes, chisels, and hide glue (the same stuff that's been around for 6,000 years) to do everything from squaring a board to ripping it to size, cutting dovetails and shaping decorative molding.  And I came home with this.

Nickie's Visit

I finally got around to processing some long overdue photos tonight.

It feels like only last week that I looked out on this driveway, a driveway just beckoning me to come bite it on a steeply sloped sheet of ice.  Today?

Today is lush, green warmth and blooming flowers.  David found me fuschia!

I really like fuschia.  It's one of those flowers that looks nice from a distance, but up close has the power to blow you away.  If I hadn't believed in flower fairies before I met fuschia, I certainly did after.

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My sister Nickie came for a visit awhile back (2 months ago, yeesh).  It was so awesome to get to spend some real time together!

It was still cold then, but at least the snow was gone.  She and Dave and I walked the property and found some treasures.

 We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 And shopped the Westside Market.

 Don't get me wrong, the bakers and butchers and produce sellers are where it's at, but I just love the tile artistry in this old building!

 And we got in a hike at the Hinckley Reservation just down the road from the house.

Nickie and I also hit up the Goodwill and found a $10 cherry tray-top table.

Nickie did all of the stripping while I cut a new lower shelf for the little beauty; then together we worked on painting the legs with white milk paint.  It's not finished yet...with the workshop being my priority for the moment, it stands patiently waiting.

Judging by the speed I'm getting things done around here, it may be done around Christmas.  Fingers crossed that that's an exaggeration!

My Soon-to-be-Sister!

I had the tremendous honor last week of flying into Dallas to spend a little time with my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Alex.

Because I got to be the wedding dress seamstress!  Mostly.  See, there was a dress she had her heart on, and there was a dress she could afford...and I got the humbling and squeal-inducing right to alter the second so it would look more like the first.

Christmas Day 2013

It's Christmas Day 2013!

On my side of the family, Christmas Eve is for reading the story and opening presents.  Christmas Day is reserved for *stockings, snacking, and lounging.

The Warther Museum

Have you ever heard of Warther cutlery?

They are an American family business from the turn of the century that is still family run and still hand-makes all their knives.  They're based in Dover, Ohio, about an hour south of where we live.  We went with our friends to visit the Warther museum back several weeks ago.

Eh, we thought, it's something to do.  How interesting can a knife factory be?  Maybe there'll be something good to eat down in Nowheresville.

David's Birthday

Oh dear.

Do you ever walk into the room where your desk/dresser/kitchen table/project bin sits, full to overflowing with stuff you haven't done but still mean to do, hang your head, and just walk out again?

I do.

All the time.

In fact, I have a desk, a project bin, a hallway floor, and now even my blog is like that.  I just look at them, hang my head, and shuffle away again.  What on earth was I doing on that project?  Oh man, I can't even file that; I don't have a folder for it.  There's no catching up now; I'm too far behind.  Forget it, let's just take it all to the dump.

But even if I could "just toss it" with everything on my desk/project bin/hallway floor, I can't just dump all the photos and post ideas floating around in my head and hard drive. Most of the posts I've been meaning to write, I more-than-half-believe I've already written.  So then I'm surprised when people I talk to don't know what I'm talking about when I refer back to non-existent posts.  I'm deciding I have to just write them.  Even if they're months and months old.

Let's start this last June, ok?

Sigh, My Hair

So I've been giving my hair quite a bit of thought.  For, like, months.  I had a pinboard devoted to it.  With inspiration like this:

source

...and this:

source

Can you see where I'm headed?

Guess What I Got Today

Ever had homemade donuts?

I think I understand the Krispy Kream craze now...they are probably the closest thing to the REAL thing that mass-producing can get.

MAN, that was good!

The Stuffy Egg

Good morning!

This is me and Dave in a hammock.

We aren't trying to look like punks, we're just looking straight up and not believing that I have us both in the view finder.  That's where that punk-ish look comes from.

This is the view from the hammock.

 And this is where the hammock is:

And yesterday was a wonderful day of antiquing!  We even made it to Luckett's, home of Miss Mustard Seed, which was kind of a big deal.  And then we had a lovely massage before bed.  And I have good news!  David is almost over this cold/congestion/sinus infection (?) thing.  And I have bad news!  Heidi is in the middle of this cold/congestion/sinus infection (?) thing.  And a little more bad news...no more photos for today :(  Sorry, y'all, I'm gonna have to catch up later, but I feel pretty crap right now, and we're about to miss breakfast, so I gotsta go.

The West Virginia Egg

Good morning!

Last night we arrived at Hillbrook Inn in West Virginia.  Yes, we did cross the Shenandoah River on the way, but the Blue Ridge Mountains were shrouded in mist.  And yes, it is gorgeous here...I'll post more later, but we've got to get going to find some beautiful antiques before they're all gone!

Later!

The Central Perk Egg

Good morning! 

This is my 100th Post!!!

Yea!

 Yesterday was a nice, easy day for us.  We took a walk in Central Park, I had my coffee, and we got to pet some people's dogs including two sweet chinese pugs.

 And David teased a squirrel with the promise of a treat.  We saw some practicing dancers...

 ...and then we tried out another famed pizza joint (this one in Brooklyn):

See that?  "Worth the wait"?  Well, they were right, it was worth the wait, but the wait was still long.

 We finished out our final night in New York with a couple of warm cookies from Insomnia in Greenwich Village (why oh why didn't I think to schedule a little more time in this area???), and Dave got his first New York taxi experience.

 And now we're off again!  Off to West Virginia!  Blue Ridge Mountains!  Fall beauty!  Antiques!!!

The Wonderful Wicked Egg

Ah, what a lovely day we had yesterday!

 We visited the truly awesome Natural History museum.

 And David took me to see Wicked on Broadway.  It was much funnier than I'd thought it would be and every bit as magical and beautiful as I'd hoped.  I happily recommend it, thought I also probably recommend learning the soundtrack before you go...it's a lot like an operetta in some places, and you need to understand the lyrics.

Before the show, we passed this little French restaurant, Chez Napoleon.  "Would you like French tonight?" my David asked.  "Sure," said I.

 This is apparently the sort of place 'everyone' knows about, and you really ought to have reservations for, but we got in anyway.  I had duck l'orange and Dave had venison au poivre with creamed spinach, and then I had my very first cherries jubilee...it was the most delicious French I've ever had!!!

Now for the presents.......David gave me a beautiful silver and sapphire necklace in the same rose design as my ring.  And I gave him a book made of all the emails we sent back and forth while dating, before Dave took the job in Cleveland.

And that was our wonderful, wonderful first anniversary!

The Feliz Uno Annum Egg!

Happy First Anniversary, David!

This was from the top of "the Rock."  We could look down into Rockefeller Center from here, where the ice skating has already begun.

In addition to the US sledding team, the Rockettes, and Darth Vader, I found myself milling around down there!

 David took me out last night for pizza...

 ...at Patsy's, a favorite of Frank Sinatra's.

...and Santa Claus.

I get to give David his present today!!! I can't wait!!!!

The Big Apple Egg

Good morning!  Yesterday was a big day for us. It felt like we walked over the entire big city, including the Met, Central Park, the flea market, and Carnegie Deli, where they serve sandwiches as big as your head.

Which is what people like.  Lots of people.  Important people.

Like Santa.

We also hit up The Empire State Building, like good Americans.

It was monster crowded, being sunset on a Sunday, but it was totally worth it.

This was taken facing the convenient one-way mirror on one side of the building.

 We've just been reading Love and War, the chapter about sharing an adventure as practice for sharing in the Grand Adventure.  I think this is excellent practice, so far.  We've been snippy to each other, been tired and irritable, missed communication, been thoughtful and generous, and been lovely and patient with each other, and I've got two big blisters on my toes due to poor footwear choice.  Pray for us, friends, as we adventure together.  And pray for my poor toes.

The Jersey Egg

We are in New Jersey!
I can't believe I missed yeaterday, y'all, but I will have more to post later today or early tomorrow.  Thank you for sticking with me!

Photoshop Fun, hehe

There's a joke in this one.  It's all the way at the end.  That's why the title is laughing like that.

So Dave and I met up with most of my Dallas family in Colorado (like, a month ago), and we went hiking,

 ...and we had a cookout and roasted marshmallows,

 ...some of us, perhaps, roasted our marshmallows before the burgers were quite done...

...we played mini-golf in the setting sun,

...and we hung out, relaxed, and Kimie showed me some cool things about Photoshop that I knew had to exist.  I also, on the first day there, went for coffee with Ginnie, Nickie, and Thomas.  So...remember those facts.

(There are many, many more photos from this trip, which you'll find over here (once they're finished...someday).)

Ok, while at coffee, I took this photo with my phone and sent it to Dave:

 Feeling left out of my own photo, I had Ginnie take this one of me to send as well:

 But then I got home and started messing with my photos and thought, "Hey!  Kimie just taught me this awesome trick that worked really well on this other photo...maybe I can try it on this one, too, and then I really won't feel left out!"

So I did.

 "Hi there!  I'm Behr Ultra-White Heidi!  Why yes, that is my natural brilliant pallor. But I'm embarrassed about hovering like this, so that's why I'm blushing so profusely. On my nose..  What's that?  Where's my right shoulder?  Oh, uh, I'm kinda bunching it up behind Thomas's head because...because I'm cold.  And also I'm crouching but keeping my back straight, so that's why you can't see my legs. I...had polio. As a child.  I'm okay now, though.  Also, I have no intention of hitting Nickie, I'm just waving.  Just like everyone else."

For more examples of my creative digital mod-podging, check back often.  There will be more.