Where were you?

You know how you mark historical events by remembering where you were at the time? 

It's just easier to remember the event when you recall where you were at the time it happened. Like being at a concert when Princess Diana was killed, or at work when the shuttle exploded, or the Cowboy Christmas show when Newtown was decimated by an insane freak. I even remember the night John Lennon was killed - don't you?

 Or - if you're really effin' old -  at a toy store when President Kennedy was assassinated. 

I was at the lumberyard buying wood when I got a call, asking if I'd heard the news about Boston. I'd found an amazing board - luckily the sweet guy working in the warehouse was willing to put up with me taking a picture of it. 

Yes, this beast was 23" wide. I haven't seen boards like this in... well....fuckingforever. This is a once in a lifetime board.

You've got to know your limitations - so I bought the next narrower board - a mere 18" wide specimen. I don't even know what I'll do with it, but I had to have a piece of this magnificent tree.

Dee was even kind enough to help me load it into my truck. That was service with a smile!

My heart is (once again) broken for the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. It's horrific and I'm pissed at the evilfuckers who did this. 

Have I ever mentioned I'm a huge believer in karma? Somewhere, there is a place waiting for these idiots.

Where were you?

For your morning reading...

Like most people in their morning routine, I like to settle down with a cup of coffee and  read the morning paper online. 

I'm not sure how it started, but reading the San Francisco Chronicle 

has become one of my favorite morning rituals. The columnists are insightful, the food columns are to die for, but the absolute best part is the reader's comments. No where on the planet will you find funnier statements about news stories. 

Want a terrific example? 

In today's paper, there was a story about someone walking into a Home Depot and practically cutting his arms off. My first thought - uh oh, a panel saw accident. Turns out the man was either mentally ill, or drugged up, and just grabbed a drywall saw to hack off his arm. 

Not necessarily appropriate reading material for my morning coffee. But the best part - the comments that followed. Here are some of my favorite ones. 

(Click on the first image below to enlarge all of them.)

By the time I'd finished writing this blog, there were another fifty comments left.

I won't even comment about all the readers leaving comments about another person's misfortune, and what it says about our society. Instead, I'l just pour another cup of coffee and go back to the paper. 

The Carving Class is winding down...

The WoodCarving class taught by Dennis Patchett ended this week - it was so much fun that we added one extra class to the schedule. Here's one of his linenfold panels, he probably whipped this up in an afternoon!

There was definitely a nice vibe in the shop, with everyone in their own zone. 

Look what John made!

One of the nicest things about this class is that Dennis brought a tool chest full of his amazing chisels -  so everyone had a chance to use tools that they might only see in specialty catalogs.

And by the end of class, everyone thoroughly understood how to use this buffing wheel. 

Mike was by far the most productive carver, coming up with all of these designs during the class. 

M is for.... ? 

He's an amazing carver.

Here are some random shots of everyone working.

They make it look easy, right? Well - truth is - it's incredibly hard to do, as you really have to develop an "eye" to see what to leave and what to cut away. The good news is - by the end of this class, their eyes were getting much more developed. 

Even though this video is in Italian, you'll get the idea of what's involved in carving something like the panel shown below.