This is Mario in his basement wood shop in Buffalo, New York. It is in a hundred-plus year old brownstone, so besides making boxes, doing occasional furniture restoration and some large furniture making, Mario uses his basement space for home fix-it and restoration projects. Every home needs a place that can get dirty, where things like the old radiators for steam heat, can be taken apart, cleaned and fixed. Besides the practicalities of such places, they are therapeutic as well. They restore and sustain a sense of self-esteem in a world that can batter you down and leave you feeling helpless and alone.

So why is it we never feel alone when we are truly alone in our workshops? There we have tools and culture and the legacy of human creativity and the lasting sense of connection with those from whom we have learned and with those we wish to share. This is a note from Mario:

Reading your blog lately has made me think about my father, who was of course a product of his time and place. In the Cuba of that time, a man who was worth anything didn't work with his hands, but was a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer or in some other way worked with his brain and didn't get dirty. So my father was always fascinated by my interest in making things, and he was very supportive even when my interests led me to gut their kitchen to remodel it. And since that was my first attempt at such a thing and I had neither the tools or the skills to do the job right, the experiment wasn't exactly a rousing success.

One of my fondest memories was of the Christmas when I gave my father a home repair book, knowing that this wouldn't mean that he would actually start doing such things. But he read it, and enjoyed it, talked to me about it, and probably understood a bit better what I was doing and enjoying. And last year my mother gave me that book, which I intend to pass on to my boys, who both seem to use both their hands and their brains.

Thanks Mario, your shop looks like you cleaned for the photo! It is amazing what a geezer can do with a small space.