10 years

My wife reminded me that I've now taught woodworking at the Clear Spring School for 10 years, and while I've been a friend of the school for far longer, these 10 years have passed quickly, and have brought a great deal of excitement and interest to my own life. I have been enriched in so many inummerable ways. For instance, Oakley's dad told me that last night he had the toy tank he had made in wood shop earlier in the day at the dinner table, as he and his brother contemplated using rubber bands to form treads. There is a huge excitement in a child's life when he or she has the opportunity to engage in physical creativity, and besides the enrichment of my own life, I can see that what the kids and I do together in wood shop has lasting value in their lives as well.

This afternoon, I've been finishing boxes and a small cabinet for shipping to Fine Woodworking, and continuing to go over edited text and layout for my Building Small Cabinets book. The photo above shows setting up to rout the cherry door frame for the fitting of knife hinges. I use a story stick technique of my own invention to set up for the hinges at top and bottom to be in perfect alignment.

I often listen to the radio as I work, and was listening to a program at noon in which a man was describing the impact of human negligence on our streams and waterways in our communities. He used the phrase, "out of sight, out of mind," which I know is familiar to most of my readers. Another phrase comes to mind. When things are "out of hand," they are out of control. If we were to cease our hands-on engagement in nature and preservation of our natural resources, do you have any idea where we would be going? A third old colloquialism fits the bill. "To hell in a hand basket."

Make, fix and create. Come alive to your own creative potential