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Books

Shop Tails book cover

Shop Tails

Book cover of Kitchen Think

Kitchen Think

Book cover of English Arts and Crafts Furniture

English Arts & Crafts Furniture

Book cover of Making Things Work

Making Things Work

Book cover of The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History

The Hoosier Cabinet In Kitchen History

Book cover of A Home of Her Own

A Home Of Her Own

Historic Preservation In Indiana

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Thankful! For the blessing that is my partnership

Thankful! For the blessing that is my partnership with this man. For family and friends, including my parents, sister, new almost-brother-in-law, other siblings- and father-in-law, niece, and amazing cousins. For opportunities to do meaningful work for good and appreciative people. For food and our home, filled as it is with floors, furniture, and cabinets made by our own hands and those of skilled and thoughtful others. And this year, especially, for good health, despite a life-threatening diagnosis, which makes everything so much more delightful.

Here’s to giving thanks.

I don’t use cypress often, but every time I do,

I don’t use cypress often, but every time I do, I appreciate it more. While I was working on a plate rack a few weeks ago, Mark was rebuilding critical parts of a boat house on a lake east of town that has a healthy population of cypress trees growing at the edge of the water. Nice knees!

pictured here are: part of the kitchen I built for my sister in 2005, cypress trees by the lake, the boat house, and a detail of the cypress plate rack.
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#cypress #oldhousekitchen #woodcomesfromtrees

Things you can do with pancreatic cancer, 4: Move

Things you can do with pancreatic cancer, 4: Move a ton and a half of limestone and fill the resulting raised beds with yards of topsoil (not all in one evening). Yes, I need a bit more stone to finish this bed, and the cardboard is meant to kill the grass below.

These beds will be for iris, which don’t like the encroachment of weeds and other plants in the ground-level beds. Something to look forward to next spring—not that I want to rush fall and winter away! They’re my favorite seasons.
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#pancreaticcancer #buildandgrow #gardenbeds

Tony is a tool user. He lies on the woodstove tool

Tony is a tool user. He lies on the woodstove tools because they conduct heat.
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#shopcat #woodstove #saturdaynight #givemekombucha #orangetabby #shoptails

This has been a wonderful mail week for many reaso

This has been a wonderful mail week for many reasons, including these two: cards by Welsh artist @elin_manon_illustration who is illustrating a forthcoming book by @pleiadesbee and the latest offering (a tome) from @lostartpress The Stick Chair Book. There’s just nothing like reading, eating, or living in beautiful works made by others who are practicing a craft that’s central to their being.
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#beauty #personmade #woodworking

Today is our eighth anniversary and also the first

Today is our eighth anniversary and also the first anniversary of my diagnosis with stage iv pancreatic cancer. It’s always good to have something fun to go with the not so fun. We will not be celebrating, because Mark is quarantining until we get results of his Covid test following four days in northern Michigan with one of his best friends. Too many second- and more-hand exposures. I know so many people who have had serious breakthrough infections despite being fully vaccinated. So here is a picture of Mark making a wish while blowing out the candle in his birthday cake last month. (When you turn 65, one candle should be enough.) It was a seriously chocolatey cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese icing that I made from a recipe in the New York Times. Here’s to many more!
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#keeponkeepingon #pancreaticcancer #lemonade #glasshalffull

There’s a beautiful piece of work on my bench to

There’s a beautiful piece of work on my bench today.
@anissakaps
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#woodworking #finewoodworkingmagazine

Mask up! Huge thanks to @anissakaps for rising at

Mask up! Huge thanks to @anissakaps for rising at 4:30 this morning to fly to Indianapolis and drive down here in a rented Mustang convertible for this shoot. I always love to work with Anissa; she’s great fun in addition to being a consummate pro.

We’re both fully vaccinated and wore masks; for anyone who might point out that the N95 with valve is not Covid-appropriate, we know that. It’s a good dust respirator and fine for the wearer as Covid protection. (This mask-wearing woodworker is immuno-suppressed and has been in relative hermit mode for a year-plus.)

More fun tomorrow.
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#maskup #finewoodworkingmagazine #handcutjoinery

And now with finish. What a bizarre time it has be

And now with finish. What a bizarre time it has been this past week-plus, trying to get this piece and all of the parts for a second one ready for the photo shoot this week with @anissakaps while dealing with medical insurance plans for 2022, researching further medical treatment options, the usual complement of writing on deadline, and now, helping a design client through the relative disaster that their job has become. Never a dull moment, for sure.

I simply cannot believe the beauty of this autumn and feel deeply lucky to be able to enjoy it.
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#selfemploymentrealities #makebeauty #followthespecs #platerack #plateracks #pancreaticcancer #itsallproblems #makingthingswork

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