Summer Dispatches
It’s been a month, and we’ve done a lot of woodworking, but this post isn't all woodworking-related. There are some additions to the “Store” on the website, so check it out if you’re curious about what we’ve been up to. More on the way.
I designed and created some new stools, and Faith created a fabulous nightstand. Faith also recently caught the leatherworking bug and is at it as I write this. It works because they can leatherwork and watch anime at the same time.
My current project is a chunky barstool with a genuine cowhide leather cushioned seat. I reconnected with a friend I knew from academia who is now a bar owner in the Bronx. Go figure. He might be interested in some bar furniture, he said, so I prototyped a bar stool with durability in mind (coming soon in the store). I cut and glued the foam cushion and batting, and Faith did the leather upholstering for me. I probably would have botched that part. It’s a circular seat, the upholstering of which is particularly tricky and easy to screw up. I’m also making a square option.
We have commissions for some stools, dining chair repairs, and laser-etched property signs. I have some high-end furniture restoration projects waiting in the wings. Plenty to do, and increasingly less time to do it. Summer is already coming to a close, at least for us. We both start teaching in less than a month.
So instead of another essayish-type thing, I thought I would share with you, our friends and family, some summer pics.
For starters, the garden has been especially delightful.
We’re also having good luck this year with squash, tomatoes, basil, and runner beans.
We’ve enjoyed bike rides, campouts, bike camping, bike rides to the pier at sunset, time on the porch watching rainstorms and sunsets, shooting hoops on our new backyard basketball goal, and time with the dogs.
We got there.
Setting up the basketball goal.
A little woodworking…
Sawdust, not greys.
Faith figured out how to make this super tricky joint.
Time with friends…
Our friend Sean, visiting from LA, is checking out the hayloft in the barn with Faith. His partner Douglas was here, too. Good times.
Our next-door neighbors made a delicious meal for us. We ate it on the porch.
Lobster rolls and BYOB at the Guilford Lobster Pound with our friends Uli and Cecilia. Fresh off the boat.
New haircut for me. Short for the summer.
There was also a BIG summer party here, reviving a longstanding tradition that I let slide for the last couple of years. It was the first one at the new house. As always, my friend Don catered to an extravagant degree. We had about 25 people. The pics, though, were taken with disposable cameras, and I haven’t processed them yet. I’ll update this post after I do that.
That’s our summer so far. There’s more woodworking to be done, but soon we’ll transition to course prep and teaching. We hope you’ve had a great summer, and that you’ll share your stories and pics with us.
