First of all, apologies for not posting sooner, it's been several years (doesn't that sound familiar)! I shall try to make amends.
It has been a busy time since then. We built an addition to our house so my wife's parents could move in with us, I retired from teaching in June, my wife Karolyn retired in September and here we are getting ready to work from home. Both my shop and Karolyn's work space are up and running, though both are still evolving; in my case that means clearing out "stuff" and setting up some machines I haven't used for a while. They're actually called "vintage" now.
Our property has changed as well. The garden keeps getting bigger, more trees, more open areas. The last few weeks I've been clearing a tractor trail into our wetland forest aka swamp, taking advantage of the colder weather. I'll try to get as much firewood, mostly dead standing elm out while the ground is frozen and before the heavy snow sets in.
I've built a firewood shed, a lumber shed and am working on a 16' x 16' sugarhouse. I actually fell of the roof a couple of weeks ago but came away with only some scrapes and bruises; luckily I was using a roofers' harness with a lifeline and was left dangling off the eaves at 9'. Guess I'm getting smarter in my old age...We are planning to build a larger shop/barn where I can teach in and where we can display and sell what we make, though that will have to wait until next year.
I have a good selection of larger 18"-20" salad bowls, in cherry and walnut, and have started rough turning some cherry bowls. Those I plan to finish turn over the winter. I want to experiment with texture and carving again as I did in earlier work. Every now and then I see my old work on Etsy (yes, it's now vintage as well). We're planning to check out some of the craft shows in Ottawa, though we're a little wary of doing shows again. Both of us spent the late 80's and 90's on the craft show circuit.
All in all life is good, and we've been lucky in many ways, with family and health. I still have the energy to get things done even if that means starting too many projects at the same time...and the tractor still runs and the deerflies are still biting!
