Tag Archives: wood

Weekend Coffee Share 9/3/16

Posted on by
14

160903

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I can’t believe it’s September already! I suppose a lot of people are feeling that way. The weather has been pleasantly cooler this week, but I know there are still hot days to come before autumn settles in.

Autumn is my favorite time of year, and I have plenty of indoor projects lined up for the rainy season. More painting. More demolishing portions of the house and hoping I can reinstate them. And maybe more whittling:

If we were having coffee, I’d show you my “found art sculpture” that I’ve been whittling on and have decided is finished now. It is a section of wood that I pruned out of a tree, formed by two branches that grew together into a permanent knot.

identity2

Knotted branch pre-whittling.

I didn’t notice the unusual growth until I was gathering the cut branches to put them in the compost bin. Had I seen it before cutting it down, I may have left it to grow, to continue its bonding of two into one. But at least I spotted it in time to save it from being chipped up for mulch.

finished

Knotted branch post-whittling.

I was going to put a coat of polyurethane on the wood to protect it, but I coated a sample piece of the same type of wood and I don’t like the look or feel of it. So this piece is going to stay au naturale.

I showed it to my sister in-law and she commented on how the feel of the smooth wood is calming. I hadn’t thought of it that way before she mentioned it, but I agree. And I’m glad I stuck to using only my utility knife for the project, instead of sanding it smooth. I think perhaps that affects the feel.

So maybe this is not a piece to be stuck on display and allowed to gather dust. Maybe it’s meant to be interactive. Handled now and again for textile calming and comfort. Admired for the complexity/simplicity of nature.

I know, I know. It’s just a piece of wood. But in that vein, one could also say that Michelangelo’s marble statue of David is just a rock.

And now that I’ve likened myself to Michelangelo, I suppose it’s time to come back to mundane reality. There are dishes to be washed, laundry to be folded, and whittling scraps to be swept up.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to my dissertation on the sublime qualities of a chunk of wood. Feel free to run your hand over the smooth branches on your way out, and have a calm, peaceful weekend.

#WeekendCoffeeShare is generously hosted by Diana at PartTimeMonsterBlog.com.

Memory Chip

Posted on by
6

I remember when a chip was a piece of wood that fell from a lumberjack’s axe. The wood was used to make paper which was used to make books which were stored in libraries.

lumberjack 1

This is a lumberjack made out of wood.

A library was a building where people could come to borrow books and take them home to read. The books were due back on a certain date, and there was a fine charged if the books were not returned on time.

gears

This is a torture machine used on people who didn’t return their books to the library on time. Just kidding! It’s actually more lumberjack stuff.

The library in the town where I grew up was housed in a building that took up an entire city block. I read many books that I took home from that library. Unfortunately my memory did not retain very much of the information that was in those books.

caterpillar

I could have driven this caterpillar to the library, but I did not. I drove an Oldsmobile Delta 88. It was gray.

Now chips come inside of computers that are smaller and weigh less than a lumberjack’s lunchbox. The amount of data stored in the city-block library in my home town could easily be stored in memory chips and accessed at any time virtually anywhere in the world with a smaller-than-a-lumberjack’s-lunchbox-sized computer.

lumberjack 2

Here’s another lumberjack. He’s probably never been to a library. Not because lumberjacks don’t go to libraries; but, you know, he’s made of wood.

I may have known how all of this computer stuff works at one time. I probably read it in a book. But my memory dulls faster than a lumberjack’s axe at a logging camp. Maybe someday I can upgrade to a memory chip that will help me recall all the books I have read.

That wood chip away at my memory problems for sure!

cat

This cat crawling around on logging machinery probably has a good memory. I wonder if his fur is naturally brown, or if that is dirt he acquired while crawling around on machinery. I think he’s supposed to be gray. Like my Oldsmobile.

(Photos taken at Camp 18 Logging Museum in Elsie, Oregon.)