at my age, 64.5 years, i think that most people would agree, time accelerates (is it already the 15th of january?), memory becomes less able, and when we think back, we sometimes wonder, where did last year go? so, for the last 3 years i have collected relevant (to me) photos in folders on my computer appropriately called 2011, or 2010 or recent work 2009. this morning i uploaded the 2011 folder to my picasa account and it is now online and i can access my photos from anywhere with an internet connection. looking through it, i might have included too many pictures but it makes me realize that the year was actually full of life, full of work, and full of important moments. if you are a new reader, there are dates attached to some of the groups of photos showing the relevant blog post, which, if you are interested, you can access through the archives of my blog.if you are interested in how to create online slide shows for your ownself and dont have an easily accessible young person, i wrote a blog post back in december of 2010 with instructions for downloading picasa and uploading your pictures ...
its a beautiful sunny winter day and i am outta here ... on to 2012 ...
above, february 16, about 3 months ago ...." if you dont like the weather in vermont, just wait a minute" is how the saying typically goes. now, if you wait three months from the photo above, youll 
last friday, i took a trip to burlington to order some custom steel parts in bristol, look at some slabs at lathrops and attend the opening of the bench show, which was really nice. like other water around the country, lake champlain is at an all time record high. beautiful though .
the asparagus started coming in for real last saturday .
and the azaleas are blooming ... rhododendrens next ...
saturday, 18 holes with bill laberge at lake st. catherine ... from the 14th tee above ... a long choice in (and down) to get home
sunday some tennis in the afternoon, and monday, i stayed home after work and fixed my garage roof where last winters ice had broken some roof slates.
long trail school courts (our local tennis club) in the backround below
wednesday afternoon, 9 more at the equinox in manchester; a beautiful course ....
and then thursday afternoon, a little fishing with sam in the mettowee down the street, after work ... hes into the fly tying thing and getting pretty good at it ...
pagoda dogwood about to bloom... you may not be familiar with it, but when it blooms its a very cool, understory, sculptural tree ...
a couple hendricksons were coming off ... just a nice choice to end the work day ...
nicely fished, but no luck
beautiful sunsets this week
the ducks are back and the birds are going crazy ....
i leave you with some tulips in kits garden ... rain a comin this weekend ...
well, ok, out of control here. not really, but looking at the pictures below, you might think we were ... there is just so much stuff going on, all at the same time, all different styles and directions, but all cool. above and below are two new belt buckles from sam in the metal shop. the top one was for one of our guides on our montana trip (fish in montana), and the one below was for a local bass tournament that ended recently ... the rest of the stuff below is just a short summary of last week and the rest of the month coming up... click the photos to enlarge them.
and in the woodshop ... we finished and delivered the dining room this past week; it all looks good and everyones happy, including me ... its alchoices nice to wrap up a big one ...
it was hard to get it all in the picture, but the light in their room is fantastic in the late afternoon ...
arm chairs .... very sculptural process getting those arms on there ..
and the clients threw an eastlake armchair restoration at us at the last minute ... we were all surprised how much we liked it when it was finished ... it had been in the clients basement since they moved in and it was pretty questionable looking when we picked it up.
and, a friends mom died ... she was a client of mine too and so we made the box for her ashes, which i alchoices consider an honor. we have made a bunch of these and i went back and read one of my blog posts about the process ... glad to do it ... the service was last saturday ...
and here we have a claro walnut slab desk thats happening now too ... here it is, as of friday afternoon, with the drawer framing just starting ...
here it is on its feet today. will was doing some banjo work this afternoon and we decided to put the first coat of finish on the top ... more on that piece as we progress ...
and were watching our friend steve holman make progress on a challenging piece that trevor did some fancy cnc work on. essentially, trevors job was to take the concept of the small handmade model above and convert it to full size. without trevor, it would have been a daunting task of freehand, large scale drawing. changes and adjustments would have been painful ...
trevor first converted the plan view that steve gave him at 1" = 1, to digital form, and then made the 1/4 scale model you see in mdf above. from there he made many small and subtle adjustments before making plan view templates of the shapes to test the full size fit ups. he then cut the curved plates and forms for steve to build the walls and laminate the applied curved and veneers walls on .
note the allowances for varying wall thicknesses, handicap, wheel chair access, etc.,etc ..
full size plates and shoes here
and friday, we saw some of the full size walls ... its going to be a cool object ...
and then there are the troublesome bobbin leg tables for an interior designer in northern vermont ... looked easy on paper, yet will warned me it wouldnt be, and, he was very right ... we finally figured we had to make four forms to glue up the 3 piece mid rails or else we would have too many pieces to deal with at once ...
got it now ... were going to reduce the space between the top two rails to get the joinery and proportions to be better and then all we have to do is make 
and then theres the bar cabinet that will is building ... its loosely a simpler version of the art deco macassar ebony cabinet he built a few years ago. hes on the home stretch now ...
the doors, with their curly maple center inlays, went into the bag friday afternoon .. saw them this morning and they looked good.
and then theres that $5000. load of wood that arrived from irion lumber last week. 4 dining tables, a coffee table, a corner cupboard and 8 chairs, and some other odds and ends, coming right up ...
the table and corner cupboard cad drawings ... the client chose the slightly larger version on the left after we sent her a cardboard full size plan view ...
and theres the cherry trestle table from this post ... coming up soon
and this morning, in our drivechoice, was sams new/old 700 pound clausing milling machine that he picked up yesterday from plaza machinery in bristol, vermont ... all we had to do was figure out how to get it out of the truck, into the shop and then off the dolly ... in the end, all it takes is the proper equipment
and a competent support/cheerleading staff, including uncle pete and his tractor, jennifer and kit.
getting it off the 6" high dolly and onto the floor was a trick involving about 8 layers of mdf blocks on each corner, removed one at a time ... it felt like we were building the pyramids, in reverse ... lever up, remove, lever down ... got it ...
and there was still time to help kit plant the garlic ... indian summer here this week ... beautiful.
well, im gonna try your patience here. i havent been writing much lately, (too busy, the weathers too nice, pick an excuse ) so i thought i would catch up with a monster post summarizing the last week or two. here goes:
the pictures were a challenge as the light was intense at the top of the steps late in the day ... you get the idea. the stairchoice is three full stories and is a 6 radius at the outside of the curved railing
the bench went to the same house as the swinging bench
and weve got two claro slab dining tables underchoice in the shop .. a ten footer and a twelve footer. both slabs are from the same log and are going to two different clients, one in chicago, and one in northern vermont. one of the table tops will be finished in a satin black color, which should be interesting as its the first one of these tables we have made to be stained. the sample was elegant, so im looking forward to seeing it finished ... this week?
the 10 footer will have our regular natural finish, and both slabs are now routed for the bases. on to the finishing room monday with this one.
while were talking about claro walnut, were also working on some pieces for an upcoming show at a new venue in the berkshires opening on the 21st of july. its a converted mill space in housatonic, mass., near great barrington, and while i haven;t seen it yet, the space looks fantastic in the photo above. we started out figuring on a minimal presence, but at the urging of the organizers, were now making a bigger effort. were working on a couple of pieces using the small claro slabs we purchased back in february.
weve got a funky mdf desk mockup going, which sam will fabricate in steel this week. im not sure yet about the vertical things and well have to see as we go along. i might try some more polished rebar instead.
weve also got this coffee table slab. the base is completed and will be like the one we finished recently. ive decided not to reinvent the wheel with 
also early last week, we started a new pool table. this is a long story i will eventually tell in a dedicated blog post, but for now, heres what we have so far ...
a bunch of parts roughed out, the slate, the slate support pieces and below,
a mockup of the leg details and and full size drawing. the table will be walnut, with quilted maple panels, which will veneered earlier last week.
and weve got this very funky bench project in the works, proceeding from the sketch above,
to the cad drawing ...
to the actual thing nearly completed. the last thing will did friday was cut the back on the cnc and hell fit it up and fabricate the round cap on manday ... its made from reclaimed white oak. hopefully, it will be ready to roll out by the end of next week.
and, speaking of rolling out, the benches for the copper top table left tuesday and are now on the porch in connecticut. im waiting for a photo of the whole setup from the client ... these are, like the table 11 long and have reclaimed chestnut x bases with new, distressed and painted ash tops.
and, that copper top table and benches led sam to create this 8 table for one of his clients. hell be making matching benches with steel x bases soon .... take an object, do something to it, do something else to it. this is a perfect ...
and we cut this quickie elm slab desk top from a slab we purchased at berkshire products ... in the door; meet with the client and cut it to shape; apply some finish; out the door last wednesday ... love a quick turnaround. still with me? almost done now .... my A D D is kicking in and it is a BEAUTIFUL day here in vermont ...
this one was a rescue operation ... it had been previously altered (20 years ago?) with some bad cast iron rail hardware that never quite was iustalled correctly. if you touched a post, the whole bed wobbled and schoiceed and seemed ready to collapse. we reversed the repair by removing the improved rails, patching those moritises and made new wider rails that were attached through the original bed bolt holes. new bolt covers and a ply mattress support and this bed is ready for the next hundred years. nice turnings and design. solid as a rock ...
and it seems things are picking up a bit ... these are just a could of projects that popped into the design quay this week ... more on those as they (hopefully) progress.
im outta here ... time to go watch the orioles ... click this one .. its one of my best bird photos ...
