April

April has been so full of variety....snow, ice, wind, rain, sun, clouds, warmth, heat. 

 Blessed to have days filled with so much variety... 

carving, sanding, rasping,

teaching, cooking, cleaning,

ducks, chickens, kittens and gardens. 

And little store open over at Etsy ! 

Weekend inspiration

Enjoying the sweetness of fresh figs served on a new beech cheeseboard with a natural edge. Looking forward to warm summer weather and gathering ideas for heathy no-cook meals! 

Short breaks

There is no occasion when meals should become totally unimportant. Meals can be very small indeed, very inexpensive, short times in the midst of a big push of work, but they should be always more then just food. Relaxation, communication and a measure of beauty and pleasure should be part of even the shortest of meal breaks. 

Edith Schaeffer

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I have always been inspired by the thoughts of Edith Schaeffer in her book 'The Hidden Art of Homemaking". Taking care to make meals or snacks pleasing to those around us is a beautiful way to bless them. Sharing a 'mini date night' or a small picnic lunch outside on a warm day is a great way to slow down and enjoy each other! 

~

Food and meal-times shared have always been thought of as a closer kind of communication then simply talking to people, without eating together. The very sharing of a short break to drink a cup of tea, a glass of juice or a cup of coffee together, is in itself a kind of communication. 

Functional art

Blessed to have a kitchen with handmade, functional art. 

Something special about owning kitchen pieces made by hand. 

Thinking about this quote today from the beautiful Fresh Farmhouse as the kids and I work away at our 'normal' Tuesday jobs. 

Have a heart that never hardens, 

and a temper that never tires, 

and a touch that never hurts.

Charles Dickens

(Whole wheat cookie recipe from Gimme Some Oven)

Spring

This April has felt more like winter then this past Christmas. It snowed and rained ice yesterday and when you finally arrive at spring after having the wood stove on for almost 6 months, you start to ache for some warm sunshine. 

Things are looking up today. Warm breeze and sunshine. I'm sure we appreciate spring so much more  after a sheet of ice covered the van the day before. 

There is something great about seeing things change...

The step between rough cut/router board (thank you strong husband) to smooth as silk finished board is where the hours get put in. In order to get away form the 'machined' look, I use a hand rasp to smooth out all the edges and add curves to the handle. The hole in the handle gets dressed up with the carving knife and then five sanding follow. After a rough 80 grit paper the board is wet to raise the grain and then is left to dry. Next comes 150 and so on until a wet/dry 2000 grit finishes the board off.  At this point it is incredibly smooth and ready for the beeswax/mineral oil finish. It's a process that takes time but by using the hand tools, each board turns out a bit different and unique. 

An enjoyable process!

Almost as enjoyable as spring!

Finishing touches.

"There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on." 

Robert Byrne

I really do wish to be like the first person. 

I find myself getting excited to move on to the next project or idea after spending a whole bunch of hours on a board or spoon but once in a while I have to back up and work on the finishing touches. 

Getting some pieces ready for Sarnia ArtWalk being held on June 4 and 5!

Very whittle getting done....

On a good week I can usually find a few minutes here and there to disappear and carve but it seemed especially hard this week. I was able to finish oiling up a new cherry cookie spatula, 

and start on a couple new walnut scoops.

It may have been more challenging to focus on scoops and spoons, spatulas and boards this week because of these 12 guys hatching out of their eggs....

or because Emily now owns these guys and somedays I'm amazed at what we put in our minivan.

Sometimes I look at the workbench and feel I'll be carving into my 90's before I get around to whittling out all the plans I have for these stacks

But slowly, on Saturday afternoon, things start to take some shape. And I'm pretty sure I'll get to the other stacks all in good time.

I wasn't even that disappointed that the ground was covered in snow this morning. When everything outside is still sleeping I'm not torn between gardening and carving so if winter holds on for another week or so, I'll be content with that. There is something beautiful about early morning spring sunshine on fresh snow...especially beautiful when it's seen while heading out for a morning breakfast alone with a certain, handsome someone while the kids sleep in. 

~ Enjoy the weekend! ~