It's starting to get c-c-cold

So I started out promising to keep this up on a weekly basis, and it's been - what, over 6 weeks! - since my last post. Pretty smooth!

So, what's been happening since my last post, you ask? As it happens, a lot! Let's see - there was my high school 25th reunion, my oldest daughter's been back home a few times since we sent her off to school, half of my boys have had their soccer season come & go, Halloween's cavalcade of candy greed has fueled all the kids into hyperdrive, and I've been on the road a few times, too (Utah, Massachusetts, and New York, with more Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Ontario yet to come in the next couple weeks). My trip into Massachusetts and New York last week saw the last remnants of autumn's firey maples and rusty oaks dusted with the first of the early winter's snow. It was like coloring on a clean white sheet of paper.

Calvin chasing down a soccer ball

The west side of the Berkshires with an autumn dusting of snow

Halloween carvings

My reunion reintroduced me to a good friend I hadn't even spoken with since graduation. All I knew was that he'd gone into the Navy afterward. Talking with him the other night unearthed some territory I must've subliminally put right out of my mind many years ago. Suffice it to say, I hadn't given my friend nearly enough credit for his role in helping me achieve a somewhat normal existence in high school. Thank you, Charlie.

The big highlight for me this past month and a half was the completion of a woodworking commission of sorts, involving the fabrication of wooden fan blades for Urban Archaeology in Brooklyn, NY who, among other things, upgrades ceiling fans by customizing the metal finish on the motor housings, then adding either red oak, quarter sawn white oak, mahogany, or teak fan blades to them. It's probably fairly obvious where I came into the picture, I suppose, but I have to admit to being completely stoked to having finished the project on-time and on-budget. For a hobby-gone-bad, that's a major accomplishment. It wasn't as crafty as the projects I get into in my shop on Etsy, but it'll help put oil in my tank this winter!

I was also featured in an interview at The Downtown Boutique a couple weeks ago, and am currently featured in Vicki Diane's Artists of Etsy Exposed Series. Downtown Boutique's giveaway is over, but the interview is still a decent read (if I do say so myself!). Vicki Diane's feature, however, expires Tuesday morning at 9:06 AM, so check it out before it goes! [Once it's gone, it's gone!]