The Agnes Lamar Conference Room

Several years ago the Bradford Pear that was next to the driveway split in half during a major storm. I eventually cut down the tree and dug out the stump. Earlier this year, one of the ladies at work passed away with more than 45 years on the job. We decided to name a conference room in her honor. Several suggestions were made for plaques to hang in the room. I volunteered to make one. I immediately thought of the root ball that I had dug. I had thrown it in the woods behind the house. I managed to find it all the way at the bottom of the hill. I cut a cross-section through the root ball with the chainsaw, sanded it flat, covered it with several coats of epoxy, and then embedded an engraved sign in the last coat of epoxy. There were numerous voids in the cross-section where the roots had grown around rocks and soil in addition to a highly figured grain pattern. This unique plaque now hangs in the Agnes Lamar Conference Room.

Cubic Perspective

I thought I would post pictures of one of my most recent projects that also used my newly acquired drum sander. The turned polychromatic, segmented platter is 14.75 in. in dia. and 1.575 in. thick. It is constructed of walnut, cherry, and mahogany. The feature ring consists of equilateral parallelograms or rhombuses in different grain orientations to give the illusion of a cube. There are a total of 146 pieces. It is finished with tung oil and carnauba wax. I donated it to a charity auction at work.

Speaking of new additions...

I was at a craft show a few weeks ago and I came across a Japanese man who grew exotic unusual miniature trees. I was captivated by miniature roses at only a quarter of an inch long and miniature azaleas a beautiful fuchsia color. I tried and tried to decide which one I would like to bring home with me. I went back and forth between several different trees but finally I realized that the one I really wanted was the miniature orange tree. It is totally real and the oranges are edible although they taste more like a lemon. It is alive and doing fine thanks to the little plate under the tree that waters itself (kind of).

New Addition

We have a new addition to the family... one that Ray thought would never make it's way into our home, but...it's true...Weighing in at "hundreds" of pounds and 46 inches tall (I measured)... a brand new...DRUM SANDER!!!!! Proud papa and sander are doing fine!

Hot Cross Buns

Our grandson Caleb with his first instruction from the Knighton Piano Studio. He's a natural!

Oregon

Ok, so we are blogging about once a month now and I am hoping that we can get better at it in time. So... about our trip to Oregon!
We had a wonderful time visiting Benjamin, Karen, Caleb and Joshua in Coos Bay. Ray went golfing at Bandon Dunes Resort 3 times (yea), and Kathy got to spend lots of time with the little grand boys. Caleb is growing up so fast, he is smart, cute and he still lets me kiss on him. Joshua is a very active one year old trying to mimic what we say and getting very good at walking.
I taught Caleb to play Hot Cross Buns on the keyboard and of course he was a natural. He could sing the song as he played along and even Josh was singing along. We took them to a beautiful park with a Chinese garden in it and we enjoyed walking around the little pond and over the bridges.
Thank you Benjamin and Karen for having us and sharing your home and your time with us. We had such a great time and can't wait to go again!

Let them eat cake!

I had the chance to do a wedding cake for my BFF Pamela's niece a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed doing this cake and I learned alot of new things about cake decorating. I also enjoy watching a couple of different cake shows on TV and they really give me alot of technical info. I used gum paste on this cake in pink and yellow and it has made me want to take a class in it. Who knows, by the time Jocelyn and Kimberly get married I might be really good at this!!