On this, the day before Valentine's Day, I finished a sheet music cabinet for my wife, Madeline. Madeline has played the flute for over fifty years and I have enjoyed her music for the forty six years that I have known her. My own musical skills are limited to playing CDs and my IPod, but I thought I could contribute my wooodworking interests in support of her talents. I designed and built the cabinet out of walnut. I made all parts - the drawer slides, the pulls and the joinery. It is finished with tung oil/varnish/mineral spirits with a coat of paste wax. I am sure the drawers will be filled with sheet music soon, just as our home has been filled with flute music for so many years. Happy Valentine's Day, Madeline.

We have an old rattan table in our living room that we had made when we lived in Malaysia. It has seen better days so I decided to make a table to replace it. We use it as a lamp table in the living room. It is made of cherry with walnut inlays and a handcarved walnut drawer pull. The construction is mortise and tenon and the finish is Waterlox and paste wax.

Last week, my good and long-time friend, Steve Tilley, and I spent three days in Portland building a deck for my daughter, Erin. It is 16' by 16' with cedar decking. It still needs some benches and planters, but is ready for use. We called it a deck, Erin calls it a stage. I am confident that her description will define its use. I look forward to the performances. It was fun to build and it provided a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Steve. Thank you, Steve and get dancing, Erin.

My daughter, Erin, asked for a dresser for her house in Portland OR and I was glad to take it on. She sent me the dimensions of the space and I designed and built this five drawer piece in about three months. The wood is cherry, the inlays and pulls are walnut. The drawers are piston type (no hardware). The finish is a coat of oil and five coats of water based poly. I will look forward to seeing it darken and redden as the sunlight/cherry combination does its magic.

Our younger daughter, Moira, lives in J'burg South Africa and was unable to take the pieces I have made for her. The bed and tables are too large to ship. So, I have made her a piece that she should be able to carry back with her after her visit here in a couple months. This is a serving tray/condiment holder/storage box. I made it from maple and found that maple is hard .... a very hard wood, and hard for me to hand cut dovetails. It is unforgiving and doesn't let you "persuade" the wood with a mallet the way softer woods do. I finished it with three coats of lacquer and am once again amazed at how interesting maple can be in the light.

Rita and Tony Trenga from Alexandria VA are long, long time friends. They have supported this hobby of mine with gifts of beautiful tools and encouragement. And as a special gift, Rita was the person who challenged me to build my first kayak - something that has brought me much satisfaction in the building and the paddling. So it was a joy to build this table for them to display an inlaid marble bowl that they purchased near the Taj Mahal. I hope to post a picture of the table and the bowl when it arrives at their house. For now, here are a couple pictures taken in our living room before shipment. It is made of walnut with mortise and tenon joinery and six coats of tung oil/varnish.

Today (Aug 9) I am posting two pix of the table with the bowl in the Trenga's house.

We remember my father at his first desk, a small, oak, mission-style slant top probably built in the early 1900s. He would work settling his accounts, preparing his sales reports and paying our family bills. Dad is gone, his accounts long closed, his reports long ago finished and the bills all paid. The desk is now sitting in my sister and brother-in-law’s house, holding papers, knick knacks and memories.

That desk was the inspiration for my latest woodworking project, pictured here (along with a photo of Dad's desk). I made it for Madeline’s birthday. It is solid cherry with accents, inlays and drawer/top pulls made of walnut. The drawers are smaller (hand cut dovetails), the legs are tapered, the pulls are wooden and the top is pegged – but the dimensions are the same as Dad’s.

The source of inspiration, the beautiful wood and the hand rubbed tung oil finish made the 4 ½ month project a pleasure.

Happy birthday, Madeline.

Rest in peace, Dad.