Trip to Britain Part 1

Sorry for the long delay. We were in Britain for three weeks and then our ATT hotspot went down.

We started our trip in Norwich. Norwich has a very impressive Cathedral, a large castle, many very old churches and some other ancient buildings. It also has some interesting second hand/antique shops, an amazing concentration of bus kiosks in its downtown area, and can get very busy.

Here are a couple of pictures of the cathedral:

Our Next stop was Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. The Dales are beautiful steep sloped river valleys. In May, and most of the rest of spring and summer, they are an amazing rich green, full of sheep and lambs and criss crossed by an astounding network of stone walls. Jean and I walked to some neighboring villages and then I hiked up the Great Shunner Fell, a local high point. Here are some photos:

I'll post more about our trip soon.

Back to repairs

Between hikes and wood working and other stuff, I have been jacking up the south end of my barn and tearing out the rotted sill. The main 8"x8" post is now 4' inches in the air along with all the studs, which worries me on windy days like this one. I capped off the foundation with mortar and will install a couple of treated 2x8s as the new sill when the mortar cures. Then I can lower the end of the barn and secure it.

Another Stream Picture... hope you can stand it.

This is of Smith Brook taken on a trail about 2 miles from home. I still haven't taken a picture that satisfies me, so I'll keep trying until the streams run dry or I finally get it right.

More Woodworking

I am still practicing turning and reeding. Here is a picture of a practice leg made from a spruce 2x4. Still need to refine my technique before I make 8 mahogany ones for a pair of night stands.

Spring ...almost, and the Ninja Duck.... no almost about him.

Spring has almost arrived at the head of Apple Valley. The fields are green but the trees are still leafless.

On the other hand the neighbor's attack duck is in full season.

My cousin thought that if I looked less like Mickey Mouse and more like Donald Duck things might be okay. My wife suggested not wearing amy red jacket might help. So I left my red jacket on the coat rack, and not having a sailor suit I settled for just wearing a blue jacket. However, as you can see the attack was still on. The darn duck chased me for about 100 yards before giving up.

Apple Valley Brook

Here are a few pictures of Apple Valley Brook. One feeder of this stream passes underneath my barn. These pictures were taken about 2 miles downstream.

Company and an Attack Duck

Had a weekend full of great company including long time friends from Glen Rock (two of whom now live in New Hampshire) and Jean's cousin, now from LA.

The really exciting news is that I have now had my fourth encounter with my neighbors Ninja attack duck. The neighbor keeps 15 Guinea fowl that wander around the neighborhood looking for bugs and seeds to eat. They make a great fuss and move and sound like a mix of cartoon characters and windup toys. They are great fun to watch and I am really happy to have them around. He also has a noisy gander and the aforementioned duck (probably a drake).

The duck and gander are nearly inseparable. I walk past the neighbor's house most days. Last week the duck decided I was major threat to him, the property, the fowl, or the world in general, I am not sure which. He started running ( waddling) after me, as fast as he could, all the while grumbling (quacking) away. I figured that perhaps he thought I would have some feed for him and would go away when I showed him I didn't. However, when I let him catch up to me he started pecking violently at my shoes and fluttering his wings.

This has happened three more times, this last with Jean as my witness. Its pretty funny to watch, but also pretty dangerous for the duck. I had to flag down two cars to keep them from hitting him as he ran across the road to get to me. All the while, the gander is noisily cheering the duck on. I also have to be careful not to hurt the duck as I ward him off and try to walk past. I have no idea what triggered this odd behavior. I don't know if he is doing this to anyone else. He certainly showed no interest in Jean.

Keystone Arches Bridge Trail

Here are some photos of the Westfield River taken on a trail about an hour from here. Jean and I walked along the Keystone Arch Bridge Trail, which follows the river for about two miles. The ten bridges were built around 1840 to carry the rail line that ran from Boston to Albany. It's amazing what people accomplished in this terrain with just man and ox power.



We helped clear some brush from the top of one bridge and cleaned up some refuse piles left by the 4 wheeler Bud Light crowd. [Bud Light cans seem to make up about 80 %of trail side and road side litter around here. Sometimes I wish that stuff were as poisonous as it tastes.]

Rock climbers  cleared brush and even medium sized trees from the face of the 70 foot high bridge.

 Here's a picture of the trail boss at work supervising the cleanup. He must have been the supervisor, he was the only one not working.

Actually, the event was run by Meredyth Babcock a very dedicated and talented worker for Wild and Scenic Westfield River, who did not stand still long enough to have her picture taken.

Spring Runoff

The streams of New England are perhaps its best natural features, especially when in spring spate. Apple Valley Brook, Smith Brook are two, very nearby examples. Apple Valley Brook goes largely unnoticed because there is a road along side it and so people just drive past without noticing its two miles of small but beautiful cascades. If the road were a foot trail the brook would be much better known. Smith Brook drains a small reservoir, which is till frozen over right now. It crosses Hawley Road, heads steeply downstream and then passes a few lonely trails so it is still relatively unknown except to those who live very close to it. I took a few pictures but they were not very good. I'll try to get better ones posted while they are still running with spring melt water. Where is Julia Verbrugge when I need her?

More Practice Turning and Reeding

Here's another practice piece. I am using parts of spruce 2 x 4 s. I have  some way to go before I start using high quality woods.

On Facebook Discovering the Real Me

I think facebook has caught up with who I really am. Facebook publishes advertisements on a sidebar. The sidebar on the pages I saw used to be full of ads about how to meet attractive women. Now its full of ads for medications and health remedies ( and now I see one for plastic surgery).

I posted this note on Facebook and then I followed up with this comment:

I posted a picture of some of my handiwork and 9 people noticed. I posted about Facebook finding out I'm not so young and 32 people notice. There is no justice in this world.

Returning to wood turning

A while ago I posted some drawings for night stands I hope to make which showed the turned and reeded legs. Then I started work on the china cabinet and was pretty successful on turning the the finial for the top molding. After that I managed to forget just about all I learned about turning wood so back to square one. After turning out a candlestick too ugly to show anyone, I tried again. This time using a brass one as a sort of model.

Finally

Over three hundred pieces of wood cut, lots of planing, shaping, chiseling, 

shellacking and compounding, after I started its about complete. If I could

measure correctly  and cut straight, it would have gone a lot faster, but it still

would have has as many pieces to make.

Music and Life

Tuesday I listened to a broadcast of a performance of a Beethoven string quartet by a group that is considered a rising star among classical musicians. It seemed that they got all the notes but none of the music. Intonation, phrasing, melody, were all missing. It sounded as abstract as a piece by a post modernist.

That evening I went to a concert given by Opus One, a chamber orchestra comprised mostly of students from U MAss Amherst. Their performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 lacked the extreme precision of professionals but it was still the best, most exciting, and satisfying performance of this piece I've ever heard. They caught the melody, the structure, the implied phrasing, perfectly. One could see how focused they were and feel the enthusiasm they felt for the music.

Thinking about this a bit, I realized it was a perfect metaphor for the way many of us live at least part of the time. We are so busy getting the details perfect while missing out on the spirit of the things we do. Make sure you live the melody, not just the notes.