One less negative to living in this small southern town.

Living in this wonderful relatively small town certainly has very powerful advantages and disadvantages.  Some we are clearly aware of almost on a daily basis, and others we may not be.  Linda and I could live almost anywhere at this point in our life.  We love to travel, but we really love living right here.  I'll be talking about the many reasons we are so happy living right where we are in future blogs.  But for now, I'm going to move into an area that I typically have a short fuse for;  negativity, the problems with living in a small town.

I've got to get back to work in a minute, so I'll just touch on the ones that come to mind:

1)  diversity.  To me, this is probably the biggest negative.  Diversity of, well everything.  Cultures, ideas, vantage points, food, colors, accents, design, architecture, music, art, entertainment.  Well, with awareness and inexpensive flights these days, this too can be compensated for.  Really appreciating and savoring the few diverse exchanges that do arise right here.  I recently had this conversation with a customer from Santa Cruz, who didn't seem to believe that they had possibly any more true diversity than we might.  Maybe more cultures, etc, but there didn't seem to be much of a mix.  (I'm guessing she's wrong, but really hard to say).

Ok, looking like most of the rest of my negatives of living in a small town seem to relate to #1.

Food.  Almost everything food related - we are short on;Decent grocery stores.  Decent restaurants.  Cooking stores.  Cooking classes.

2)  Lets start with restaurants.  Often I come to the conclusion that my Buddhist friends are right in many ways.  If you look deep enough, maybe there is no wrong or bad.  Very few good restaurants in the area has made Linda a great cook.  And, it's certainly inspired us, when we travel, to get off the beaten path, to plan each meal that we can, and enjoy (and hopefully learn from) each wonderful smell, taste and every morsel.

3)  Decent grocery stores.  It has seemed absolutely ridiculous that we have never had a good grocery store in this city of almost 40,000 and combined population of 100,000 of the quad cities.  A few years ago Aldi arrived, just in time for many of us.  Although many here don't like Aldi, don't want to loan the a quarter for the cart, don't want to bring there own green bag in or pay a nickel for a bag, and say they don't like the off brands.  But many of us have come to cherish Aldi.  Really good produce, and cheap!  But it's not gorgeous, lined up, and shined like a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or Fresh Market, Super Target, or our recent favorite Earth Fare.  But none of these compare (to me) to the local farmer's markets - with really local produce - ah - looking forward to Spring.

Ok, now for the reason for this blog post.  Linda was almost in tears this morning when she brought in the paper.  The front page of the local paper - 55,000 square foot Publix to be built on the Books-A-Million site (another big favorite of ours).  Ok, the city commission will not ether confirm or deny this, but we are already counting on it. 

This is big.  Just not having a good grocery store has sent many friends of ours packing.  Ok, let me think, what will be our first purchases when they open:

1)  an olive and artichoke mix from the olive bar

2)  bread (oh, did I say that we don't even have a bakery here!).  Fresh french baguette, heavy crusty whole grain bread, Real sour dough.  Except for corn bread, the southern versions of breads generally don't compare.

3)  Sushi to go.  Although I'm sure I will generally continue to get my sushi from our absolute fav, the Rice Box in North Florence.

4)  Gourmet Deli.  Ok, it's 9:40 and I've worked myself up into a big hunger.  Back to our Buddhist friend's thoughts.  Perhaps this Publix isn't such a good idea.  Maybe Publix and a gym membership will be the trick.  Maybe I should like the city council "confirm or deny" this before I get too excited.

Steve Jobs steps down

What a great ride it's been for those of us who have benefitted from Steve's creative genius for the past quarter of a century.  Thank you Steve.  Get well, and let's get back to business.

celebrating martin luther king today in alabama

I've been thinking about and celebrating all of Martin Luther King's accomplishments today.  I know we live in a better place thanks to him.  We've made so much progress since I was a kid.  But I think he would agree that there's more work to be done.

soon to be walnut furniture

soon to be walnut furniture

These mostly walnut slabs are getting closer to becoming walnut furniture.  They have another year or so of air drying, before the go into the kiln for a month.  Then they'll be (and I'll be) ready to start designing and making walnut furniture.  See more walnut furniture here.

walnut dining table on display

This walnut dining table is still on display at the Florence Public Library.  It was made from scraps that we accumulated from time to time.  Twice a year or so we have enough scraps two build a few tables.  The whiter color is the sapwood of the walnut tree.  See more walnut dining tables here.

walnut timber bench

walnut timber bench

More pics from the photo shoot last week.  We made this walnut timber bench back in November.  Another really simple design.  Just notched out a couple of spots for the little fat legs and bolted them in.  You won't see many pieces this massive from us.  The four year's of air drying time before it went in the kiln takes more slow patience than even we have here in North Alabama.  See more benches here.

solid walnut console

Solid Walnut Console

Solid Walnut Console

We completed this solid walnut console last week as well.  This walnut bulging slab has great lines - well curves.  And, what do you know??  Another dimensional joint on the legs.  We needed a way to stabilize the the pair of long legs of this solid walnut console table.  And I think the little dimensional joint suits it just right.  Just click here if you'd like to see more walnut console tables

walnut desk

I finally got around to taking some pics of this solid walnut desk last week.  The top is made from two natural edge walnut slabs.  I'll try to get more pics this week to show a new use of my dimensional joint - on the table leg.  This walnut desk has three legs. And, like most of the furniture we make around here, is heavy.

timber slabs will be furniture soon

Soon to be timber slab furniture.  We cut these massive oak timbers into slabs and stacked them to dry back in 2007.  They've been air drying since, and are now ready to go into the kiln.  That'll take a month or so, and soon they'll be ready to build furniture from.

I'll be sure to post as soon as we get them back from the kiln.  Timber Slab Furniture.

snow day

Snow day today.  After what must be a record snowfall last night of 11", we will be closed today.  Way down here in the Southeast, we don't know what snow clearing equipment is.  And certainly very few knows how to drive on this stuff.  Looks like a great day to work on lots of website, furniture design, and marketing projects.  Ok, we might just make a little time to play!

Snow Day.

sunrise on the way to work

We get started at 7:00 am each morning during the week, and during these short winter days, are ahead of the sunrise.  Last week we were greeted by this beautiful sunrise on the way to work.  For my local buddies, this pic was taken overlooking McFarland Park, with the Tennessee River and marina just behind.

Tennessee River View

The high Saturday was 39 degrees, but must have been the hottest 39 degrees ever. With this Tennessee River view and Southern exposure from our back deck, Linda, I and our three pups baked in the radiently warm and soothing sun.  Perfect day to get caught up on some overdue reading and r&r.  Tennessee River View.

Welcome master craftsman Ross Leblanc

It's always a treat to visit and share with and work with other woodworkers.  But over these past several weeks, it's been a total blast working with master craftsman Ross Leblanc.  In addition to being an amazing artist and craftsman, he's got such a fun spirit.

Ross recently moved back to the area and I'm hoping he'll continue to help us with some of our most interesting/challenging projects.  I'm in awe of master craftsman Ross Leblanc's masterful woodworking skills. 

IHFC InterHall

!!!!!  I just couldn't wait to share the news that we will be exhibiting our furniture in what I believe to be the best venue in the world.  The High Point Market is clearly the number one market in the world for furniture (ok, I understand that Milan has more buyers, but it is open to the public where High Point is for the trade only).  And InterHall is without question the number one venue in High Point.  It is a "rigorous juried" selection process.  Gaye Outlaw, from InterHall leasing stopped by and visited with us at the Fall Market, but we just recently found out that we are in.  Help us celebrate our first showing in our InterHall venue in space IH200 in April.

Regional Furniture

More and more I cherish the nuances of life.  Being a southerner you have to love accents.  And I always enjoy hearing a Californian explain that they don't have an accent!  Ha!  This morning a friend from Alabama, that lives in New Orleans, Michigan and Argentina emailed this pic, thinking it was a "cajun swing".  Any Alabaman know's this unique piece of furniture was originally designed and developed in North Alabama in the early '70's.

I think each part of the country is proud of and holds strong ties to their uniqueness, wherever they can find it.  And it seems furniture is a good example.  Thinking about american regional furniture this morning, my first thoughts were of adirondack chairs.  But with my second cup of coffee, combined with what friends might suggest an extra dose of a.d.d, my mind whirled through;  rustic furniture's wonderful sticks and twigs, one of my personal faves - mid centery modern that I grew up bumping into as I was learning to walk, shaker's plain and functional furniture following (or leading) their rigid spiritual journey), Williamsburg  - which seems to have closer ties to Southern London than it does Virginia, then I took a deep breath in an appreciation for the wonderful Greene and Greene style of exposed joinery.

If you have an appreciation for a style of regional furniture, or if you have a pic of your favorite piece of regional furniture please share.

curved walnut bench

We have one more leg to mortise into this solid walnut bench.  But I'm beginning to wonder if the bench is straight??

sharp saw blades

In woodworking and furniture making, sharp tools are a must.  Here in North Alabama, the only place to take our carbide tipped saw blades is to the professionals at Miner Saw.  Pictured are blades ranging in size from 7 1//2" to 16"

last project of the year

Yesterday we traveled to Nashville, delivered and installed our last project of the year - a massive solid walnut entertainment center and shelves.  The top of the entertainment center is 4" thick.  The shelves are 11 1/2 feet long.  I've got to remember to bring my photography lighting in the future.

alabama white christmas

We woke up to a beautiful surprise this year.  Santa dropped off a white Christmas present last night.  Here in North Alabama, we don't see many of these.  Come to think of it, I THINK i've seen maybe a couple in my past 52 years.  Alabama white Christmas.

A bigun in the sawmill

This massive oak log just barely fit in our really big sawmill.  We can cut a log five feet in diameter, but this bigun's even bigger.  So Monday, we had to cut about 5" off of the bulge of each side to help "her" fit.

From here, we'll cut slabs till we get down to 18" or so from the ground.  Then we'll use the remaining log as a table top to plane some big slabs that we just got back from the kiln.