A couple weeks ago a friend phoned to ask me if I could use some of her barn wood. She and her husband were refurbishing some of the buildings on their farm and there was a stack of lumber from a section of barn that had to be rebuilt. She said they were going to burn it, but recalled that I had said I could use some old barn wood for making picture frames.Two days later I pulled in at her place, meeting up with her and her husband to take a look at the pile of wood. It was a chilly spring day with gray clouds and a still-wet ground from an early morning shower of cold rain. As we stood there chatting, all three of us looking down at the pile of lumber I recalled the second email I ever received from my husband, back when we were first getting to know each other.It was a Sunday afternoon toward the end of January, and he related to me the morning's events including his having gone to a friends house who needed him to rebuild some piece of equipment (my husband is a mechanical engineer). He told me about spending a couple of hours in the drizzling rain, looking at a poking through an old pile of junk at his friend's house to see what odds and ends might be there that could be used in the rebuild.That was one of the very first clues I had that this would be the man I would marry.You see, from my own childhood memories and life time of living a life influenced quietly by my country roots, there has always been this thing with my father, my brothers, my sister, me ... you set things aside that you might be able to make use of later. Not as pack rats. No, this is a different thing. This is resourcefulness.You put things aside and at some later time when you want to make something or repair something you go to your "store". What do I have on hand I could use to make that with, or fix that with?I am not a person who has trouble letting go of things I no longer need, I am not a pack rat by any means. I am, however, a person who loves to make things and so when I look at piles of wood or "junk", twigs in the yard, dried thistles growing in a field, scraps of wood siding that have been blown off our old barn, etc. I think to myself, "Hmm ... I think I could make something with this," and so I put it aside.I have had the experience of both living in the country where you don't just up and run off to the store every time you need something, and I have lived in the city where you did do just that. I do know what it is to be both ways.One of the reasons I wanted to return to the country was that I wanted to live that simpler life again where you didn't just up and run off to the store. Where you make do with what you have on hand, you let things in the environment stir your imagination rather than being entertained by bright lights and movie theaters and so forth.When my husband told me about standing around in the drizzle for two hours on a cold January morning looking through and gazing at a junk pile, getting ideas of how to solve a problem by using whatever was on hand, I knew he was someone I wanted to know. As I learned more about him I found out that when he needs something he is more likely to create an invention, a work-around, a gadget, etc. to serve the purpose at hand.I loved that, because that is how my father has always been. You know, for all of the years I lived with my parents from childhood to adulthood, they always had the same washing machine. Anytime anything happened to it, Dad would fix it. Dad could fix it. He had skills along with the wit and imagination people who grow up on farms must have in order to survive. Mom is like that too. If she wasn't, and if they weren't, I don't know how they would have raised five kids the way they did.I once knew someone a little too well whose mantra was, "We'll just buy a new one." That's an expensive way to live, and the expense is in a lot more than just the actual dollars you spend. So, gas prices have gone up and other things have become more expensive as a result. All true. For me though, the changing economy is not something that I look at negatively, even though I know I could. My wish for us all is that we take this as an opportunity to learn new skills of resourcefulness, to pass along a love of resourcefulness to our children and their children. Something is broken, how I could I learn to fix it myself? I need a new this, that, or the other thing ... how could I make that or something like it myself? Someone needs a gift, what could I make that would give that person an "Ah, ha" moment? I'm bored. Well, we have a new pile of lumber from someone else's old barn stacked up in the back of our barn. The time will come when we will use some of it to make some picture frames, maybe a bench, or ... who knows. It will be fun figuring it out.My husband has very cool skills, skills that I appreciate profoundly. When I need something, he is likely to come up with a clever way of building or rigging something to suit my needs. We want to go bicycling on the Erie Canal bike path, but we need to be able to take Blu with us. So my husband came up with a cool solution. We won a toddler stroller/trailer on eBay and this weekend my husband put his ingenuity and skills to work transforming it into a trailer with a special cage top to accommodate Blu (I'll photograph it someone soon with Blu in it so you can see how cool it is).I loved the fact that we needed something that wasn't really available and he came up with a way to take something that did exist and turn it into the thing we needed. When I needed a solution for hanging my paintings at Zambistro Restuarant in a way that would not damage their walls, he invented a system for hanging them that is completely unobtrusive and does not require any holes whatsoever in their walls, mouldings, or ceilings. How cool is that? Very cool, honey.Thus the title of today's blog: Baby's got skills.Tomorrow is his birthday, so today and this week I especially celebrate him.Before I end off, I just wanted to let you know I have published the Emily Sweater Pattern, along with the pattern for a hat to match. I am sharing the hat pattern for free; the sweater with matching hat pattern together are for sale in both a print version and online download at my website or in my Etsy Store. The pattern is twelve pages with detailed tips, instructions, and closeup shots of stitches, etc. It also includes a full-color cover and two personal journal pages for recording your own project details and photos. By mid-June I will be publishing at least three Christmas Stocking patterns, so be on the look out for those. Hope you have a wonderful week!Best wishes,firefly
A couple weeks ago a friend phoned to ask me if I could use some of her barn wood. She and her husband were refurbishing some of the buildings on their farm and there was a stack of lumber from a section of barn that had to be rebuilt. She said they were going to burn it, but recalled that I had said I could use some old barn wood for making picture frames.
Two days later I pulled in at her place, meeting up with her and her husband to take a look at the pile of wood. It was a chilly spring day with gray clouds and a still-wet ground from an early morning shower of cold rain. As we stood there chatting, all three of us looking down at the pile of lumber I recalled the second email I ever received from my husband, back when we were first getting to know each other.
It was a Sunday afternoon toward the end of January, and he related to me the morning's events including his having gone to a friends house who needed him to rebuild some piece of equipment (my husband is a mechanical engineer). He told me about spending a couple of hours in the drizzling rain, looking at a poking through an old pile of junk at his friend's house to see what odds and ends might be there that could be used in the rebuild.
That was one of the very first clues I had that this would be the man I would marry.
You see, from my own childhood memories and life time of living a life influenced quietly by my country roots, there has always been this thing with my father, my brothers, my sister, me ... you set things aside that you might be able to make use of later. Not as pack rats. No, this is a different thing. This is resourcefulness.
You put things aside and at some later time when you want to make something or repair something you go to your "store". What do I have on hand I could use to make that with, or fix that with?
I am not a person who has trouble letting go of things I no longer need, I am not a pack rat by any means. I am, however, a person who loves to make things and so when I look at piles of wood or "junk", twigs in the yard, dried thistles growing in a field, scraps of wood siding that have been blown off our old barn, etc. I think to myself, "Hmm ... I think I could make something with this," and so I put it aside.
I have had the experience of both living in the country where you don't just up and run off to the store every time you need something, and I have lived in the city where you did do just that. I do know what it is to be both ways.
One of the reasons I wanted to return to the country was that I wanted to live that simpler life again where you didn't just up and run off to the store. Where you make do with what you have on hand, you let things in the environment stir your imagination rather than being entertained by bright lights and movie theaters and so forth.
When my husband told me about standing around in the drizzle for two hours on a cold January morning looking through and gazing at a junk pile, getting ideas of how to solve a problem by using whatever was on hand, I knew he was someone I wanted to know. As I learned more about him I found out that when he needs something he is more likely to create an invention, a work-around, a gadget, etc. to serve the purpose at hand.
I loved that, because that is how my father has always been. You know, for all of the years I lived with my parents from childhood to adulthood, they always had the same washing machine. Anytime anything happened to it, Dad would fix it. Dad could fix it. He had skills along with the wit and imagination people who grow up on farms must have in order to survive. Mom is like that too. If she wasn't, and if they weren't, I don't know how they would have raised five kids the way they did.
I once knew someone a little too well whose mantra was, "We'll just buy a new one." That's an expensive way to live, and the expense is in a lot more than just the actual dollars you spend.
So, gas prices have gone up and other things have become more expensive as a result. All true. For me though, the changing economy is not something that I look at negatively, even though I know I could. My wish for us all is that we take this as an opportunity to learn new skills of resourcefulness, to pass along a love of resourcefulness to our children and their children.
Something is broken, how I could I learn to fix it myself? I need a new this, that, or the other thing ... how could I make that or something like it myself? Someone needs a gift, what could I make that would give that person an "Ah, ha" moment? I'm bored.
Well, we have a new pile of lumber from someone else's old barn stacked up in the back of our barn. The time will come when we will use some of it to make some picture frames, maybe a bench, or ... who knows. It will be fun figuring it out.
My husband has very cool skills, skills that I appreciate profoundly. When I need something, he is likely to come up with a clever way of building or rigging something to suit my needs. We want to go bicycling on the Erie Canal bike path, but we need to be able to take Blu with us. So my husband came up with a cool solution. We won a toddler stroller/trailer on eBay and this weekend my husband put his ingenuity and skills to work transforming it into a trailer with a special cage top to accommodate Blu (I'll photograph it someone soon with Blu in it so you can see how cool it is).
I loved the fact that we needed something that wasn't really available and he came up with a way to take something that did exist and turn it into the thing we needed.
When I needed a solution for hanging my paintings at Zambistro Restuarant in a way that would not damage their walls, he invented a system for hanging them that is completely unobtrusive and does not require any holes whatsoever in their walls, mouldings, or ceilings. How cool is that? Very cool, honey.
Thus the title of today's blog: Baby's got skills.
Tomorrow is his birthday, so today and this week I especially celebrate him.
Before I end off, I just wanted to let you know I have published the Emily Sweater Pattern, along with the pattern for a hat to match. I am sharing the hat pattern for free; the sweater with matching hat pattern together are for sale in both a print version and online download at my website or in my Etsy Store. The pattern is twelve pages with detailed tips, instructions, and closeup shots of stitches, etc. It also includes a full-color cover and two personal journal pages for recording your own project details and photos.
By mid-June I will be publishing at least three Christmas Stocking patterns, so be on the look out for those.
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Best wishes,
firefly