We found this chest of drawers at an estate sale several years ago. I love the looks of it. I loaned it to one of the kids for awhile, but it has been sitting empty in the garage for at least the past year ... collecting dust and spider webs 'til yesterday when I sanded it lightly and slathered it in tung oil. I did almost finish the burlap lampshade too ... but not the book, I may pick up the book later today. After that little almost big deal yesterday morning, I started thinking about how we select what we think is valuable ... as in where we spend our seconds, minutes, hours ... days ... nights. I always remember the St.Francis quote ... when asked how he might spend his last day if he knew he would die at sunset, he replied, I'd keep on hoeing my garden. I should go find that quote, because I don't think I have it here in the side bar, but I'd like to.
The top drawer in this chest required extensive repair. It amazes me to see the saw bites, chisel marks ... bird pecks ... in the old wood of these chest of drawers that I collect specifically for my nest at the coast. There is just something inexplicably right about old chest of drawers. The three bottom boards to the drawer were falling out, and whooper-jawed. I smiled at the ingenuity of workmanship which went in to making that drawer ... made up as he went along. Like the other chest I worked on recently, this one looks pretty good from the outside, but inside ... lol ... you can see that it's really just a bunch of useful scraps held together with a dream and a prayer. I wish I had taken a picture of that lady's woodpile ... and of the separate pile, too good to burn, waiting for it's purpose. Some of the little pieces of this drawer might have come out of a pile like that back when. These chests are not beautiful in the conventional sense ...

... I like them though.

Here's that lampshade coming along. Between the dust from cleaning and sanding the chest, and the burlap fibers, I was sneezing every few minutes yesterday ... then Sammy would woof and look at me like achooo meant something in dog language. That dog makes me laugh. It was a good day. I started thinking about what's the most fun I've ever had in an airplane and there is not answer to that ... maybe it was the last flight, maybe it is the next flight. This T-6 was a hoot to fly. I flew it with the canopy open ... the air blew the mascara right off my eyelashes. Loops and rolls ... hanging upside down painting the sky with joy. A good flight.
... the best, most fun flight ... it's still out there.

Tomorrow we are going to go see about some leaves. If there are some beautiful ones, and I bet there will be, I'll bring them home and dip them in clear wax. I've seen that done recently, and it's kinda perfect. My little girl would enjoy making that mess.