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| The Bahamas? Nope, Potters beach in the Thousand Islands
©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com
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New and improved department
Last May, while visiting our kids
in the North West, my favorite son in law took me to visit one of his
customer’s showrooms. The guy harvests enormous hardwood trees that have become unmanageable
in size, ready to fall down or whatever, from private
property owners or city parks in the Seattle area. He then hauls them out to his one man
sawmill, cuts them into thick slabs and has his crew turn them into beautiful
custom dining room tables and desks.
These have “live edges” and
retain many of the unique characteristics of the tree they were cut from, so
you won’t find any straight edges. These one of a kind pieces are typically
found in boardrooms, executive suites and really nice homes. If nothing else, we share the same
tastes, so we set out to upgrade our
dining room set here. We are on our way to replacing furniture we had acquired
before we got married, that we had brought to the island because we had managed to upgrade at home in California.
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| Our new Cherry wood dining room table |
To make a long boring story much
shorter, we found a local with his own one man saw mill who harvests trees out
of the upstate New York woods. This fella has his own drying warehouse full of
slabs of hardwoods, with the tools and the skills to replicate anything you can
dream up.
For all intent and purposes, he is out in the woods, off the beaten path, with no on-line presence and relies on word of mouth for new customers. The result is they are limited in number and with the local economy being what it is, he works for much less than the big guys in Seattle. He seems to have no idea what this stuff could go for, if sold to city slickers. It’s like he’s sitting on a ham sandwich starving to death.
For all intent and purposes, he is out in the woods, off the beaten path, with no on-line presence and relies on word of mouth for new customers. The result is they are limited in number and with the local economy being what it is, he works for much less than the big guys in Seattle. He seems to have no idea what this stuff could go for, if sold to city slickers. It’s like he’s sitting on a ham sandwich starving to death.
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| Click only ONCE to enlarge any photo |
Jumping at the chance to help us
both out, we handpicked the burl slabs and commissioned a Cherry table with a
half dozen Adirondack styled chairs of our own design. The result has pleased
us so much that we have several other pieces in various stages of planning for
both here and some we would like to ship home to California.
Visits and visitors
Last month we had friends from
North Carolina who came to visit for several days.
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| Chuck, Allie , Rachel and Jennifer |
While Chuck is retired military, we have known Jennifer the
longest, when I recruited her years ago as a teenager to work as our lighting
technician for our magic production. I had attended some event where she was working
and was immediately impressed by her skill, artistic ability and plain “get er'
done” work ethic. She married and moved away but always kept in touch.
Naturally, while here, we spent our day’s lollygagging about, swimming, boating and visiting the islands. It may not be the best thing to do in the world, but it sure beats whatever comes in second. It was great to have them.
Naturally, while here, we spent our day’s lollygagging about, swimming, boating and visiting the islands. It may not be the best thing to do in the world, but it sure beats whatever comes in second. It was great to have them.
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| Pierre, mom, handsome, Lorraine and georgeous |
Next, we visited my mother and
sister in the Toronto area for a few days and returned via Niagara Falls. Very
touristy, but splendid just the same.
Bonus feature
So, how about you? What is new and exciting in your world?
