Men Say The Darndest Things

Today I have been the most easy going spouse imaginable.  Tony came into the kitchen and suggested I might be putting too many nuts in the salad….He turned off the corn that was cooking for 30 seconds because he thought it would overcook and even asked me what’s for supper tomorrow before we had  finished this evening’s dinner.  These actions, on a typical day, sometimes cause  the throwing of sharp objects.  But not today.   Today,  I just looked at him adoringly, batted my eyelashes and thought to myself, Don’t men say the darndest thing?…. sigh.  That’s because today is the day that Tony finished and brought home my new sewing table.  There are some serious perks to being married to The Lunenburg Furniture Co.

  I’m jealous of myself.  I have never seen a more beautiful sewing table.  There’s even room for one more machine.  I guess I’ll have to get one more machine.

Here’s a detail shot.  I know I’m slightly biased, but the man is truly a brilliant wood worker.  I can’t say that as a family of two crafts people and one hungry kid that we have money to spare for things like vacations or dental work, but we are rich in furniture, hats and love.  

The man, himself.  Brilliant woodworker.  Electrician…not so much.  He disconnected the wires to the motor of my machine and then couldn’t remember how to reconnect them.  Made for an entertaining, spark filled hour.  My job was to unplug and replug the machine while he tried every possible combination.  I was a bit tense and he assured me that there was nothing to be scared of, but in the same breath he asked me if I knew what to do if he got electrocuted.  He explained that I should push him away from the machine, but not with the front of my hands because the muscles on my hands would clamp around him and I would get electrocuted, too.  So, while plugging and unplugging and running up and down the basement stairs to reset the fuse, I pondered techniques for pushing him out of the way should he start convulsing.  I’d body check him…no wait, I scanned the studio for some object that didn’t conduct electricity…oh,  the soles of my shoes are rubber.  If the need arises, I could kick him.  But then a radical thought popped into my head.  Hey, Tony, if you were being electrocuted, could I pull the plug?  Quite a bit of laughter.  Yes, I could pull the plug. so glad it didn’t come to that.    The machine is now successfully rewired.

Here are a couple of my latest creations made on my straw braid machine.  Now that I have this beautiful table with a cut out for the machine,  I will be able to make these hats without raising my shoulders to my ears.

John is our famous knot man. You can find him most summer and fall days on the Lunenburg waterfront.  I made the hat.  John did the rope work.

Just modelling, but man oh man does this porkpie look perfect on her.

I hand dyed the straw braid on this one.

I often make these pretty hats while listening to audio books about not so pretty history or politics.  I think I’m trying to create an equilibrium.

This hat is not made from straw braid.  It is hand blocked seagrass, but it is still worthy of a mention.  Helene spent almost an hour with me in my studio helping to design her hat.  When she came the following day to the farmers market to pick it up, she burst into tears.  A total first.  I think she was touched that the hat was really and truly made for her.  Her husband was a little baffled by her tears, but as a woman of a certain age that cries at insurance commercials I completely understood the reaction.  Happy to report that the tears didn’t last long.