A Series of Tubes

At work one day this winter I found a 20" diameter by 24" long cardboard tube.  I had no idea what it had been used for, but that little hypertufa lightbulb in my head went "ding".

I brought the home and took it into the house because I thought our son (five at the time) might enjoy playing with it for a day or two.  He was thrilled beyond belief, and spent the whole evening in his pillow-filled "reading hole", as he called it.  The next day he told me that it was "the best thing I'd ever given him".  My daughter was miffed that she didn't get one.

Lucky for me, I found another one at work the next day.  When I brought the second one home there was peace in the house.  The kids could now go to their respective holes and hide...or launch pillows at each other.

Then they figured out how to lay the tubes on their sides, climb in, and roll around the kitchen.  What could I say, it was winter.

A couple days later I came home to find that they had decorated the tubes with markers: Grace's read "Home Sweet Home" and "Keep Out".  I felt so guilty, knowing that the tubes were headed for destruction in the spring.  For weeks I tried to get the tubes shuffled of to the garage but the kids objected.  I finally put them in the basement and hoped the kids forget about them.

With a heavy heart I laid them on the table saw a couple weeks ago and cut them into rings.  Sorry kids!

The tubes were so stiff that packing the hypertufa mix against the sides was a breeze.  I included a couple short pieces of 1" tube for drainage holes in the bottom.  

This photo was taken a week after casting.  I unwrapped it for the photo and then rewrapped it for another 3 weeks to cure.

This is a different trough then the one above, but cast using a similar slice of the tube.

I've got a few more round troughs to make.  I just hope that the kids don't see any incriminating evidence in the garage.

Easter Sunday

pulsatilla vulgaris

torta pasqualina

Pasque Flower and Easter tart.  Springtime delicacies.

Really, Winter?

Light snow this morning.  Not at all what any of us want right now.

The magnolia was nice while it lasted.

Spring Sunday

After a long, wet Saturday morning volunteering at Laurelwood Arboretum, I had a sunny Sunday afternoon to continue the spring cleanup in my own garden.  Heading to the backyard on the path by the garage, I passed the gorgeous viburnum farreri 'nanum' in bloom, and had one of those "What the...???" moments.

An overwintered Eastern Comma butterfly?

Bracket Shelf

It's too cold in the winter to cast hypertufa, or to work for long in my unheated wood shop, so I end up working on things at the kitchen table.  We recently bought a new bedroom set for the master bedroom and I felt like we needed a new bracket shelf too.  I started this one with 1x8"pine, some leftover molding, pink rigid foam, and Apoxy clay.  It felt good to work on something for a change.  Cabin fever drives me crazy.

I chose a sort of Gothic oak leaf pattern, but made it up as I went along.  It took about 4 hours to do the floral modeling.

I painted it with an acrylic primer and hung it up in the bedroom so my wife and I could think about a finish for it. The shelf will be a pedestal for vases of flowers and various sculptures throughout the year, so I don't want anything too attention-grabbing.

I think that we've settled on a light slate paint color...or maybe a linen color...or maybe silver leaf.

We'll just enjoy it in the meantime.

Finally

When the witch hazel opens up, it's on.

Local Warming

'

The glacier is retreating in NJ.

The troughs are emerging...

...slowly.