on the table

i have taken on an important project of importance. it's very exciting and a little daunting. but mostly, i'm looking forward to learning.

i'm going to make a harvest table for our new loft!

i'm very lucky to have an uncle-in-law who lives on a commune in orillia, is an amazing teacher and mentor, is heaps of fun to hang out with, and is great with woodworking. his community has a couple of barns and a bunch of wood lying about. so we're going to salvage some of it and he's going to teach me how to choose the type of wood, plane it, finish it, attach legs, AND WHAT HAVE YOU!

there are several beautiful things about this: a) i get to learn how to make a frikkin' table, g) i get to spend three or four weekends outside in the trees, 5) the table in our loft will be meaningful, will have a story, and 9) it's going to become a great memory of time spent with gord.

...which brings me to a recent realization. buying stuff often robs us of the chance to connect with people. i could go into ikea for half an hour, look at hundreds of tables, pick one, buy it and leave, all without interacting with anyone (especially now that they have those infuriating self-check-out machines). but when you choose to make something yourself, especially when you need to ask someone to help you learn how, you turn the acquisition of stuff into a social opportunity, one that builds community.

fostering community is so important - we need to be accountable to people other than ourselves.