Roll back the tape: 1960, Cincinnati, Ohio, 3 am. My upstairs bedroom. Headphones on, I’m squinting in the dark at the lighted dial of my Hallicrafter S-38e short wave radio, with a Q-multiplier attached that I built from a Heathkit. The S-38e was produced from 1957 to 1961, making it the end of the Hallicrafters S-38 line of shortwave…READ MORE >
I climbed down out of the Crow’s Nest and spent a recent Saturday afternoon worrying a pile of knotty red oak rounds with a maul and wedge, whittling them down to size for the wood stove. As I split them open, I enjoyed seeing the beautiful swirling grains in the wood, exposed to the sunlight…READ MORE >
Each morning on the way to the barn we walk under the hanging limbs of the great beech tree that stands by the corner of our house. Names and dates carved long ago on the smooth, gray trunk are dark and distorted, barely legible. The tremendous number of beechnuts that grow on a tree this…READ MORE >
My interest in gourds began when I was introduced to the axatse, a rhythm instrument used in West African drumming ensembles. The axatse is a dried gourd that has been emptied of its seeds and covered in netting with small shells attached. When the gourd is shaken, the shells rattle and make a loud…READ MORE >
Tom and I stood in the middle of the room and looked up. The space was large and yet comfortable, defined by the wooden posts, beams, walls and trim. There was a warmth that filled the space all the way to the peak. I have spent many hours in this 20 x 26 foot timber…READ MORE >
When I arrive at Las Milpitas de Cottonwood community gardens, Josh Banno and a group of students are already working. They had taken the city bus from their downtown high school as they do every Friday afternoon as an after school option activity to work on their small piece of ground in the larger community…READ MORE >
