Learning the lingo

Waney, haunch, pawl, rabbet—it sounds like a law firm but isn’t. Rip, jig, kerf, gullet—all good Scrabble words if placed deftly. Button, batten, biscuit & bench-dog sounds like an ad agency I once worked for. Flitch, dado, collet, chamfer—now you’ve got it. Jointer, wobble-blade, loose tongue are all words in a new language I’m learning: the language of woodworking.

A woman would have called the planer/jointer tool a joiner because what it does is plane boards straight enough to join them, but carpentry and power tools were largely a man’s world, so they got to name the toys. The whole lexicon seems contrived for a secret society.

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Community, commitment and karaoke?

Diversity, thy name is Sullivan County. My weekend was the very definition of diversity as I planned my schedule in advance. As winter winds down and my inbox fills with spring awakenings, it still amazes me that there is such a plethora of events, gatherings and evenings of entertainment ‘round every corner of the region that (snowshoes in hand) I faithfully traverse in search of community spirit.

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