Smile Generator

She's smiling again. And it's not because she's my biggest fan. Like everyone else who sits in one of my Weekender Chairs she can't help it. Repose in one of my chairs and be transported to your happy place. A comfort zone of peace and quiet and contentment. You can forget about pharmaceuticals and the day spa. Fire your psychiatrist. Simply buy a Weekender Chair and place it in your own little piece of the great outdoors. Now sit back. Relax. Feel your troubles slip away. Stop the world and get off.

Now you're smiling.

Milestone 25

Number 25 is a Weekender Chair "Slimline" and features a trapezoidal seat and narrow back. Same amazing comfort level and big wide arms. Just another design twist as we pass Milestone 25 on my "Journey of 100 Chairs". Now that springtime has finally come hard to southern Maine, I am amazed at all the various shades of green. It's hard to keep track. Add sunlight and shadow and another palette emerges. Wait a day and some greens deepen while new ones brilliantly emerge. We see why Robert Frost called nature's first green "gold". Such a rare sight. I take a lesson: To stay a "green" apprentice. To try to hold a fresh approach to my work. Completely open to seeing each

new precious hue.

Armchair Traveller

My Weekender Chair takes me on a journey into the past. We're cruising Lake Winnepesaukee in a 1928 Chris Craft Cadet named "Morning Star".
An aluminum Coleman cooler holds egg salad sandwiches on Sunbeam bread, homemade limeade and plenty of ice. There's an small island with a sand beach and a rustic cabin hidden back in the pines. We power down the big Merc engine and simply drift. All is well with the world on this morning in this place, and as the late morning sun plays across the polished mahogany decking and stainless steel fittings, a light breeze stirs and carries us home again.

Attack Of The 50 Foot Cat

My 1/4 scale cherry Weekender Chair (#23) is shown here being attacked by Grace aka, "Jumbo". I have her on a rigorous diet of 1 cup of kibble per day. Plus all the rodents, bugs and Adirondack chairs she can eat.

Orphan Hardwoods

I don't trust softwoods like cedar and pine to withstand the rigors of outdoor living, so I use what I like to call "Orphan Hardwoods" to build my chairs. Orphan Hardwoods are procured through Uncle Henry's, that iconic want advertiser here in Maine. Mainers are always selling something. It can be maple, oak, cherry, ash or birch. I usually buy it in bundles of 300 board feet or more at one time. It takes about 30 feet to make a chair. Because it is not considered cabinet grade or "FAS" (firsts and seconds in lumber grading lingo), I can get a good price. It's not pretty wood but it is structurally sound and gets the job done. I'm going to paint it anyway. The way I figure it, wood destined for the pallet mill has been given a new life as a thing of beauty.

Pretty In Pink

Something about this chair makes me think of the Easter Bunny. Is the Easter Bunny pink? I know his nose is. Grace Slick's rabbit was white. An albino bunny has pink eyes. Johnny Winter had pink eyes. Edgar too. Maybe he was the Easter Bunny underneath all that white hair. Rock and Roll Hoochie Cooo. C'mon and Take a Free Ride. Not exactly Easter music is it? I apologize for sounding a bit like Andy Rooney in this blog. Does Andy even know what a blog is? And just what is this "twitter" thing? Funny how the older you get the more set in your ways you become. I want to thank my five year old neighbor, Ava, for suggesting this chair color. I never would have come up with it on my own.

Weekender #21

There's the Old White Church across the street from us. The congregation has since moved on. It is now a community center used for piano recitals, wedding receptions, birthday parties, art openings, etc. It also makes a good backdrop for my chair shots. I once had a big old Maine Coon Cat by the name of Casey. Actually he had me. I recall a lovely spring morning some years ago when he invited himself to a wedding. He followed right behind the bride and groom, down the aisle and sat patiently as vows were exchanged. I think he ended up giving away the bride. Someone captured the whole event on video. What a cat. He lived to age 21. I miss him to this day.

I also miss those Sunday mornings not so long ago when the church choir would wake me up. Snatches of some old hymn wafting across the street on a warming spring breeze. None of them could sing but it sounded like heaven to me.

Nature's Gold

A Robert Frost poem comes to mind when I look at this chair. It is Spring again in Maine and I anxiously await those first tiny leaves on the maples behind our house. Such a precious and rare green , made more so by the fact it only lasts a few days. This paint was actually a happy accident. I wanted Ben Moore's "Sunburst" which is a bold and bright yellow. The paint store guy was interrupted by another customer while he was mixing the paint and I think an extra shot of green pigment got mixed in. Not a problem. When I set the finished chair outdoors I loved the color and thought of the Frost poem and that coming first green that would be too soon gone.