pass times and hobbies

One of the things I found I had to do after the three or four years of feeling like hell and just laying around was to do something, so I started woodworking. I have no real idea why but it seemed like the thing to do. I've seen several posts on various sites where it seems that I am not the only pwp who has taken that up. The last time I took a class on woodworking was in the 8th grade in school, nearly 50 years ago. Didn't care for it all that much then either. Now I can't stop.

The three things here are just a tiny bit of what I have made this last year since I started, The first picture is of a buffet, or side board, depending on I guess where you live. The second is a change table/cabinet for my grand daughter who is about to give birth to my first grand child, I believe it is a little girl. The third is a chess table/set. I carved the chessmen, my first time carving any thing too.

At this point this is my physical therapy, I work at it everyday. Since I started last summer I don't think I have gone a full day not working. We go to farmers markets and craft fairs to sell what we can, and we sell a fair amount, right now we are short of some of our best selling things because I am trying to catch up, and make our special orders, and stay on time with that. I have as much to do as I can handle right now, and it feels great. We certainly wont get rich but the money helps. I found a rather inexpensive source for wood so the margin there is good.

I'm I guess I have Parkinson's with out a tremor, or at least a visible tremor. Mine are internal, sometimes pretty intense, it feels like I should be shaking the house but my wife can rarely feel anything. I do have problems with balance, and walking, and stiffness. I can't believe how stiff I get. I do well during the day, if I keep working it seems I can work through the pain but when I quit, it all catches up with me and I am miserable. I also have dystonia, my feet and calves have cramping issues. As soon as I take off my shoes that starts. But it is all worth it to be able to continue doing my woodwork. For years I was an airline pilot, and did a lot of artwork then, painting, pencil, and pastel drawings. Since Parkinson's I can't write well enough for anyone to read much less draw, so I guess the need to be creative found another outlet.

I think we all have a need to "do" something to express the inner self some how. This thing takes so much from us, our strength, our ability to do so many things, our voices, and our sight. It stops the things that we feel from being expressed, that finding a way to let that out is a real blessing. I am proud when we are at markets and fairs to hear people say how beautiful things look, how smooth the wood feels, but I would be doing the even if no one saw, or felt the wood because it gives me a reason to get up in the morning, to fight the stiffness, the aching, the moving slow that begins everyday. I plan to do this till it is just to dangerous, or until I can't just do it anymore. I have lost the ability to do many things but I will fight to do whatever I can still do for as long as I can  do it.