It was around 40 degrees when I went outside this morning. Mist hung in the air like the clouds had come down from heaven.

Over in the market garden, my wheel hoe stood like a silent sentinel in the early morning sun.

We are blessed to be here. Yesterday we had a 10′ x 20′ shed delivered to the backyard which will serve as a workshop and storage building.

It’s going to work quite well, I think. Right now I have some tools with no place to live, like my old drill press, a miter saw, a grinding wheel and a few other things. They’re mostly sitting on the back porch. With a workshop I have a place to store and use them.

I would really like to build more musical instruments. I’ve always been a sucker for homemade string instruments in particular. Lately I have been looking at strumsticks and stick dulcimers and thinking how cool it would be to build some from local wood that fell during the two hurricanes. Wouldn’t it be neat to have a playable instrument made from longleaf pine? Or red oak? Or even magnolia? Or pecan? We have some many neat species that are very underutilized in instrument building – I would like to give some of these woods a try and see how they sing.

These handmade folk instruments from Woodrow are quite inspiring. The woods are amazing. It makes me want to build again.

For today, though, I need to work on my portrait of Maggie. I am close to finishing and already someone else has seen it and wants to commission me to paint a portrait of their wife. Maybe I’ll end up an artist again after all.

Speaking of art, Jeremiah is almost finished with the interior illustrations for GARDEN HEAT: A Jack Broccoli Novel. They are looking great.

Once he’s done, my publisher can get to publishing!

Have a great day, folks. May it be filled with peace and creativity.