a long time

My it' s been a long time since I' ve posted anything, hasn' t it?
Well, life goes on (or not) and things have been happening. I just haven' t been writing about them!

I recently found out that an old friend from high school passed away. That' s always a sobering thing to hear. Manny Figueroa was on the Columbus High swim team with me for 4 years. We had a great relay team, along with Paco De La Fuente and George Gleber.
I can' t believe he is gone. To me, he' ll always be 17 y. o. and boppin' around in his old black and white '57 corvette.
Heres what his obituary said in the Miami Herald:

Manny Figueroa, accountant, Porsche collector and ``the best of daddies'' died Friday. He was 60; the cause was cancer, his family said. Figueroa called Coral Gables home for his whole life, attending Columbus High School and opening his own accounting firm on Alhambra Circle.
He loved the warm weather, which allowed him to lounge by the swimming pool and walk his huge greater Swiss mountain dogs -- Chester McDougal and Zoey Rose -- who were always pictured on the family's Christmas cards.
Figueroa's clients often became friends, said R. Stuart Huff, who hired Figueroa 35 years ago as his accountant. The two have been friends ever since.
``He had that knack, that so few humans have, of having a sense of humor and an interest in the lives of each person -- and for that matter, their tax situation.''
Born Dec. 12, 1949, Figueroa was the middle of three children. Figueroa went to work at a young age after his father died when he was 6.
His sister, Patricia Figueroa Sowers, remembers her younger brother drawing a chalk line on the sidewalk one day, and charging a toll to all who walked past it.
Figueroa's high school swim coach became a father figure for him, and Figueroa went to Eastern New Mexico University on a swimming scholarship, Sowers said. Figueroa recently was indicted into the Columbus High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Figueroa loved his Porsches -- he owned three at the time of his death. But he also loved his three children and his wife of 18 years, Stefi, who said, ``He was the best of daddies.''
His daughter, Ashley Figueroa Teran, said, ``He would always say, make it an `A' day. He really inspired me to do more and to do my very best. And I always wanted to do that for him.''
Figueroa is survived by his wife, his daughter, his sons Aaron and Stefan and his sisters Patricia Figueroa Sowers and Christine Figueroa.

Gallery Show!

I have 8 of my cut paper collages in a show in the Sunnyvale Art Gallery!

When I started doing these cut paper collages back in December, I really had no idea if they would be of any interest to anyone else. I was buying a lot of paper at a gallery in Sunnyvale that also sells art supplies, and the owner asked me what I was doing with it all.
I showed him my triple portrait of my grandsons and he asked me if I would like to hang a few pieces in a show he had opening in February.

Here are a few more I have done since the show opened on Feb. 1st.

Pirate Treasure - Arrrr!

Here is the follow up on the pirate treasure chests I made my grandsons for Christmas. They turned out really well, and the boys loved them.

Kids this age love locks and keys, so I put three different kinds of padlock on each chest. I also bought some plastic gold coins and gems, so they would have some treasure.

The boxes are made of pine shelving, knots and all. I made the finger joints on a tablesaw with a special fixture. The tops are made of 6 pieces of wood with 15 degree angles cut on each side, then sanded to round them off. The decorations are thin brass strips - glued on, and some fancy upholstry tacks.

I do all my woodworking at The Sawdust Shop in Santa Clara, CA.

It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot in the process!

Christmas time come and gone, breakin up Christmas right along

Well, like the song says "Christmas time come and gone". Now I can show you what I have been up to.

The triple one is a present for my daughter Sarah and her husband, so I couldnt blog about it earlier. Thats Jeremy, James and Jeff from top to bottom.

These are made of cut paper glued together in 3 or 4 layers, then matted and framed. I really love the technique and have about half a dozen more in the planning stages.

I learned the technique from Dude Craft - a great place to learn all kinds of crafty stuff - one of my favorite blogs.

Christmas time's a-comin'!

Wow, it's November already and my thoughts turn to "what the heck am I going to make the boys for Christmas this year?".

Well, Sarah had an idea for me and it was something I was already thinking about!

Here's a clue for you.

That tells you a lot, doesn't it?

Here's another clue:

Hmmm. Now we know it's made of wood at least.

Let's have another clue:

I made three of these boxes today, and did you know that there are 112!!! cuts in the joints for each one of those boxes?!!!

Look back at the first picture now and you can see that it's going to have a curved top.

Any guesses?

A Visit to Carmel

I was in Carmel over the last four days visiting with my sisters, Gretchen and Lucinda and their husbands, Tom and Richard.
We drove all over the place the first three days.

Took the 17 mile drive, and saw the iconic Lone Cyprus.

We drove down Highway 1 to see the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, and had a picnic in Pfeiffer - Big Sur Park.

Then we went down to Moss Landing and took a pontoon boat cruise on the Elkhorn Slough via the Elkhorn Slough Safari.

Here are some photos from the cruise - click on them for a bigger view.

Tuesday afternoon a really huge storm came in off the Pacific and the power was out all over the area, so we sat and talked by candlelight.

Called it a night about 9:00 pm, and then of course the lights all

came back on at about 10:00!

It was pretty much cleared up by Wednesday morning so I could take Cindy and Richard to meet their plane in San Jose without incident.

I built a boat, and made a documentary!

I've wanted to build a boat forever, so I finally said "Why not now?", and just did it. Of course I had to document the project too!



Check back later. There are more chapters ahead in the saga of this little boat.