Hello everyone:
Joni and I returned from TBA 2017 early Sunday morning and are preparing for a little vacation. That being said, I also decided to take a little break from basket-related-blogging and tell you a little bit about a related issue, my love of woodworking. Many of you have heard me say that I have never made a basket. There are a few reasons. 1. I am married to a weaver who makes (almost) more that enough baskets to fill our needs. 2. I have too many other hobbies, including woodworking.
When I think about my own love of woodworking, my earliest memories are of the some of the pieces that my grandfather (on my dad's side) made. My mother still has a glassed topped display table in her den that he made. My own father dabbled, but as he was an engineer, I always thought he was more interested in the design than the making. I do remember fiddling around in my grandaddy's basement, looking through his tools, and just soaking it up, on our trips to Detroit. I believe that is where my earliest inspirations for woodworking came from. Over the years, I would make coffee tables for the kids, etc, with hand tools, but I always wanted a real shop. Then, in about 2006-2007, Joni and I started tooling up so that I could make basket parts for her baskets. What we are doing today grew out of that lifelong desire to work with wood.
Back to my grandfather: Albert Ward Ross (Ward) grew up in Columbus, Ohio and went to Ohio State. He ran track at OSU in the 1920's. He took my dad to a track meet to see Jessie Owens run. But what I really wanted to tell you about, since this is Boy Scout Jamboree Week in West Virginia, is that he was a Boy Scout in Troop 6 in Columbus, OH. He went on to be Scout Master for my father's troop in Detroit. My dad was an Eagle Scout with two palms. Following in that tradition, I became an Eagle Scout in the early 70's. Through all of that, Granddaddy Ross was a major inspiration to me.
One of the most amazing things my grandfather did, in my opinion, concerned a trip his scout troop took in about 1922-23. Troop 6 rode their bicycles from Columbus, OH to Washington, DC, camping along the way. This was in the days of no-changable-gears and coaster brakes (more on that later). When they arrived in Washington, DC, they knocked on the door to the White House and met Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States. It still boggles my mind that a group of young men could ride up to the White House unannounced and have the President stop what he was doing to meet them, and have a group picture taken! (Well, I guess the photo-op wasn't unusual, even back then!) On the way back to Columbus, the story goes, one of the scout's brakes failed. Being scouts and concerned with "Safety First!", from there onward, they all rode their bikes UP the hills, and....walked them DOWN the other side!
Also, as this is Jamboree Week, I thought it fitting to illustrate what the Boy Scouts are all about. They are about helping boys to grow into good men, by inspiring them to do their best, be honest and helpful to all fellow people.
So, what gives this story the right to be on a basket blog, you say? I just wanted to tell you a little bit about a man who inspired me, in large part, to become a woodworker. I love working with wood, and I enjoy doing my part in the making of Nantucket Baskets. I hope you will all forgive me next time you realize that I am not a weaver, as I am very proud to make my own contributions, in my own way, to basket making. And, to carry on a family tradition.
Remember, these are beautiful days, don't let them slip away!
David
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