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Owen Sound Dragon Boat

rgdaniel — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:02:32 +0000

On a perfect spring evening, May 15, I went down to the Owen Sound boat launch to watch as my wife participated in the maiden voyage of the 2012 Owen Sound Tuesday Night Dragon Boat Team, and in fact the maiden voyage of the Dragon Boat herself.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Picnic tables next to the boat launch. These probably get a lot of use during the summer.

Lynda gets her game face on. Like all top athletes, she has to find her centre, or something.

The chariot awaits. The dragon boat has no drum or dragon accoutrements at this stage, as they are too fragile to risk during practice runs.

The team has a bonding moment before boarding.

After determining seating arrangements (decorum prevents me from disclosing the criteria that determine seating, but I was proud to see my wife up front in the skinny section of the craft) the group begins boarding.

With all paddlers aboard, the crew gives some last minute instruction at dockside, before climbing aboard and casting off.

After successfully reversing away from the dock (see the video clip below) the maiden voyage of the 2012 Owen Sound Tuesday Night Dragon Boat Team is successfully underway!

Click here to view these photos as a Flickr slideshow (may require Flash).

Here is a video of the maiden voyage of this crew, and the maiden launch of the craft herself:

(Link to YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrstDelIT0g)

Gormenghast and Environs

rgdaniel — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:46:03 +0000

On Sunday (May 13, 2012) I decided to take a day trip up to our little cabin on the Bruce Peninsula, to check on the property which we pretentiously call “Gormenghast” (after the Mervyn Peake novels). The cabin was not much worse for wear, all things considered. So I left Gormenghast and motored and/or hiked around the general area and took some pictures. These are a few of them.

As always, click any photo to view a larger version on Flickr.

Our little cabin seems in not bad shape still… you fear the worst when you haven’t been up for a couple of years.

I was excited to see we had a couple of trilliums blooming next to the cabin. I would later realize there were trillions of them throughout the area. But ours were the best.

Fern. Or soon will be. By midsummer the ferns are thick enough to completely hide a small dog.

A bug on our trillium. The bastard. I let him live though. This time…

Tent caterpillars on a camping trip. Also bastards. But also still alive. I came in peace.

Two trilliums. Or is that “trillia”? No, probably not.

Some more trilliums. They are the national flower of the Province of Ontario, so to speak.

Like a rock, and a flower. Strength and fragility. It’s a metaphor, innit.

A trillion trilliums. You know, approximately.

Golden Acres is a property in the area, and particularly well named at this time of year when the dandelions are in bloom. This made me sing “Golden Slumbers” by the Beatles, as I thought of Dorothy and her palls falling asleep in the poppy field.

The quintessential lone tree. This one made me sing “All By Myself” (the Eric Carmen version, not the Celine Dion version. Seriously, I have standards.)

Another lone tree, not as quintessential as the other one, perhaps. This one didn’t make me sing at all.

A pebble beach. Not the golf Pebble Beach, sorry search-engine visitors… just a lower case pebble beach, looking north towards Cape Chin, from near Lion’s Head. Which is also not a golf thing.

Pebbles and Plant: the Flinstones meets Led Zeppelin? No. Tenacious green life takes hold amidst all the gray. Another one of those metaphor thingies.

A short side trail of the world famous Bruce Trail brings you to this lookout over Gerogian Bay and Devil’s Monument. Near Cape Chin, where Jay Leno was born, I believe.

I crush your monument, devil. Crush crush crush.

You can view these pictures as a slideshow on Flickr if you wish. It may require Flash, not sure.

Nine Pens

rgdaniel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:29:20 +0000

Nine Pens, originally uploaded by rgdaniel.

Via Flickr:
Nine pens to rule them all… or just write them some letters perhaps… there were supposed to be ten pens, but one exploded on the lathe… these things happen, one out of ten is not a bad rate of spoilage for turnings… click the photo to view larger…

As with most things in life, these ARE for sale.

Yet Another Large Jewelry Box

rgdaniel — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:18:08 +0000

Another large walnut and maple jewlry box. Possibly the last of these for a while, though I could be persuaded…

As always, click for larger versions.

By Moonlight

rgdaniel — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:36:28 +0000

A series of photos taken on April 5, 2012, around our backyard and garden, by the light of the full moon. Click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Pond and Chairs by Moonlight

Chairs and Table by Moonlight

Birdbath by Moonlight

Garden Path by Moonlight

Pond and Fence by Moonlight

Patio by Moonlight

Schrodinger’s Jewelry Box

rgdaniel — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:28:50 +0000

I call this kind of box a “Schrodinger’s Box” as a reference to the fact that it’s made as one large box, and until you slice off the lid, there’s just no telling WHAT might be inside… Maybe even Schrodinger’s Cat

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger’s_cat

Ususally there’s just sawdust, but you never know….

The dark wood is walnut, the top is quilted maple with a walnut stripe.

The Square Round Box

rgdaniel — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:01:18 +0000

It didn’t start out to be round, or oval I guess, it started out as a regular square box, but I thought it was a bit too chunky or something, so I decided to round over the corners at the bandsaw.

The main body of the box is Kingwood, one of those dense, oily tropicals that doesn’t take a film finish well, so it had just one light coat of Danish Oil finish, and some furniture wax.

The lid is cherry, with two slightly curvy strips of walnut running through it. It was cut from a larger piece that I did a while ago just as a proof of concept for a future project, which turned out to be this one.

Visiting Mallards

rgdaniel — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:59:42 +0000

This is the time of year when the mallards drop by the pond to eat our goldfish. Sometimes they stay for a while and build a nest. One year they even raised little ducklings. We’ll see what happens this year, it’s early days yet.

Barkwhistle Livestock

rgdaniel — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:40:42 +0000

A collection of all my YouTube videos that feature the animals of Barkwhistle, from a baby bunny who was only with us for a couple of days, to the dogs who share (or shared) our lives, to the fish who barely know what’s going on, because they’re fish.

Tough guy:

Little guy:

Fuzzy little guys:

Spoiled guys:

More mallards:

Feeding the Fowl:

Courting Cornelia:

Baby bunny:

Rowdy robin:

Pileated peckerhead:

Gorgeous George:

Feeding Fishies:

Herding Hounds:

Me and DeWalt Bunnykins

Lacewood and Bubinga Box

rgdaniel — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:11:47 +0000

Here’s a new, small-ish box I made from lacewood and figured bubinga, of which I only have a small bit, and it’s not cheap, so I’ll be using it sparingly like this.

The box is about 4″ x 7″ by 5″ tall, and is finished with Danish Oil Finish and some paste wax, which is my go-to finish these days.

This box is pretty similar in size to the canarywood box I made a while back.