I have been working on a kitchen island for quite a while now. I finished it the week before the wedding. It replaces a table in the kitchen – and it is nice to have a proper-height work surface in the kitchen. It is also narrower than the old table, which fits the size of the kitchen better.
The base is made from white oak, with pegged mortise and tenon joints. The top is made from hickory.
I’m pretty pleased with the project. The top is maybe 2-inches narrower than I think would look the best. Another project may be to make a new top, or add a strip of cherry or sapele in the middle to widen the top.
The joinery isn’t perfect, but it is better than some of the work I’ve done in the past. I think a shelf on the bottom would look nice (and be useful), but I forgot to build in a shelf when I constructed the base.
As threatened earlier, here are some more scans of old photographs of me. I decided to include them in a post rather than in a photo gallery. Every year I print a book from the posts on this website. This way, the pictures will show up in the printed book. It is too hot outside to do much, so here I am, scanning pictures.
Bill and me. Date unknown (best guess by when the picture was printed is sometime in 1982)Bill and me. Easter 1976Me on Mother’s Day 1984 (location unknown)Me in 1974My dad and me. Picture from 1977 in Warrington Township, Bucks County, PA
Yesterday morning we took a family day to go sailing. We motored south of the submarine base and put our sails up and sailed to Pine Island. We dropped anchor near the island and the boys kayaked to shore.
Eventually I swam to shore to walk around with the boys (and I needed a break from the sun). We didn’t feel comfortable going out of sight from the boat with it on anchor, so we didn’t get far in exploring the island.
After we ate lunch I pulled up the anchor and we motored over to an old concrete quay wall, nosed in and tied a line around a broken piece of concrete. The wind was perfect to push the boat off the wall. Whenever we wanted to get on or off the boat, we would just pull the boat up to the wall. Of course, with only one line tied to a rock, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the boat. Maybe next time we will find a second tie point and be able to picnic on the island.
I think we all spent too much time in the sun on the water, and are all a little tired today, so this morning has been a quiet day lounging around in the air conditioning.
A couple of lessons from yesterday’s sail:
The kayaks fit on top of the boat, but it made getting forward on the boat a bit of a climb.
I need to find a way to add shade to the cockpit. Maybe a bimini top if I can find one that fits
Cold water is a must. We brought ice, but didn’t use it as much as we should for drinks.
Susanna shouldn’t read below decks – it is a good way to get seasick.
I need to redo the rope ladder – it is way to short to make getting on the boat easy. Or better yet – install a permanent on on the stern.
The wind really seems to die down once you get north of I-95 on the Thames River.
The boys eating lunch on their kayaks (while tied to the boat) – Pine IslandEnjoying a swim off the boat.
Will playing with his robot arm after completing the project.
I’m pretty impressed with Will. Yesterday we went shopping – no going shopping isn’t impressive. While at the mall, we wandered into the education store. He found a robot arm kit in the store for $60. After thinking about it for a while, he decided that he wanted the robot and wanted to spend the day building it. He used his entire allowance savings to purchase the kit.
It took him over six hours to build it. I had to help solder a couple of broken wires for him, but for the most part, he did the work. Later in the evening, when he lost pieces, he didn’t get frustrated. He came downstairs and waited until I was finished with what I was doing and then asked for help. That isn’t always the case when kids get stuck in a big project. It is an even bigger accomplishment for a kid with ADHD (and even more so on a medication break day).
Good job Will! I certainly didn’t get as much accomplished yesterday as you did.
One of the wedding decorations (thanks to Rebecka Petersson) was a wall of old photographs. My mom brought up some old pictures of me, so here are a few scanned in. The dates are a best guess.
I’ll scan and post more on other slow days.
Me (2 1/2 years old) and Bill (1 1/2 years old) in December 1975My first birthday (June 1974)Me in December 1975 (2 1/2 years old)My dad (Ted Curtis) in Maine (Summer 1977)Me and Bill with my Uncle John (Bill is 2 1/2 and I am 3 1/2)
Standing in the back yard (picture by Brigitte Laroche)
Some stories from the wedding and party (in no particular order). Of course, names were changed to protect the innocent. Okay, maybe they weren’t:
– The reception (for us) started when we pulled into the driveway. We were met at the end of the driveway by Vicki Sawyer, dressed in a nice white and blue dress. Covered in mud from playing in the yard. We knew that was a sign of a good start to the party.
– There are some very fun Swedish wedding traditions. One of the most fun is the tradition that allows people to kiss the bride when the groom is out of the room. I would like to thank the navy guys for leading the charge in maintaining Swedish tradition when I first stepped out of the room. However, the rule works both ways; when Susanna stepped out of the room, I was open to be kissed. And in the fine Swedish tradition – it is not gender specific. So I would also like to thank the navy guys for not leaving me out of that tradition. Just for the record, it wasn’t just the guys that kissed me (or Susanna for that matter).
– Leaving the sugar cubes out for the coffee wasn’t the best idea. The kids didn’t go for the alcohol. They went for sugar cubes. As far as I know, Tyler has the record with 11 sugar cubes that night. It also explains why he didn’t sleep very well.
-Yes, the Swedes and Americans can party. Lots of beer and wine helped. However, the 3rd and 4th graders can party as well. The boys were crazy after about 10pm. I think the sugar cubes helped. I think the boys stole lots of kisses from all the Swedish girls at the party (I won’t mention names…).
– And yes, 3rd and 4th grade boys will dance. If they are tired enough and given enough sugar cubes.
– Tucker was quite the center of attention at the party. He even wore a bow tie. However, the wait staff fed him enough people food that he didn’t want to eat anything at all the next day.
– Will and Ben loved pretending to be the Secret Service when dressed in their suits. They spent the half hour before the wedding ceremony at the door to the hall where we were waiting to make sure that people went into the correct door of the church. But they didn’t want to get out of the car at the end of the street and jog alongside for our drive to the reception. Go figure.
– In the strangest twist of behaviors – Will fidgeted less during the ceremony than Ben. However, both boys were amazing during the ceremony.
– Susanna cries at everything. Susanna’s sisters cry when Susanna cried. I think that made the first song they sung at the ceremony a little more difficult to get through.
– Rebecka and Sofia are wonderful singers. They sang two beautiful songs during the ceremony. Even if they weren’t “Does your mother know” and “Dancing Queen” by ABBA as I had requested.
Paparazzi photo of the boys helping get things ready for the wedding.
– Our neighbor was the perfect wedding photographer. She even spent time during the days leading up to the wedding day taking photographs of us getting the house ready. She did this without telling us. I felt like a celebrity – we had our own personal paparazzi.
– The boys were super excited about the party, they even cleaned out the second floor of the garage (including vacuuming, until Will vacuumed over a toy sheep), and made it a hangout for those 12 and under.
– If you send a wedding invitation to the President, he won’t show up. But you will get a card congratulating you on the wedding. Not sure if it is the same if you send an invitation to the Swedish King (in hindsight maybe we should have sent him one).
I am thankful for all of our friends and family that were with us (in both person and spirit) to help us celebrate the start of the next big journey in our lives.
Ben reading a congratulation card before the ceremony.
Maybe not the most formal wedding picture – but one of my favorites (photo by Brigitte Laroche)
July 1st was a perfect day for our wedding. It rained all day, and poured during the ceremony. But it didn’t rain at the reception. It was hot and humid. And it was perfect. We both had fun. The boys had fun (maybe a little too much fun). I think all the guests had fun.
We had a small group of friends and family join us for our wedding and reception. We enjoyed a mix of wedding traditions. But of course both the Swedish and US traditions involve having an open bar. Though we apparently the Swedish weddings normally go later than we decided to party.
After a busy week getting ready, and long day enjoying the party, we are all trying to recover. We are all still a little rough around the edges – Six Flags yesterday with the boys didn’t help, but was worth it. I think today should be a good quiet day to recover. I’ll take some time later to post more pictures (and tell more stories).
Bill walking our dogs Buffy and Candy in 1982 (Webster Groves, MO)
My brother, Bill, just switched jobs. It made the Kansas City, MO news:
“Polsinelli PC poached 10 lawyers from Husch Blackwell LLP this month, all in offices outside Kansas City.
A group of four Husch attorneys in Washington who specialize in government contracts started at Polsinelli on Monday. They include shareholders Daniel Donohue and Steven Weber and senior partners Claude Goddard and Walter Wilson.
That follows the addition of a four-lawyer corporate group in Chattanooga, Tenn., where Polsinelli has opened a new office, and three environmental litigators in St. Louis…
The St. Louis lawyers who moved to Polsinelli are shareholders William Curtis and Michael Wetmore and associate Marissa Curran…”
– Quoted from the Kansas City Business Journal (Paul Koepp, June 17, 2013)
It sounds like he made a good move. I’m sure it is a lot of work switching jobs. We all wish him good luck.
The view from my anchorage – don’t mind the mess of the mainsail.
We had a slow start to the day. Susanna didn’t get home from work last night until nearly midnight. I don’t sleep well until she is home.
So, we didn’t get the early start that we had planned, but sometimes it is important to sleep in.
I did some chores around the house in the morning, but by early afternoon I was ready to head back onto the water. This would be my first solo sail with the boat (and only the third time I’ve taken her out).
The wind was good. I was able to make about 3.5 knots with just the main up, and a little over 5 at times with both sails up. However, it is much easier to solo with just the main. I also decided to anchor for a bit, just upriver from the bridges. It was a chance for a snack and to try out the anchor. The anchor held – and brought up with it a bunch of mud that I had to clean off back at the marina.
Today’s sail:
Distance: 8.2 NM
Total time: 3H 20M
Average Speed: 2.5 kts
Max Speed: 6.2 kts
Lesson’s learned: I need a bit more practice backing out of the marina. However, my landing was nearly perfect. At least better than the group of 4 guys that came sailing into the marina with both sails up. They didn’t take the sails down until way late, and bounced their boat off the dock. I couldn’t laugh too much – I wasn’t any more graceful departing.
I’ll have to work on getting the jib down single-handed. I wound up dunking it into the river. At least I didn’t dunk myself into the river.
The boat sails very well with just the main up – it is very well balanced.
It is a long drive down the river from the submarine base marina. Especially when you have to tack your way upwind.
Our O’Day 22, “Carpe Diem,” enjoying her summer home.
Today I finally put the boat in the water for the summer. I reserved a slip at the submarine base for two months starting today.
The plan was to put the boat in the water right after work. However, there was a social at the officer’s club with free beer. So that took priority over putting the boat in the water. But only for a bit.
I had parked the Jeep at the base marina and walked (and hitched a ride) to the social. I left the bar with Mark Matkovich (in his “much-better-at-towing-than-my-jeep” truck) and we headed home to pick up the boat and drove it down to the boat launch. It was much quicker this time than the previous launch. We had the boat in the water and the mast up in about 10 minutes after getting to the launch. It helps having two adults to do the launching and setup.
We took short trip up the river to the marina; spending a bit over an hour mostly motoring in the river. We did get the sail up for a little bit. Mark’s wife, Jessica, and baby, Michael, joined us for the trip. We even got to enjoy pizza with Susanna at her work after the sail.
So here is the trip for today. The GPS track seems a bit screwy. We didn’t change altitude that much. Maybe the old iPhone can’t keep up with the navigation software.
Start Time: Jun 14, 2013, 6:24 PM
End Time: Jun 14, 2013, 7:38 PM
Active track info:
Distance: 4.2 NM
Total time: 1H 13M
Average Speed: 3.4 kts
Max Speed: 7.1 kts
