Autumn, Squirrels update and boxes.

Autumn has somehow sneaked back, with scant notification. Ill preparedness means that Winter firewood has to be brought down from the hill behind us, the grass/moss/weed areas need a final cut, our uphill water collection tank is overdue desludging and my implausibly large dry stane wall still has to be completed. All of this, in due course, followed by the major operation of Autumn leaf fall disposal. All part of country life.

The red squirrels are thriving and any interloping grey squirrels are being successfully “dissuaded”. This is, sadly, vital for the continuing recovery of the indigenous red population. Today I made a salutary calculation, the Myretoun squirrels are consuming/burying around 1.5kg of peanuts daily which, if continued, would amount to half a tonne annually. Food for thought , and re-assessment of the household budget.

I am currently working on a dozen boxes simultaneously, some of which are, hopefully, destined for a fourth gallery in the next few weeks. These cover a range of timbers; including ziricote, cocobolo, spalted beech, quilted sapele, kingwood and macassar ebony. Design simplicity to highlight the body timber is the continuing theme, with inset silver banding and finial discs where appropriate. Images of these will appear on the website soon. Every website viewing is heartening and appreciated and I would be delighted to correspond with anyone who has a question about my work. I am particularly intrigued by the number of “hits” from Ashburn, Virginia in the United States..