the latest

I got the day off today, ostensibly to clean the house and show to maybe another promising buyer. But I got to sit with my cameras and computer for a bit.
Yesterday was insane, culmninating a busy recent 2 weeks, doing a month of work in half the time. We delivered to three different homes AND I substitute taught 3 lessons for a friend in the afternoon. So after promising a favorite customer I'd return today, Yeonmi phoned to cancel my visit to give me some down time.
One of the nicer jobs was a shop interior whose photos are not present. At last visit they hadn't moved in with the merchandise so I'm waiting. We provided the services of 8 contractors : electric, brick and cement wall, interior carpentry, furniture, welded steel fixtures, wall painting and mural, signage and design of course.
Above is a job I did twice, the oak table. A local seller of woods persuaded me to try this 'oak', which is some tropical hardwood I reckon, no idea what, but has some grain specks similar to oak.( My experience with local wood suppliers is so frustrating as the language is at fault as is the culture: neither are specific. They generalize species of trees too simply, which is totally inadequate for woodworkers. I carry a knife or plane in the truck to inspect what I'm looking at). It weighs a ton and was impossible to mill. Despite the extensive planing , after a week, several bonds let go , unbelievably and the wood is doing whatever it wants. So I told our patron ( the school principal who has now some 15 items from our shop- perhaps 10% of last year's revenue) I wouldn't let her have it as I could not guarantee what the wood might do. So I ordered good old red oak from the USA and made a lovely dining table.

bird life

The bird seed dispenser I installed in the spring has finally come into service, bringing hungry feathered friends in droves for the past 2 weeks. It is directly outside my office window, six feet from where I sit now. The birds have eaten a pound of seed this past week.

In the middle of winter, these residents are getting some much needed fuel. The varied tit ( top left) is infrequently sighted in the village, usually found deep in my valley near a spring, it (they/he/she?) has been coming daily for a week now, sitting right next to the window. I will set up the camera for finer photos.

The biggest in numbers are the buntings. Tiny parrotbills are picking up bits of the ground while great, willow and long-tailed tits come individually. The odd daurian redtart swoops in to inspect, and the most fearful of all , the bulbuls check out the goods sending everyone for cover( a bit bigger, bulbuls used to eat dog food kibble last winter). These eight species represent daily visitors about half the number of kinds of birds I see daily in my village.

The other two birds pictured are Le Marais Anna birds either of which will set you back a couple hundred buck$.