Woodworking - specifially solid wood furniture making for the most part
- was a nice transition from The Daily Grind Of A Job - to early
retirement. Still got to use the analytical, attention to details,
mathematical engineering knowledge and skills I'd trained in - and used
during my "career".

But it was the lathe that turned on the mostly dormant Other Half of my
brain (I never can remember which side of the brain is the analytical,
judgemental half and which is the intuitive, creative, playful half ) -
the half that loses track of time, prefers "I wonder if . . ." over "I
probably can't do that - so I won't even try", that's open to all sorts
of ideas and comes up with Wild Hare Ideas for a turning - and gets the
rest of the body to actually go for it and make some of them a reality.

Once the analytical, methodical half of the brain had worked out what
does what, and how - along with hours and hours and hours and hours of
practice - I had developed enough Muscle Memory to "see" something - and
turn it - without a whole lot of conscious thought, my brain's Other
Half was activated. The more turnings I did, the more ideas popped into
my head - and my body willingly made some of them a reality - or tried
to.

I believe that if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing at any
given time, it's fun, interesting and, most of the time, fairly easy -
and satisfying - and just feels right. The hard part is paying
attention - and recognizing when you're NOT doing what you're supposed
to be doing - and stopping.

For me, for now at least, I'm playing with wood - mainly turning it. I
got a tatoo of the Kanji pictograph for WOOD on my forearm to remind me
IT'S THE WOOD - STUPID!.

With turning I've found an outlet for the "creativity" that's been
waiting patiently for it's time to play. So far it sure has been fun -
and interesting.

So many Wild Hare Ideas - and the time to pursue them.

Fun this turning thing.