Poplar hiking sticks, a weekend sale, & easter... all at once....

This has indeed been a busy weekend. Last week I was working to build inventory for a sale we had on the Court Square in Newnan, our home town here in Georgia. Once again, many thanks go out to Earlene Scott for allowing us to set up shop for a few hours in front of her book store. We visit her most every Saturday after we eat breakfast on the Square, it has become part of a weekend routine that I enjoy doing with my kids because its one of the things I was fortunate enough to do with my parents when I was a child. Every time we walk through the doors of Scotts Bookstore I am instantly transported back to my childhood. Its good for the soul to visit with old friends, and to support local businesses.. Especially when they provide the excellent service you always find at Earlene's store. I was fortunate to meet a wood carver at the sale who does very impressive work. Michael C. Moore had a booth there and I found his work to be very inspiring, he is a tremendous talent.

When the sale was over we enjoyed some deep fried mushrooms at the Redneck Gourmet, on the other side of the Court Square. With the events in town over for the day we headed back out here to Crickhollow to get ready for egg coloring and food prep for Easter. My mother is in Charleston for the weekend with my sister, before she left she told us that she wanted me & all my brothers to get together at her place like we always do and have a fun time. We met up with my younger brother and his son and spent the afternoon visiting my two older brothers and then we colored eggs with our kids. Today we all met for a really good meal and egg hunt for the kids. We are very lucky in the aspect that most of us all live here around each other on Doc Perry Rd. So the festivities of the last two days could carry on until everyone was near the point of exhaustion and we were forced to head home when the kids heads began to droop from going as hard as they could for so long. So I decided to post a few pictures of some of the things I have seen and done over the past two days.

These are some pictures of a couple of poplar hiking sticks I made for the sale. The first one is 63" long with a hand grip carved in and leather wrist strap. I also carved a face on each one. I plan to do a line of this style, they seem to be fairly popular... The 63" hiking stick pictured first sales for $50. The second one shown here is 56", that one is on sale for $40

The 56" hiking stick...

These are a few shots from the sale on Saturday... The first one is a view of the wood carvings, note the poplar hiking sticks, Here you can get an idea of the height of each.

A few of the wands I made for the show, along with the Ouija board...

This is Kitty and her mother, they stopped by and picked up a couple of items when we first set up. Kitty's mother is in a local orchestra as a violinist and picked up a couple of wands saying, "Oh look.. conductor batons..." A use for the wands I had never thought of... Kitty picked up a snake walking stick for her brother & a keychain for her about to be sixteen year old son...

This is Dale, he does an impressive Snape.. He liked this wand... I hope it serves him well. and yes, when you click the link, thats me as mad eye moody...

Jaxon enjoys his first sale on the square!

Julie's jewelry is always a hit at the shows & this Saturday was no exception...

She just added a line of rings that has been a great hit...

One of the kids decided the Ouija board needed a planchette...

This little guy decided to take up a spot overlooking the table from the top of one of my walking sticks..

This is Paul, a friend from highschool who stopped by. He & his wife picked up a couple of sets of earrings & a key chain. He owns a local business.. check him out & give him a call if you need any work done!

The rest of the weekend was spent around here at Crickhollow, enjoying time with the family, riding the kawasaki mule, eating good food and enjoying life as it was meant to be spent...


Here James is practicing for marine corps sniper school...

Uncle David shows James how to operate the pressure washer

Once he got the hang of it he wanted to clean every inch of the tractor & driveway...

Here he is listening to his uncle Michael explain the finer pints of fence building... The outhouse was built by Michael on a lark... I still get a kick out of it...

He takes everything his uncles tell him to heart and always is ready to hear more..

coloring eggs the night before Easter...

This morning I found a few minutes to hit the woods and "shop" for some more poplar pieces for hiking sticks. It was very peaceful out there this early in the day.

The egg hunt went well & everyone had a great time.

Even Patrick emerged from his fifteen year old's video game stupor to enjoy the day..

the dogs got in on the egg hunt as well..

Here I am with my brothers. This is, from left to right, Michael, me, David, & Stuart..

James enjoyed everything this weekend & is currently passed out, sound asleep...

James and his cousin Silas inspecting every moving part of the kawasaki mule..

Silas loves going for rides with me, James, & his dad...

He almost fell asleep on the seat of the kawasaki waiting for the next ride...

One of the things I love about living here is the small town aspect of life. When we were at the sale there was a constant stream of family and friends that came by to talk, hangout, and see what we had. No one was pretentious or ill tempered all day long. Everyone you encountered was happy to see you and pleasant. Its life as it was meant to be lived, gathering in town on a Saturday just to be out and about enjoying life, good weather, good company and to pick up a few things that might be needed... This entire weekend served to remind me that I am a truly blessed person to be surrounded by such fine folk as this.

P.S.... Happy birthday to my mother.. Today she turned 24 again...