the most beautiful piece of handcrafted woodwork that you will ever see!

jambaloney, and myself, have seen some fine handcrafted woodworking pieces in our lifetimes. both of us are always amazed when artists can take a beautiful piece of wood and turn it into something even more beautiful.

have you met my friend MDR? you can go to his blog from that back-link. he is also listed in our blogroll on the right side of the page. he's not just an exceptional father with a houseful of daughters, he's a great guy, loves raising animals, loves chili cook-offs, and built his wife the most amazing aviary. he's really good with wood - he is an artist extraordinnaire! be sure to check out his solar bathroom and awesome outdoor kitchen, here, too! just go back through all of his blog posts - you'll be glad that you did as he has much to teach!

this is what we received in the mail the other day....from MDR. we knew that it was going to be beautiful. we knew that it was going to be hand-made. we couldn't wait to get it. have yourselves a gander at this:

i hope that the pic does it justice. it is the most beautiful piece of handcrafted woodwork that either of us have ever seen. now for some back story.

how our mail works: we have a community mailbox at the bottom of our street. as we don't get much regular mail, we check our mailbox about once a week. it's usually just junk mail as we receive all of our bills online. however, if we receive a package, we get a parcel slip and then have to go to Gabarus, which is on the way to our city of Sydney, to pick it up. as we try to limit trips to the city to about every 3 months - if, for some reason, we get a package slip, we give it to our friends c&b and they will pick the package up for us. (c&b go to the city at least once a week - alghgglglgll. bleck!)

so 2 weeks ago, we got a parcel slip. the slip didn't mention where it came from other than the US so we thought it was fishing lures that jambaloney had ordered from ebay. then i get an email from my friend MDR asking if we have received our package??? he said he made something and had sent it to us. we near went crazy!!! that week, we gave the slip to our friends c&b to pick up the following week (which was last week) and they would pick up the package and we would get it from them after chase the ace last friday.

so last friday, we, and a couple of our other friends went to chase the ace and then some of us went over to c&b's. they got out the package and everyone was surprised that we had a package from TEXAS - how amazing! it took a good 20 mins to cut through all of the tape - bahahahahah! but when we opened the package, tears sprung from my eyes...i couldn't believe it. have another gander:

 

that beautiful, handcrafted piece of art was passed all around the table while everyone oohed and ahhhed. everyone felt all of the letter shapes and the shape of the fish. jambaloney was near crying himself because MDR made the sign out of a fish shape which meant the world to him. none of us could believe the beautiful choice of wood or how perfect each letter was shaped. here's another look:

check out the beautiful detailing of the letters:

it always amazes me when someone has such an eye for detail...MDR is a true artist.

our friends couldn't believe that a friend of ours from Texas would take such time and care to make us such a beautiful sign!!! i could. i know MDR and i know what he will do for a friend.

anyway, this next pic is for MDR's wife, C, she has the cutest Texan drawl!!! C, this is the backwall of our living room. the shelf is a piece of handsawn lumber that a friend of ours made for us. i plan on re-arranging what is currently on the shelf so that i can put our Framboise Manor sign just above the candle stick in the middle. i will move the candle stick so that the sign will hang just above some of our little favourite things. the awesome thing is that when you walk in our front door...that back wall is the first thing you see. everyone who comes through the front door will see that beautiful sign and it will be such a conversation starter!

the grain of the wood that MDR chose is simply breath-taking and beautiful. we will spar varnish the sign so that it will last forever, and as the spar varnish is clear, the beauty and grain of the wood will show through.

MDR - thank you so much for the time and effort that was put into that sign! thank you for choosing such a beautiful piece of wood. thank you for thinking, and caring, about us. that beautiful sign will forever be a part of the Manor's history.

here's one more look:

 

imagine...here at the Manor we have beautiful skies, a beautiful river, a beautiful ocean, a beautiful forest....and now - we have a little bit of Texas!!! come to think of it, the only thing missing from the Manor was a little bit of Texas!!! thank you soooo much MDR!

MDR - i could send you a bottle of kimchi but i don't think you would touch it - bahahahah! i could send you some of my stick to your ribs chili, but you are a chili master and you don't think my chili is real chili - bahahahahah!

so instead, i will give you a true and proper MDR/Texas/cape breton sunset.



much love buddy. you don't know how much that beautiful sign means to us! xoxox to you and yours!