Wooden Spoon

James went on a wood-carving course on Tuesday in Lochinver. I was planning to accompany him but unfortunately I had to wait in for the boiler repair man to fix a leaky washer on our boiler. I wasn’t going to do the course anyway, because I have no talent for wood-working (I know this because James once gave me a marquetry kit for Christmas and it was soon deeply stained with my blood!) But I intended just keep James company on the journey and perhaps have a wee wander and then lunch at Delilah’s, however I had a very pleasant day at the cottage with the kitties. 

When James arrived home he had some great stories about his course, the object of which was to carve a spoon. They had to start off by cutting their wood from a log and then splitting it. Then they roughed out the shape with a sharp axe before carving it more finely with a knife. He was the only male on the course and found the other course participants to be pleasant but rather noisy. Apparently two of them were so over-enthusiastic about carving the shape of their spoons that they managed to reduce the neck of their spoons to only a tiny shred of wood! Apparently the instructor had to rush over to try to salvage them! The way James told it was very funny. James’ spoon was really good although a bit rough and lumpy in places, so when he got home he whittled it carefully into a better shape. It’s new green wood so he will have to wait a couple of weeks before he will be able to sand and oil it. I’m kind of hoping that he will give it to me.