How my parents spent their summer vacation... My 70-year-old father is a woodworker. It's his passion in life. Whenever he and my mother travel anywhere he brings back some samples of wood, such as some pieces of old whiskey barrels from Scotland. He can discourse on wood and trees for hours on end if he can find someone who will listen that long (usually, he can't, at least among his family, and can you blame us).→[More:]

But he's very talented and it's really quite amazing that he can do the work he does given his severe case of rheumatoid arthritis.

Last fall he submitted a photograph of his work to be considered for the juried exhibition at the 2008 American Association of Woodturners Symposium. There were something like 140 entries, and his was one 41 items accepted for the show. His item — a rolling pin — was then shown at the Symposium and with the other 40 items would go on tour to several cities.

A few weeks ago my dad and my mother drove down to the 2008 Symposium, which was held in Richmond Virginia, where my dad got to revel in workshops, check out the various displays and demonstrations, and talk about wood to his heart's content. My mother, who does not have a wood fetish and hears more than enough about woodworking on a daily basis to satisfy her very mild interest in it, went shopping.

The AAW site does not have pictures of the juried show items up, but it does have a selection of pictures taken of what was called the "Instant Gallery". The Instant Gallery is a display of items brought to the symposium by its attendees. There were 1600 items in it this year. Some of the work is really amazing. I'd prepare a MeFi post on it if it were not for my dad's involvement in it. I'm pretty sure this, for instance, is not painted. All the colours come from different kinds of wood being fitted together.

This picture is of a couple of the items my dad submitted for display in the Instant Gallery.