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long gay weekend
Partner and I took Thursday and Friday off for the specific purpose of hanging out and being gay together, which was very nice, as we haven't really had the chance to do that before. Next time I think we need a week.
Thursday we did what my partner calls "parallel play", where they worked on some electronics projects they have going on and I spent a lot of time in my garage woodworking shop braving my third ever attempt at dovetails. (I'm making a box for the Shabbat candles that's big enough to hold a full 72 candle box and will look prettier than the cardboard box currently sitting in the hutch.) It took me until the very last set to realize I had cut all the other sets backwards. sigh. I nearly ragequit the whole thing -- I had already sweated over sizing all the pieces correctly and good workholding is still very much in progress on my bench -- but then kind of shrugged, said "fuck it, I might as well finish" and carried on. I was very brave about it. (I was not brave at all and whined a lot, but I did keep at it.) Shockingly, the correctly-cut dovetails had a decent friction fit and the other three sets...very did not. Alas. I glued it up anyway and called it progress.
Friday we went to the art museum (yay!). I haven't been to the art museum maybe since I moved back here in 2015 because at first I
just didn't have time due to caregiving, and then because going to the art museum by myself was the world's most depressing thought. We did two exhibits and then left for less overstimulating climes, and also to hit a late afternoon farmer's market in hopes of finding good things for dinner, something I also have not done since well before Plague Times. The farmer's market turned out to be one of those that has very little in the way of actual farmers or produce -- there was one produce stand out of the dozen or so in attendance -- so we revised plans and went to a nearby little gourmet market where they make their own pasta from scratch. We also picked up some empanadas for breakfast (I love not having to cook on Shabbat). Shabbat dinner was orecchiette in (store-made) red sauce with basil and rosemary from the garden with a kale/white bean/roasted garlic skillet thing on the side for protein. It was... so fucking good, for real. We ate it again for dinner the next two nights.
Shabbat was sleeping in, empanadas, and more woodworking time. I did some work on my bench to make the workholding not suck as much. I set up our new WAP/router. We ordered in dinner and hung out enjoying each other's company.
Sunday I did some more shop maintenance, got the box bottom chopped out (rabbets, baby), started mortising in the hinges for the lid, and glued up the box bottom. It's gappy, probably because the rabbets are a bit uneven, but I'm willing to live with it -- this is all a learning process. I've been doing actual woodworking (that isn't building a work bench) for only about nine months, and only on weekends and the occasional weeknight at that, so I need to remember to cut myself some slack. I'm in the stage where I'm very much still learning the basics but want to Make Useful Things but don't quite have the skills yet to make them, or to make them in a way that won't frustrate me. Getting there.
Today was back to work, of course. Hopefully I can grab some time this evening to get the hinges fitted on the box lid and maybe start applying finish. Whee!
Thursday we did what my partner calls "parallel play", where they worked on some electronics projects they have going on and I spent a lot of time in my garage woodworking shop braving my third ever attempt at dovetails. (I'm making a box for the Shabbat candles that's big enough to hold a full 72 candle box and will look prettier than the cardboard box currently sitting in the hutch.) It took me until the very last set to realize I had cut all the other sets backwards. sigh. I nearly ragequit the whole thing -- I had already sweated over sizing all the pieces correctly and good workholding is still very much in progress on my bench -- but then kind of shrugged, said "fuck it, I might as well finish" and carried on. I was very brave about it. (I was not brave at all and whined a lot, but I did keep at it.) Shockingly, the correctly-cut dovetails had a decent friction fit and the other three sets...very did not. Alas. I glued it up anyway and called it progress.
Friday we went to the art museum (yay!). I haven't been to the art museum maybe since I moved back here in 2015 because at first I
just didn't have time due to caregiving, and then because going to the art museum by myself was the world's most depressing thought. We did two exhibits and then left for less overstimulating climes, and also to hit a late afternoon farmer's market in hopes of finding good things for dinner, something I also have not done since well before Plague Times. The farmer's market turned out to be one of those that has very little in the way of actual farmers or produce -- there was one produce stand out of the dozen or so in attendance -- so we revised plans and went to a nearby little gourmet market where they make their own pasta from scratch. We also picked up some empanadas for breakfast (I love not having to cook on Shabbat). Shabbat dinner was orecchiette in (store-made) red sauce with basil and rosemary from the garden with a kale/white bean/roasted garlic skillet thing on the side for protein. It was... so fucking good, for real. We ate it again for dinner the next two nights.
Shabbat was sleeping in, empanadas, and more woodworking time. I did some work on my bench to make the workholding not suck as much. I set up our new WAP/router. We ordered in dinner and hung out enjoying each other's company.
Sunday I did some more shop maintenance, got the box bottom chopped out (rabbets, baby), started mortising in the hinges for the lid, and glued up the box bottom. It's gappy, probably because the rabbets are a bit uneven, but I'm willing to live with it -- this is all a learning process. I've been doing actual woodworking (that isn't building a work bench) for only about nine months, and only on weekends and the occasional weeknight at that, so I need to remember to cut myself some slack. I'm in the stage where I'm very much still learning the basics but want to Make Useful Things but don't quite have the skills yet to make them, or to make them in a way that won't frustrate me. Getting there.
Today was back to work, of course. Hopefully I can grab some time this evening to get the hinges fitted on the box lid and maybe start applying finish. Whee!