Well, my lathe came last night via UPS. Currently, though, it’s in pieces on my bedroom floor, as most mini-lathe owners agree you really have to take the whole thing apart and put it back together better before you have a more reliable and accurate machine. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a while…

I’m off to New York City for some holiday family excitement this weekend. A list of holiday family traditions that I could live without:

• somewhat mandatory gift-giving (it’s fine for the younger kids, but adults? please…)
• liver
• strange “salads” composed of grapefruit, avocado, iceberg lettuce and non-descript dressing
• the little sculpture that has candles that make angels rotate and ring bells. Impossible to describe, but also to bear
• the fighting