working in the shop

Terry is making something "special" for our friend Ken who is retiring on Thursday. On Friday we are having a care group Christmas/retirement party. Terry's new shop is still a huge novelty for him as it was finished just a few months ago. Up until now he has worked in the barn in the generator room where I can walk straight and I don't flinch anymore but Terry has bonked his head more times than he'd like to remember.

When he said that he was going to move over his work bench the boys groaned and really wanted him to splurge and buy a proper work bench. Terry doesn't just discard things so easily. He had inherited his grandfathers workbench who was a cobbler in Yarrow when he first immigrated from Russia. From Yarrow the workbench moved to a small house in Vancouver and somewhere down the line Terry got it. It's still as solid as the day it was made. Terry moved it over from the room under the barn and painted it all up and put a new work top on it. Do you ever wonder if there is something that you have used for years that someone will want to keep forever just because it belonged to you?

So now Terry is making a special plaque that will properly commemorate Ken's faithful years at Chrysler and although I could have shown it to you, we won't unveil it until Friday and then perhaps I'll shoot a photo for your perusal. It is actually quite a hoot and we hope he'll find the humor in it. When Terry retired from Safeway a few years ago, Ken and Linda made a scarecrow effigy using all the old Safeway work attire. We were going to burn it but it was such a thoughtful gift we couldn't quite part with it.

It's actually quite crazy that we are even thinking down the road to retirement. We are having a party for a friend who is retiring. How crazy is that?

Oh, and this is a PS. Terrence is not having a time out. He is perhaps a little zoned out after another short night and early morning to work.