Happy Holidays 2024

It is Christmas eve 2024, a snowy cold day here in south eastern Pennsylvania. I’m sitting in a comfortable chair with a pipeful of Germain’s Plum Cake Mixture (it is at least 10 years old and tastes like Christmas in a pipe) and a cup of Eight-O-Clock coffee with a sprinkle of cinnamon added to the percolator. The pipe is an old favorite, a Savinelli 622 estate pipe that I restored and to which Iadded a one of my custom stems. I’m warm and content as Sirius XM plays Holiday traditions and I think back across the past year.

To call this an eventful year would be a bit of an understatement. My wife and I have dealt with a number of family issues that have made it a stressful and difficult 12 months. I won’t dwell on it here. Viewers of my YouTube channel <insert link> know the details. But in brief, my younger brother became very ill with a still undiagnosed mass in his colon. We nearly lost him a couple of times, and the future is still uncertain. But he is in good spirits and blessed by the prayers of the community. My father-in-law fought a battle with a variety of illnesses and at the age of 93 the Lord decided to call him home. My wife was able to spend a good portion of the year in Pittsburgh helping my mother-in-law care for him. I am so grateful that she was able to do so and spend time with him. He was much loved, and dearly missed.

It is easy to look these events and think that we have had a bad year, but then I look around and see what others are going through. It seems I don’t know anyone that is not dealing with similar or worse problems in their life. And I see reports of the devastation in North Carolina and the complete failure of federal agencies to provide relief. I see wars that threaten to grow and it seems our leaders would rather stoke the flames than seek peace. I see an economic disaster that has crippled families and made them struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. And I see a nation divided by non-issues, and a new administration coming that hopefully will deal with the real issues while avoiding cultural controversies. So, I honestly think that we are blessed in these times and are called to do what we can to lighten the load for others. It is hard, be we humans are resilient creatures. To paraphrase Longfellow, we hope for peace on earth and we practice goodwill toward men.

Despite all of that doom and gloom, there have been good times at CaneRod pipes, and we are getting closer to reactivating in some manner to be determined. I have to be paying for the website for some reason after all. I was able to spend time renovating and organizing the shop. I’m about 70% done and looking forward to pushing through that last 30%. I finally completed the wall painting I started last year, and acquired some enclosed shelves to store books and such.

And I completed the organization of my storage bin area which also provides a place to store some occasional use tools like my chop saw and planer. I also have some extra storage shelves including one for wood turning blanks and other small bits of wood.

All is looking good in the shop these days but there was an event that threatened to derail things.

We had a visitor!

That is Rhaphidophoridae commonly called a camel cricket or spriket (since it looks like a spider mixed with a cricket). They are huge by insect standards. The body of that guy was about the size of the top joint of my thumb. And they have a very annoying defense mechanism in that they jump toward whatever startles them. You don’t want to know how I discovered that. Fortunately he moved on and no others have been spotted. I gave him 24 hours and told my wife that he was still there he owned my tools and we had to move. Thank goodness he was not interested in woodworking!

Creepy crawlies aside, I did make a few pipes this year. My favorite was this stubby nose warmer that I made form a pre-fraised stummel.

I bought a lot of these stummels from a company that was going out of business. They are all Italian or French and at least 30 years old. They are good aged briar, but most have external flaws that require rustication. It is a useful canvas for trying out new finishes or rustication methods.

I also completed a billiard from a briar block and started another.

That represents #5 and #6 in the 10 billiard challenge that I am doing. I thought it would take me a about 6 months, but I am now on year 3. The best laid plans…

I also made a few non-pipe things including a lot of spatulas and a salad utensil set.

And a few tools including a new marking knife to compliment my Stanley 10-049.

And as many of you know, I built a very manly tool shed.

I say manly because EVERYONE pointed out that it is a closet not a shed. But a man can dream, and also keep his yard tools safe.

And there were fun events this year. I attended the Columbus NASPC pipe show and seem to have failed to take a single picture. I did compete in my first slow smoke competition and came in a respectable 3^rd place. It was great fun!

I also attended my local Midwest Tool Collectors Associate meeting and acquired a few more tools for my….collection. (Yes I used the “C word”)

As I organize the shop I have been gathering the tools I have acquired with intentions to restore. I have a few more than I thought (it is actually getting a bit embarrassing) and I am planning to make some tool restoration and use videos for YouTube once I upgrade my camera and lighting.

Nature put on a show this year with aurora borealis occurring in our region that we completely managed to miss. And we had a total eclipse that of course happened on the only cloudy day that month.

And finally, the highlight of the holiday season for me. My wife and I attended the annual Christmas tree lighting in our town.

And so this is Christmas (apologies to Mr Lennon). And the year draws to a close as we look forward to a new year full of possibilities. We think back on the good and the bad of 2024 and take lessons learned into 2025. As my friend Everett recently said, “we look at others and never really know what they are going through.“ We are called to treat everyone we meet with kindness and compassion for they are our siblings in the family of our Creator. And beneath their sex, color, religion, and politics there is a person just like ourselves that deserves to be treated with love and respect. If this year has taught us nothing else, it has taught us this.

So how was your year, and what have you learned? What will you do to make 2025 a better year for you and yours? I don’t mean resolutions, those never last. But what have you experienced in the past year that has transformed you? Let me know in the comments below.

I leave you with best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. To now actually quote Longfellow:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Christmas Bells” (December 25^th 1863)