This is the box Dad made for Cordy's remains. I would be remiss if I didn't first tell the story of the wood itself. In 1977 a real estate developer cut down the walnut grove that stood behind our neighborhood in Fremont, CA. My Dad, being one who likes to "cut wood" on any given Sunday, stealthily went out one night with his chainsaw (ok perhaps not so stealthily once it fired up) and slabbed some of the trunks & stumps that hadn't been carted off that day and stored them in our garage. Walnut is a beautiful wood but it takes at least 10 years to dry naturally; chemical drying is faster but compromises much of the color. My father is a very patient man. So in the past 31 years he moved these walnut logs, approximately 450lbs in total, from Fremont to Charleston, SC then to Houston, TX and back to California. (Thanks Lockheed, who paid for all of those moves except for the last trek back to the west coast).
Anyway, feeling 31 years was ample time for proper drying and having a new project he wanted to start (baby crib) Dad had his walnut slabs professionally cut mid-September. He called me from my parking garage exclaiming, "31 years man!" I went down and saw his van loaded to the brim with stunning lumber-- colors resembling the sunset with brilliant pinks, deep reds, oranges and of course every rich variation of brown imaginable. Really pretty wood. Most people don't know what true woods look like; they're only aware of what the "stains" look like. For example what color comes to mind when I say "cherry"? Probably a deep red/brown color right? Cherry itself is actually a very light colored wood, it just happens to take stain very well which is why all ritsy furniture you see in a department store is cherry.
Lesson learned my friends. Anyway, so Dad ambitiously wanted to make the baby crib out of his beloved walnut. As we hit mid and late October he started to worry about having enough time remaining to start and complete this ambitious project. So it was only fitting that when the worst happened, he used some of it to create her box. Then using the laser engraver that we own, I was able to customize it the way I wanted. It's now sitting in my curio cabinent, a couple of shelves above Boo Bear's remains, surrounded by flowers I dried from the various arrangements I received while in the hospital. It was a huge relief to me to finally have her remains with me in my home. Now Dad is back on his kick of making the crib, since he has plenty of time.
In other recent news, it hailed in Morro Bay yesterday. Super rare occurrence. It was kinda fun (other than the waking me up at 4am part). I actually busted out all of my old CO clothes.
