I'm back in the office. Rested and relaxed from a week at the wonderful John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. It may not sound "restful" to spend about ten hours a day for seven days making a loopback Windsor chair, but to me, it was enjoyable and, at times, inspiring. And, as usual when I have time to experience something completely new, I see the connections I never imagined before. While the trip was completely personal and off-duty (I even joked that my going offline was an experiment in being NeoAmish), Jamie Roberts assigned me a writing assignment related to it for an upcoming American Spirit. I also took plenty of photos and video. In fact, here is a set of photos on Flickr that follow the progress of the chair I made.

We've had lots of wonderful new photos added to the T-shirt Map during the past few days -- maybe it's the weather or something. We now have photos from four continents. I was just looking at it and clicked on an "H" icon in the Mobile, Ala., area and what should appear but a busy-mom wearing a T-shirt and a happy young man having his first baby food. The mom is Elizabeth, my niece (is there such a thing as a niece-in-law?) and that handsome young guy is my great-nephew. The happy eating runs in the family.

One great thing about our seventh-floor offices are the big windows and the views we have of changing weather. I took this photo a few minutes ago -- it was around 2:00 P.M. in the afternoon, but it looks like night due to the severe weather moving through Nashville. For those familiar with Nashville, this is (looking west) the junction of I-440 and West End Avenue: