Being Productive, While Not Producing; Wintering in Arizona! (My snowbird life)

Hello all!  I have not dropped off the edge of the earth, we are spending our first winter in Arizona.  Ahhh, the sunshine and warmth is fabulous!  I live in an area where we get a lot of sunshine in the winter, unfortunately it comes with very cold temperatures.

While living the life of a snowbird I am not able to keep up my regular routine of working on furniture, but I am not wasting my time down here.  I am learning some new things.  I have long wanted to learn stained glass, and now I have my opportunity.

This is my very first project.

I took an oil painting class.  I've never worked with oils before, it was very interesting.

One evening a week I sit around with a group of old guys and they teach me to carve, they are great, and very humorous!

Once before I turned two pieces on a wood lathe.  I have decided to use my time here to do some lathe work in a way that will benefit my "furniture habit" when I return home.  The picture below is a turning that I did which will be 2 legs for furniture, once cut in half.

This is a picture of 4 of the legs above and 4 shorter legs, plus one more piece of wood from which  I plan to get 8 shorter legs. You will see these used at some point this summer, maybe on a trunk, not sure yet.  I just picked up another 4 X 4 at Home Depot so I see a lot more of this in my future.

While here, I am hoping to do some work on my  photography skills, which I really need.  

I think hiking starts tomorrow, so that will give me more opportunity to practice my photography skills.

Here's a secret for those of you who stuck it out until the end, we are looking for buying a little "Park Model" (aka Tin Can Trailer) here, and if we do... the makeover begins!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  

I went out last night to a little discussion group about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which I have never tried, so we will see where that goes.

Until next time, stay warm all my friends and family at home!  I will be seeing you before we know it!