On the Other Side of the Hill, Out of the Woodshop; Thoughts I Had.

Often when the hands are busy the mind is free to travel to new places. I have put in text some places I have visited while doing some of the more tedious tasks of woodworking. These are thoughts of life and living in the context of my Christian faith.

Most of the ideas for this book have their origin in my woodshop. At times when engaged in a tedious task, such as sanding, muscle memory would take over and my mind could go wandering. Some of these wanderings became productive as I thought about ways to make my work better. Other wanderings actually were reviews of my life and analysis of meanings. As I got older my mind became more prone to just wander like it is doing now. Sometimes I would venture to that blissful place where I am thinking about nothing. So some of my ideas were never thought in the woodshop. This writing has been quite a challenge for me. I managed to almost fail English composition several times in high school. It is one thing to have the ideas, but it is another to put it on paper. I wrestled with the ideas and I wrestled with the wording. Sometimes it seemed like those instances when you have a good idea during the night but in the morning it is nonsense. A paragraph is a literary device to put a thought in a box. Actually, I wrote this for myself. Now I would like to share what I have found. There may be essays which are somewhat obtuse, but I think I avoided extremely obtuse. My son-in-law Jim has been very helpful. He is a talented guy. He does the graphics and helped with the finishing touches. We sprinkled some pictures on top of the documents to give the flavor of life on my side of the hill. You may even find sawdust on some of the pages. I hope you enjoy it too, but I pray that it will strengthen and encourage you on your journey.

My wife Jamie and I have lived in the same house for almost fifty years. We are in the small valley of the Potato Creek which works its way north until it joins the Allegany River. I grew up a short distance from this junction in the valley along the river as it makes its way north before eventually turning south toward Pittsburgh and the Ohio. We raised our three children on this side of the hill. During a downturn in the economy, I returned to college. I earned an A.A.S. in Mechanical Technology and then a B.S. in Applied Mathematics. This area of Pennsylvania is part of what is referred to as the PA Wilds. With the family and sometimes with just my dogs I've spent many hours hiking the local trails. Wherever I have ventured it is always a joy to return to this side of the hill.