The Heart of the Pine

Heart Pine is a fragrant, solid wood that has been used for centuries in our country for building homes, barns, factories and furniture. It often came from the southeast region of the United States. Its name comes from the fact that this wood comes from the heart of the pine.

Antique Heart Pine has an intense grain and durability seldom seem in fast-growth timbers harvested today. I've spent this past week with my grandfather beginning to build a Table of Welcome for my family's home that hopefully will last for generations. I was able to find some antique Heart Pine from recycled timbers that we are using to build a refectory style table, like those used in monasteries for centuries upon centuries.

The olfactory sense has the ability to transport and reconnect us with a world gone by. As my sabbatical approached this idea surfaced of actually building a table of welcome with my grandfather in his wood shop. As we worked yesterday at the band saw I knew this was our time to be spent together.

The smell of the blade cutting through the wood carried me to his workshop of my childhood. I was carried there right back some thirty years ago...that familiar smell of sawdust intermingled with pipe smoke as he'd make yet another rubber band paddle boat for us to play with on the lake. I remembered Thanksgivings and the flagstones on their patio, football games with my uncles in their front yard and the embrace of my grandmother we lost to an automobile accident when I was an early teen.

I love my grandfather, and I'm thankful for this time to spend with him. This table we are building together will carry memory forward to generations yet to come. My hope is that it will be a place of welcome for many - where meals are shared, tales are told and communion will be known.

Peace be with you...