The Japanese probably have a word for it

I took my youngest to have his hair cut the other day. The hairdresser chatted to my son for a minute or so and then started. He combed and snipped, combed and snipped, moving round from one side to the other and back. Every now and then he would pause, step back thoughtfully and then return to work.

It proceeded this way both of them relaxed and chatting for perhaps 15 minutes or so and then suddenly it was done - a boy had emerged from the haystack.

I love to watch professionals at work. From the hairdresser to the signwriter to the mechanic and seamstress there is an ease, a relaxed economy of motion in the way they move. It is something that can only come from having done something hundreds if not thousands of times and that confidence comes through in the way they stand, the way they move.

And when they have left  I can still feel an echo of their presence in the creation before me.

I find it difficult to put into words but there is something "just right" about what has been made that makes you think "I could do that".

But you couldn't - that magic would be missing.

Modern dining

I have a confession to make. Rarely do we eat at our dining table nowadays. No instead we collapse in front of the telly to eat, watching "Friends" perhaps or even ( oh the shame . . . ) "Bath Crashers".

Mind you in our defense our dining table is quite often covered in freshly printed fabric or tables with maps on top waiting to dry. And judging by the number of orphaned dining tables I see in op-shops, perhaps we are not the only ones.

Times change. And in my hands so do dining tables. They often have a beautiful silhouette and with a bit of tidying, some alteration and the addition of a retro fabric top a beautiful hall table or desk results.

Todays motto - reuse, recycle, re-imagine !