OT: Influential People & Recommendation if You Have Young Daughters or Grandchildren

[Fasttrack]

As some of you may have gleaned from previous posts, my older sister and her husband have been very influential in my life. Indeed, my BIL has housed many of my large machine tools for me and still has my "great white whale" of a shaper in one of his buildings, waiting for me to pick it up and haul it to New Hampshire. I can't even begin to enumerate all the things he's taught me or how many times he's bailed me out. The same thing goes for my sister, but her wisdom and knowledge is in other areas. I went through a tough divorce a while back and she was provided much needed emotional support during that time. Her life philosophy and wisdom are, in my opinion, quite remarkable!

And now, her first novel for middle-grade children is being leased by Harper-Collins on Tuesday (April 13th) and I'm extremely proud! So I'm making a shameless plug for her: if you have daughters or granddaughters (or sons / grandsons!) in the ~8-12 age range, check out "The Last Windwitch" by Jennifer Adam. It's a classic tale but beautifully reinvented with a strong female hero and some great wordsmithing. It's available at all the usual suspects including Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Apart from the plug for my sister's book, I also thought this would be a good opportunity to remember and share with others those people who have been most influential in our lives or those who have had an unexpected impact, even if it was a stranger or someone you met while buying an old piece of machinery (I'm trying to make it sort of on-topic! )

[David Powell]

Long ago I met a kind old man
When I got to know him he was in his 80s. He spent his working life as a threshing and agriculture contractor.
He had passed two of his traction engines on to friends who had restored them, and had kept two just for his own pleasure.
, In his kitchen there was a 2 inch scale model engine he had built adopting the features he most liked in his full size ones,
My old car packed up nearby and he helped me get it back on the road again.
He was still happily building model ploughs, binders,etc in the tin shed workshop he had built before ww1, his lathe and mill driven by an open crank paraffin engine.
I never heard him complain about anything,
A real gentleman who I will never forget.
You can see a glimpse of him driving one of his engines , helping another fellow ,in a Youtube video about restoring a Fowler Road roller no 16003,
Regards David Powell

[gellfex]

Good for your sister! That's a tough racket, hard to get to where she is releasing a book, never mind getting sales.

For me the biggest influence was Mom. She was fearless. There was nothing she wouldn't take on. Got a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1973, one of the 1st women ever in her program. She could dead reckon navigate a boat in a fog using current charts, and trigonometry. She always saw what others couldn't, and had the energy to make it happen. She took up clay sculpting and then stone carving in her late 70s. She had the Nike slogan "Just do it" long before Nike was around. She's 87, is still stone carving, can still knit a cabled Irish sweater, and make a mean brisket.

[Fasttrack]

Good for your sister! That's a tough racket, hard to get to where she is releasing a book, never mind getting sales.

For me the biggest influence was Mom. She was fearless. There was nothing she wouldn't take on. Got a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1973, one of the 1st women ever in her program. She could dead reckon navigate a boat in a fog using current charts, and trigonometry. She always saw what others couldn't, and had the energy to make it happen. She took up clay sculpting and then stone carving in her late 70s. She had the Nike slogan "Just do it" long before Nike was around. She's 87, is still stone carving, can still knit a cabled Irish sweater, and make a mean brisket.

Thanks, Gellfex. Did I see in another thread that you have a son who is into ice climbing? I've been getting into mountaineering and ice climbing the past few years; this past winter I just started leading WI3, which makes me somewhere between "shameful beginner" and "rookie"

Your mom sounds like a real inspiration. What kind of stone carving does she do? Do you get involved making tools for her at all? I remember one of my first blacksmithing books had an entire section devoted to forging stone carving tools.

love hearing stories like this (yours too, David Powell). It's easy to get run down reading the news so I find it helpful to hear about the "everyday heroes".

[gellfex]

Thanks, Gellfex. Did I see in another thread that you have a son who is into ice climbing? I've been getting into mountaineering and ice climbing the past few years; this past winter I just started leading WI3, which makes me somewhere between "shameful beginner" and "rookie"

Your mom sounds like a real inspiration. What kind of stone carving does she do? Do you get involved making tools for her at all? I remember one of my first blacksmithing books had an entire section devoted to forging stone carving tools.

love hearing stories like this (yours too, David Powell). It's easy to get run down reading the news so I find it helpful to hear about the "everyday heroes".

Yes, my son is a professional ice climbing guide and about to graduate from college and become a full time outdoorsman. He's smart and has reputation for caution among his peers, but it's still terrifying. I've not made chisels and such for Mom, she gets by with a good basic set she got when she started. I've made her a cradle to hold the rocks. She's kinda settled in to making gargoyles and similar oddness of bowling ball size chunks she can manage, usually marble, limestone or similar soft stuff. She says the stone tells her what it wants to be!