Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Perfect Day

Let me first explain that March in this neck of the woods is normally cold, clammy, windy and nasty. Last Thursday was a magnificent 80 degrees, sunny and beautiful. The kind of day where you open the sunroof and let your winter-white skin feel some heat. And it's hard to concentrate if you have a desk job. Escape is pretty much all you can think about. Lucky me, I had made arrangements to meet Jim Robeson, master saddler, at his shop for some instruction in leatherworking. And yes, the windows were wide open and the radio was loud all the way there.

First of all, the entire building smells like birthday cake from the bakery downstairs. Even the ladies room. Jim works upstairs in an organized and full shop. A very nice person, he took a couple hours out of his day to teach me some sorely needed sewing techniques as well as some proper edge finishing how-to and threw in some sage business advice garnered from his 40+ years of experience in the custom saddle business. He also competes with high powered rifles at 1000 yard distance.  Makes the 20 yards we shoot with our fancy bows and arrows seem mighty short.

What does this have to do with archery, you ask? Quivers, my friend. But more on that a bit later.

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