Queenie; her visit! and the pool cue draw

I picked Queenie up today at the Crofton BC Ferries Dock at 11:20am. A very sweet little lady, we connected instantly and it was a very informative and interesting ride to my place. She has accomplished a lot in her life and is determined to continue doing so for a lot longer. We went straight to the burl and she touched it and loved it for a while, and met my family and friends. Warren Lange was there and shortly after, Albert Chow came with his daughter Trinity.

It was another good day, Queenie, who I bet was a bit of a firecracker in her younger days, looked over Alberts beautiful Komodo pool cue. Paula dumped all the folded papers into a big pot and I brought it out for Queenie to make the draw.

Congratulations to Wyn and Wendy Bunston of Victoria, Queenie drew your name. I phoned right away and told Wendy, she sounded like she couldn't believe it. Wyn was at that time looking at some of the photos he had taken of "Murfitt" on his computer. They sounded pretty happy, and the best part about it is: Wyn is a pool player. Enjoy it Wyn, that cue has a TON of character!, and a very interesting story just like Queenie.

Thanks to Warren I have about 50 more pictures, and he even already brought discs so I could post them here.

Thanks to Paula for being such an excellent hostess, we had a great lunch and an easy time. That's just what you do!

Thanks Albert for your workmanship, and friendship.

Thanks to Lia, Tara, Becky for coming and for all your help and support.

Thank you Myrna and Barry, Fiona and Barry, Jackie and Dave for being there and helping at the open house.

Thanks to Serious Coffee for donating the coffee and cups, and the Highland Dance Club for the big tent.

Thanks to all friends and family, and everybody that donated to the Canucks Place Childrens Hospice. We raised a total of $1,700. It wouldn't have been possible without each one of you doing what you did.

Queenie, my latest 'Murfitt' friend

Since starting this project 6.5 years ago I have had the honour of meeting hundreds of people that I may have never connected with otherwise. Some of them have turned into great relationships, and it's the true meaning of 'Murfitt'

Shortly after the first article came out in the Citizen in March 2006, I received a phone call from an elderly lady from Saltspring Island, Queenie. She told me she loved wood and wished she could come over to see the burl, so we tried to arrange it. At that time the burlshack was just an idea, and all I had covering it was tarps held up with a ladder for a centre pole and brooms etc. to try and keep the wet tarps off the wood. I tried to put off Queenies visit until Peter Murfitt had the burl shack completed so she could enjoy it more.

Once the burl shack was set up we tried several times to hook up but it just never worked out. I was to come over and pick her up once and that failed because I got called out to work. It was disappointing to both of us but that was just the way it was. Through all our communication I was learning that Queenie is quite the character to say the least.

I ended up mailing her a couple small finished trimmings off the burl in the mail, so she could at least get an idea of the quality of the wood. But I never heard back from her after that! I was saddened at the thought that she never got the chance to see it and I never got the chance to become friends with her face to face. To top it off my computer crashed and I lost everything including the contact information on Queenie.

Then, on Monday evening after years of not knowing what happened I received a message on my phone. Guess who? YES! Queenie! "Hello, it's Queenie from Saltspring, I've been reading about your burl again Glen, I've always wanted to come and see it and to see you. I've never have written to you since you sent me those two little samples and I just love them. And I have a little quilt I made with the Canadian floral emblems that I wanted to bring. I don't suppose it'll mean much to you but it might to your wife or mother and I would just love to come over, my son can bring me. So will you call me? It's Queenie, you'll remember." and she left her phone number then hung up.

I could not believe it! I got alligator tears in my eyes and I called right away! I asked if she could come over on Saturday and draw the pool cue winners name. So that's what we're doing.

Queenie was a welder in the war, I think she said the first woman welder in Canada. She made 200 Blankets for babies in Africa last year, and she spent four years writing a 300 page book on her life. She's a character that I am honoured to be able to call my "Murfitt" friend!

I'll post a couple photos and the cue winners name after her visit. She's now 97!

Successful open house!

My family and friends helped make the open house a ton of fun and a very successful fundraising event. The Canucks Place Children's Hospice will receive a nice significant amount of money thanks to everybody that gave a donation. If you were here I'm sure you enjoyed your visit and I thank you for your donation. The pool cue winners name will be announced on this blog after we make the draw later this week.

It's impossible to keep track of how many people came this weekend but we're thinking 500 to 600. Thank you Kevin Rothbauer of the Cowichan Valley Citizen for an excellent job of writing the article that came out June 15th. http://www2.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/news/story.html?id=97f676b9-e580-4e6f-af58-2b1cbd5dee56&p=1
It was an extreme pleasure for me to connect with a lot of old and new friends as well as the many people I didn't know until this weekend. Thanks for coming!

If you missed it and would like to see 'Murfitt' Call me at 250-746-0075 or Leave a comment on this post and we'll figure out when you could do that. Or Facebook me at www.glen.mcleod.5 @facebook.com

photos by good ol Warren Lange.

Cowichan Valley Citizen article by Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer of the Cowichan Valley Citizen did an excellent job of writing this article:
http://www2.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/news/story.html?id=97f676b9-e580-4e6f-af58-2b1cbd5dee56&p=2

Saturday, June 23rd was a great day at the Burl Shack. My family and friends were a great help and everything went well. I'm expecting Sunday to be equally as good with slightly better weather. If you're thinking about coming and know somebody that's visually impaired, make their day and bring them along, they'll love it! They can walk around and experience it with touch.

Open house day one

Visitors came steadily from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m today. It was a very inspirational day for me with my entire family helping out all day long, as well as many friends. I was left to just enjoy all the people and their comments and questions.

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Open House

 On June 23rd/24th weekend I'll be having an open house to show the burl. You're welcome to stop by 271 Day Rd. Duncan, B.C. to see this 6.5 year art project. There will be a door prize as described in a previous post, and a donation box. Proceeds will go to Canucks Place Children's Hospice. On this same weekend my neighbor Bernadette McCormick will be holding an art show.

 I hope to find a good place to display the burl before another winter and will welcome your ideas. A lot of people ask what I'm going to name it, that's an easy one. It'll be called 'Murfitt' after the late Peter Murfitt, for obvious reasons. I honestly think I would have lost the battle with the elements had it not been for Pete. Even with the protection of the burl shack, it was a constant battle with fungus for the first few years. The battle is over now, and it will last forever as long as it goes indoors.

 If you have any questions please use the comment section on this blog. I love to talk about it so please feel free to ask.
email - theburlshack@me.com
http://www.facebook.com/glen.mcleod.5

Albert Chow

A few years ago I received a call from Albert Chow, a man who was unknown by me at that time. He told me he'd been talking to a friend of mine that told him about my burl. He said he made pool cues and asked if I'd be interested in selling him pieces of burl maple.

I told him to come on over and see if I had any pieces that he could work with. He came over with his daughter and as it turned out I did. The pieces he chose had been trimmed off the burl when I first removed it and stored with the other trimmings. When I told him he could take the wood at no cost he responded by offering to make me a cue.

I told Albert that if he made me a cue, I'd raffle it off and give the money to the a children's hospice.

A few months later a business card was in my mail box. It said Komodo Authentic Cues on the front and had a hand written note on the back. It said "Hi Glen, I came by to drop off your cue. I'll call to see when your available. Albert

I happened to be working in the area where Albert lives so I stopped by his place. He showed me around his shop and then gave me one of the nicest pool cues I've ever seen. Beautifully built out of wood from my burl, unbelievable! Not only did he give me the cue, but he supplied a vinyl case and in the case he placed a chalk. One of his customers had come to his house and tried it out. He told Albert it was the nicest solid hitting cue he's ever played with. He offered to buy it but Albert, being a man of his word, refused to part with it. My respect level for him is very high for this reason.

So now it's time for me to live up to my word and use it to raise money for the children's hospital.

I'll post details on this blog early in June and hopefully you can make it.

Thank you Albert Chow!

Not knot holes

Here's some interesting places where the bark went right through.

Angles

Another small step completed

This is the start to finishing the inside of the left hand side. In order to keep my own enthusiasm up I need to see new results regularly so I try to work small segments and get them oiled. The end result always encourages me to start on another section. I figure it takes an average 20 hours per spuare foot from start to finish but a lot of that is spread out over 6 years (so far). That's why the end result makes me smile.

Finishing the inside, a section at a time

I took a week off work to see if I could finish the toughest part of the inside and it worked out nicely.

The section I'm referring to is the big round burl on the right hand side

It turned out pretty nice, a lot of character and spectacular colour.

Canucks for Kids Fund

I've always thought in the back of my head that the burl has potential to raise money for charity. The organization that I like is Canucks Place. The reason my attention has been brought to CFKF is because I'm a die hard VancouverCanucks hockey fan. It's incredible what this organization does for terminally ill children and their families. It nearly always brings tears to my eyes and gives me a lump in my throat when I see the joy in the kids eyes when the team visits the hospice.

I will definitely need help to come up with a plan to show the burl at a location and in a setting where people would donate a few dollars to have their photo taken with the burl. It's not quite finished yet but I'm trying to be proactive and come up with a plan. I'm sure it will all come together eventually and until then I'll continue to sand and polish the inside until the day when I just say "That's good, I'm happy with that now."

2011 photos by Warren Lange

Warren Lange came around a few weeks ago with his cameras and took over 100 photos. He gave me a couple dvds and some beautiful blown up photos that we now have framed and hanging on the wall. Thanks again Warren, you're a good guy.

Lifting the burl

I have almost completed the outside of the burl except around the hard places to work, down around the bottom. My Buddy Allan freely offered his help to raise it, so I took him up on it. On July 6th he came over with 4 heavy duty barrel jacks and we lifted it to about three feet. This has made it so much nicer to work on the bottom as well as the inside. I'want to thank Allan for his unconditional help. Awesome!

Giving back to nature

The little maple tree in front of my shovel is a seedling from the original. On August 10th/2010 I planted it in the exact location where its parent (the burl) grew. I found it struggling to grow under a thick juniper. As a result of its struggles, the bottom of the stem is twisted and swollen making me think it may develop the same type of character as its parent.

The inside is coming along nicely now, the color and character is amazing.

It's time to get back at er.

Since the spring when the weather changed I really haven't done much to the burl other than clean it up occasionally. Most of my spare time has been spent in the yard, which is another thing I love to do. An American Kestrel family kept me entertained all summer. They are a very aggressive falcon (pigeon hawk) that will attack anything that could become a threat to their young.
   I witnessed one intercepting a raven that was flying into the area, the kestrel was kli kli kli ing violently as it flew above it. Then it would tuck its wings in and dive at a very high speed and repeat several times. At one point it appeared to actually have contact because the raven flipped right upside down. It looked shaken, and did not take long to get out of the area.
 The squirrels weren't nearly as cocky as they usually are, and there didn't even seem to be as many small song birds around as usual.
  We put a bird feeder up and a hummingbird feeder as well that helped attract the little fellas. I moved plants around in my yard all summer and added several new perenials, most of which attract hummingbirds. It will be interesting to see how it works out starting next spring.

  But, for now it's time to change my focus back to the burl  and that's what will be done. This picture is the area where I'm starting this season, working counter clockwise until the outside is finished, Then, the inside.

A few summer visitors

Family, friends, and a burlshack. What more can a guy want?

Maybe just a bigger barbeque.

Character shot

Now is that character? or what. Barry and Ken never walk past the burl shack without bringing our little Jack Russel terrier a treat.

Quadra Island

We found this beautiful maple tree at Quadra Island. It's much younger and still very healthy. But wow, what a beauty.