I’ve just got back from an epic 3-week holiday that started on a canal boat in Oxford and ended with a road trip around to Scotland. I’ve driven 2,000 miles in less than a week and I actually feel like I need to take another break to recover from doing so much! I’ll write a side post about it soon but here’s a little pic of me at the Quirang on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, as a taster:
For those weeks I was pretty off-grid in terms of communications as there was no phone signal by the canal side or in the far reaches of Scotland, so I missed out on a lot of what my parents got up to in Portugal.
So what’s been my parents latest project? They’ve got a new dining table!
Earlier this year we asked the village carpenter if he could make us a larger dining table that can easily seat eight people. The current table was always supposed to be temporary until we found the perfect table and after a couple of years I think its time is finally up.
We did a lot of research online and went to local furniture shops but found that online they were extortionately expensive and the ones in the local shops didn’t appeal. So we printed off a picture of the ideal table and took it to our village carpenter who took the job on.
Here’s our old table for reference:
The new table is made of Kambala wood, which comes from a sustainable source on the west coast of tropical Africa. This wood is used for all sorts of things, including boat building! Here it is in the making by Senhor Cross, the carpenter:
It took many coats to get it to this stage:
And it took four strong men to carry it in and put it into place. And here it is all finished and in place:
What a beautiful table! We’re very happy with it and we’ve entertained family and friends around it many times already.
