The People Of The Craft

When I was a kid, my mom owned my life. She was a mom, but moonlighted as an equipment purchaser, mess hall manager, landscaper, and frugal farmer daughter. She spent her days trying to find endless bargains to launch a boarding school and nights sewing madly to outfit a family of seven. We spent many days running down

dirt roads all over the South Carolina countryside popping into shacks and antique stores. (Antiques were not in fashion and were cheaper than furniture stores). She had, over decades, met many characters who were local masters of their craft.

Richard Hunter wove corn husk seats for rocking chairs. Mr. Truesdale cured the best sweet potatoes. Mr. Gardner could frame anything beautifully, and Mr. Godwin made the best cabinetry. She knew the best plant nursery manager, the best appliance repair shop, the best vacuum cleaner guy. And every one of them worked out of their small shops or houses well off the beaten track. Malls were not a part of her purchase mentality, not because of ethics, but because craftspeople do not open shops in malls.

It is with some shock that I realize that I am following in some of these footsteps. Well, I do still haunt the evil box stores. Just last week I was in IKEA five (count them, five) times and Home Depot for supplies. But I treasure that I am finding the small places with people who seem permanent and real. Today I stopped by Delone Vaccuum, on Markle St. (Isn’t Markle Street a perfect name for a small shop that looks like you stepped into the 50s…an old cash register, a 1933 vaccuum in the window?) Mark Delone knows every old model you might ever see. I gave him an old, damaged vacuum from the house, and see today that it was all polished up and shining in the window. The man knows vacuums. Which made me think of the 90-year old guy I met in a Chestnut Hill walkup who repairs mike cords. And John Dunn, the expert locksmith only 6 blocks away. Judith

almer, who knows pianos like old friends. Mr Gene, my body guy who has been repairing cars since he was 17 and is pushing 73. People who work on this house and care so much about the craft of the work.

To all of you who love good work, for the craft and joy of it, I celebrate you. I am not great with my hands, and I am mostly a “good enough” worker. But you inspire me. I want to learn from you and be like you. We haven’t yet stopped the encroachment of big box stores and musical clerks who change every time you visit. But what I love is my own hardware store, where people know my name and I know theirs.