After...noon...

Many weekends are filled with activity - visitors, events, projects, travel. But once in a while, a weekend day comes around that allows for true rest and relaxation. Such opportunities I savor with all my senses. Even in the backyard quiet, there is still activity...but of a very different kind! I offer this poem to give you a mind-vacation. It will only take a minute. Allow yourself to feel, sense, hear, see, breathe and savor the moment. Are you ready? Take a deep breath, and read...

AFTER...NOON...

In the softness of the warm afternoon, the gentle
breeze plays my skin tenderly, caressing
hair, blown kisses, tickling and feathering.

In the darkness of the sun hidden, all is dull
and blended, somber; 'til it's once again
brilliance emerges, defining the shadows.

In the air, flying with or against the life-force, a
butterfly darts, a wasp weaves undaunted; but
a leaf floats or soars, carried with power.

In the delight of the chuckling stream, there is no
stillness, ever-moving onward; constant flow
and motion, all in and within changing.

In this life there is no true still point, no true
silence, no true solitude; all is doing, being, all
is active, happening; creating, birthing, dying.

In the softness of the warm afternoon, the gentle
breeze whispers in my ear tenderly, calming
my heart, loving messages to breathe and be.

Dream Furniture

Build the furniture of your dreams that will last a lifetime.

Rex White is a furniture designer and craftsman. He will create your design with you and custom make the furniture of your dreams. Hardwoods from around the world are available to construct your piece consistent with your specifications. Each piece is hand-constructed and finished with exquisite detail. The hand-sanded and hand-rubbed finish to each piece completes your special, functional work of art. Rex would be happy to discuss your project with you.

Contact him: via e-mail rdwhite@ktc.com; or from this web-site, rexwhite@rexwhitecustomfurniture.com; or by phone: 830-997-2873 or (Cell) 830-456-6658

Some of Rex's previous commissions:

In Honor of and in Memory of Sam Maloof, Furniture Craftsman:

Thin Threads

Thin Threads

Sitting on my porch, awaiting the rising sun, there is a rare coolness in the August Texas air. Cool and still as whitetail deer enjoy a morning meal of grasses in the field. The only sounds at this hour are the crickets chirping and singing to welcome the day and the hum of bees in the pecan trees as they savor the annual sap arrival. The sun just now peeks one eye over the hill beyond with a lazy light beam reaching across the dew covers of the field to lengthen the shadows and illumine the new day. It rises lazily this morning, as though it, too, is enjoying the rare coolness of this summer morn, and doesn’t want to yet get out of bed. As it yawns and stretches and opens both eyes, the gleam, the sparkle dances across the meadow and awakens the earth. Birds begin their morning songs, cows begin to bray, and the squirrels begin their games of chase, making the scritchy scratchy rustling noises across the tree bark. A bird sits on the fence line with the sun at its back shining so brightly that its feathers look iridescent and flash sparks as it chirps and flicks its tail. A new day awakens and with it promise and hope and fresh possibilities.

As the sun kisses the grasses before me, a glistening delights my eyes…for connecting the grasses in a network of shimmering strands are thin threads of spider webs creating a glimmering netting among the grasses. From the slightest breath of breeze, these wisps shiver and reflect the light like strings of glittering diamonds. Thin threads of connection, so fragile, so tenuous, yet so strong. How long have they been there? Through what elements have they survived? Thunderstorms, strong winds, baking heat of the summer sun? So delicate and almost invisible they could be so easily trampled upon by animals or humans. Ah, thin threads of connection are so fragile. Threads of love, threads of hope, threads of faith, threads of friendship. How do they survive the elements of time, of distance, of change and circumstance? And, once a connection is broken, how does it ever re-connect? Or, was the thinnest of threads still connecting the two all along – fragile, delicate, almost invisible. Maybe those same elements of time and distance, change and circumstance can actually strengthen the bond of connection, thicken the threads of love, hope, faith and friendship. Some threads sparkle and reflect the light of their beauty more than others. Some reach greater distances and support the weight of other strands. Some are weak but have their own special glimmer just the same.

Spiders have toiled diligently to create this tapestry, and yet they have done what is instinctive and comes quite naturally to them. This is for food, for survival, for their very existence, their purpose for living. Do they even realize that by their daily existence they have created such a beauty that is a delight to the eyes? No, but God does. He provides the threads, the grasses, the promise of each new day. In Him is the hope in the possibilities. He blesses the sparkling strings of connection, the thin threads, each uniquely shimmering when touched by the sun.