The March meeting presentation will feature Aime Fraser, a woodworker and author who has collaborated with well-known woodworkers like Ian Kirby and James Krenov. If a reputation is earned by association, then Ms. Fraser comes with a fine set of credentials. So where am I going with this? Well, the fact is that we have in the club a silent minority. They sit quietly amongst us at every meeting. Who are they? They are the ladies of the club.

Yes, we have several female woodworkers in the club, some of them beginners and some who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best the craft has to offer. I profiled one a few months ago, Diane Sherin, and her friend Eileen Pfreundschuh, who is even more experienced, having been taught by her father. Add to this list Christine Longo, who makes birdhouses and things and hand paints them beautifully. If you were at the February meeting, you saw the wooden candy dishes that Flo Leitgeb and her husband Ed made. It was scroll saw artistry, but Flo said humbly "It was nothing. It's like using a sewing machine." To go on, there's Elaine Deazley. She stopped in at our last meeting and is interested in joining the club, so we got to talking. This lady, recently from Binghamton, NY, now living in Riverhead, was interested in some feedback from the club as to which router table design we favored. The feedback was to help her decide how to replace the router table she made some time ago. This is the same lady who asked the membership how to best edge a table top. My curiosity got to me, and I asked her what woodworking equipment she has. Well, she has the full complement of power tools, and with these she intends to furnish her home with the arts and craft furniture she is going to make.

Woodworking is certainly not the eminent domain of us menfolk, and I think the ladies would be quick to agree. So having said all this, the next time we have a round robin, I would like to see that we have a member of the female contingent “man” (that's not a male chauvinist pun) one of the tables, demonstrating her craft. What say you, do I have any volunteers? Let’s see: there's also Juliet Lee, Rhoda Bender, Celine Blais, Sandee Larson, Melissa Bishop and Shirley Leonard. Well, ladies, what's your area of woodworking interest? Do you know enough to mentor, or do you need a mentor? Talk to me.