A Friend Writes In

“I was taking a walk the other day in Tryon Creek Park, in southwest Portland. I was in need of some soul-soothing among the trees…the forest calms me like nothing else. All the clichés of being humbled in their presence-so tall, so old as they are out here in the Pacific Northwest-are true at heart. Trees are a lesson in growing old gracefully, in stillness and sovereignty; you can feel the life in them but it’s a life of perfect quiet, like realized beings with no need to preach. Anyway, it was the first time I ever made the connection from trees to wood to wood restoration. What a beautiful thing to do! I take for granted my wood floors, but when I stop and notice, I love the feel of them beneath my bare feet, the smoothness, the gentle aspect of their hard, solid nature. You can dance on them in a way that you wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) on your basement concrete, because of that softer essence. There’s a natural warmth to wood that isn’t in stone, for instance, or man-made materials. To restore old wood that’s had its share of use and abuse is a wonderful gesture not only towards beautifying a home but in the sense that you’re, literally, caring for it, as though giving thanks to the trees that ended up there. I know the Wood Doctor brings this kind of caring into their restoration work, and, really, how cool is that?”