Thank you for your lovely reply. Thinking of your neighborhood girls skipping and whistling made me smile throughout the week. Be sure to tell them to keep it up, and that it is very important. And one day, when I can afford it, I hope to buy a gate from you

Thanks again for your kind words, and wishing you all the best.

Lynn

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Hello,
 I’ve been searching for fence panels or even a fence design like yours for years!  Do you have a distributor inCanada?
 Thank you.
 Carole Saint-Laurent

No, and while I'm on the subject; shipping to Canada should be as simple as one state shipping to another.  But not so.  The US has made trading with Canada so wrought with legalese and extraneous paperwork, in addtion to untold tariffs and duties, that only the persistant, such as yourself, are candidates for American goods.

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I was browsing your website and found all items "Artistically Beautiful."  May the Lord continually bless you to build, exhibit and share your magnificant works of art!
Bless you,
~NJ~

I think this must be a first.

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Hey Charles,
We finally completed the landscaping and other accoutrements around the gates, so I’ll take one this weekend and send it along. Note that the gates survived our Hurricane Ike. Trees all around snapped like twigs. To give you an idea of the forces we had, the Sun Valley latch holding the double gates together was bent like a banana,
Yours,
Elliot

Hi Elliot,
Just wondering if there is any chance of a few photos of the completed gates?
Charles

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Hi Charles,
I am surfing the web looking for fence/gate ideas. Just thought I'd let you know I love your work and am impressed by your web site. Your web page is one of the best I have ever seen. It really works for you and the customer. What talent to be proficient in the oldest and newest tools known to man.

Allan,
I guess I hadn't thought of it quite that way before. The oldest, and newest. Neat!

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July 11, 2003

Hey Chas
WOW!!! That is all i can say. Your work is absolutely incredible. Just wanted you to know that your work is greatly admired. I love to look at your webpage.
Have a gr8 day
Jeff

Well Jeff, I'll classify this one as a 'raving review.'
Charles.

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July 2, 2003
Wanted to thank you for sharing your beautiful gates on the web. They are gorgeous!  We will be finishing our landscape in a month, or so I'm lead to believe., and then ready for your work as a final touch
Carlos.

Thank you, Carlos.  We'll be here.

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May 30, 2003

Hi Mr. Prowell -
Your gates are beautiful ! I found your website on a internet search for “wood gates”. Yours are by far my favorites - and well made too and your website is great ! Do you think cedar is okay for a southern Florida climate?  it is very humid here.  If so, we are ready to order #33, which I love.
Connie

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January 31, 2003,

i am in awe of our amazing work. my name is matt and i live in lagunitas. i build outdoor structures and have recently been messing with a plunge router. do you ever need help? i would love to visit you and to learn from you. you are doing all the types of work that interest me. your work is spectacular! i am a photographer and wannabe woodworker. i have done some shop work for a contractor in berkeley building cabinets. my father is a landscape designer and i have built many thousand feet of fencing, typically boring, but some cool designs. a couple of other interesting structures. anyway, if you ever need a hand i have a flexible schedule. i would assist for free just to learn from you. i don't currently have a computer so if you want to reach me please do so at 555 488 9560  thanks, matt

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Hi Charles,
The gate was installed today and looks even better than I had imagined -- it seems to add a sparkle to the house. I can tell you that if I ever move I'll seriously think about taking the gate.
Talk to you soon.
Robin

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December 11, 2002

DEAR CHARLES, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! I HOPE ALL IS GOING WELL.I SAW MY PICTURES ON YOUR WEBSITE AND THEY REALLY LOOKED GOOD. THE BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS !!!
P.S. I AM CONSTANTLY GETTING COMPLIMENTS ON MY FENCE AND GATES. THANKS,
DAVID

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Hello!
I December 2, 2002

am a carpenter here in rural NJ and stumbled across your Webster. Just wanted to take a moment to write and express my appreciation for your work. Great designs and your execution is super!

Steve Rodemer
All Square Carpentry LLC

Dear Steve,
Thank you for the kind words. That you are drawn to the web site tells me you're something more than a carpenter. Perhaps a carpenter of note.
regards,
Charles

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August 16, 2002

I just visited your web site and it is gorgeous, just like your work. Excellent designs, information and photos. I wish I could afford to have a fence put in by this company. The fence would probably last longer than my brick house! The people in California should appreciate your efforts. Congratulations on your talent.
Teresa
Knoxville, TN

Teresa
I too wish there was a way to provide our products at a price everyone could afford.

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June 25, 2002

Hi. My husband & I live in S. Cal. in a small Craftsman bungalow, and I just wanted to tell you that your fences are really beautiful.  We have just completed a two year remodel and are now ready for a long-awaited CPW fence.
Have a good one.
Karen Cini

Karen,
Thanks for the photos.  A lovely home and grounds and I am honored to be a part of the final presentation.  We'll have your drawings posted within a week.
Charles

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June 13, 2002

Your company must be very proud. I am so impressed with your designs. Your work is the most beautiful I have seen. I would love the bowling ball arched arbor. Unfortunately that is impossible at this time, but I shall keep Charles Prowell Woodwoorks in mind, and direct people to your company.
Sandy

Thanks, Sandy Always nice to hear such lovely comments. The bowling balls will wait
Charles

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July 19, 2005

Your work is beautiful. promise me you will live a long and healthy life. I cannot buy one of your tables today, but hopeully, maybe as soon as next year, I want to. Thanks again for the information. take care,
David Flanagan.

We'll be here, David
(**Note:  The above referrs to one of our trestle dining tables.   We removed the CPW Home Furnishings from the web site in 2008.  Because we were commonly scheduled out on our furnishings approximately two years, we have simply dropped the line.  Which is a shame because it includeds hundreds of original designs of the highest order, and yet not an order the profit margins of a normal business.  We will return with this at some juncture, but most likely as a stand-alone web site and not part of the current CPW product line.)

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October 10, 2005

Charles,
While researching builders and fence designs, I came across your website and I can only hope there is a craftsman of your caliber in Durham, NC. I was amazed by your designs and impressed by the thoroughness of your website. Although it is logistically impossible for you to build my fence, I wanted to congratulate you on a fine site and thank you for the ideas you provided.
 Best regards,
Scott
Durham, NC

Thanks Scott.
We ship to NC frequently. And most projects are designed by way of sent jpegs of the site and specifications to almost any site plan. Don't give up so easily, Scott.
Charles

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Oct 10, 2005

ear Charles, We live in Boulder CO. We recently bought a home here. There is a new fence on our property. While driving around I spotted a fence that I love. We checked with the owners and it is one of your fences. In your photo gallery it is #13. I certainly would have bought a fence from you, but since the fence is new its not an option. But, ours is not stained or sealed yet. This fence is beautiful grey with hints of pink and blue coming thru from the wood. Would you be able to tell me what stain was used,and did you do it or a local person. The house was recently sold so the new owners do not know. Thank you in advance, Suzanne Carrington

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November 16, 2005

Absolutely beautiful work! I must have looked at every page and love the creative and playful presentation of your website.
All the best,
Bernie Wire

Thank you, Bernie. The result of too many idle hours spent tinkering when I should have been in the shop, working.

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Dear Charles,
I have been perusing your web site for several weeks, admiring your work when I stumbled onto the Pointless Pastimes.  I absolutely laughed out loud over the Road Trip. The funniest thing I've seen in years.   And the Contributor's Garden is unbelievable!  I love how throughout the site there are these wonderfully delectable comic reliefs, like the Gate Checklists.  And the Imposter series.  What fun you must have. 
Lori

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July 6, 2007 4:10:49 PM PDT

Charles,

I Have recently bought the residence next door to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House in Chicago.  This would be a fantastic opportunity to showcase your products and get some excellent exposure and wodering if you would consider discounting with this in mind?
Can I go to your Chicago production facility and touch and feel your product? The guy around the corner did a courtyard with a (parking) pergola, double drive gate, and ped. gate. It looks pretty good. Stained a whitish grey. Older local architect designed. Prairie looking. Finished two years ago…Frankly, beginning to show some wear in the joints even though there is almost no use of the drive gate. I want to see and touch the product to verify that it’s beefy enough.
Mike

Hi Mike,
As a rule, I keep the public from the shops. Not because we're guarding secrets of the trade but because these are woodworkers working, and not so geared for dealing with the interruptions associated with a showroom or a sales staff. We do allow folks to pick up their projects at the shops, rather than incur the expense of delivery, as well as satisfying what to many is an opportunity to shuffle their feet in the sawdust of the shop where their work was made while asking all the questions they want. To some, this in itself is an experience, but the fellas are not answering questions or selling anyone on the merits of a cpw product.

So I must treat you the same as I treat everyone everywhere. You either know the difference between our product and the guy down the street, or you don't. If you're uncertain, then the guy down the street is the way to go.

If we proceed, we're still waiting for a decision on the design proposal sent along, as well as the two corner tie-ins as either brick columns or wood posts or CPW Columns.

<<Charles,

1) You don’t have to treat me like every other customer.
2) While you discourage it, according to your web site you will make exceptions
3) I won’t buy your product until I’m satisfied that it’s as good as it seems. I require that I see it and touch it. I wouldn’t buy anything for even $2K, anything – a watch, car, suit, house, boat, tree etc without first seeing it and touching it - much less a fence for $16K.
4) I don’t really care a wit about your production facilities. I’m not interested in a tour or and education.
5) I will come alone to offset your fears that I’m stealing your methods.
6) What’s so hard about seeing and touching your product? It might be exactly what I looking for. Why should I reinvent the wheel unless of course I could do it for half the price?

As you may recall, I grew up in Woodside, CA. and my wife is from Tiburon. I have a sense of carpentry. My fine motor skills suck. I’m a finance MBA. There should be many examples of your work out there. Can you give me some addresses?

…you know what? Fuck it…Keep your fucking product. You’re an arrogant prick. I’m not good enough for you. Save your bullshit song and dance. I’m not interested.

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***Well, we'll pick it up and carry on and while maintaining the edge required for dealing with the rare Problem Child, nevertheless give some consideration to the accusation of arrogance as a less than appealing characteristic and nothing to be proud of.
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Feb 26, 2008, at 7:12 PM
I am a home owner in the process of building arbors, stringing wire, along with standing picket fencing. I came across your web site and was blown away with your product line.
 
The level of craftsmanship and beauty succeeded in lifting my project and thinking to another level. Great site!  

Well I reckon how there are levels of inspiration to all of us, but available only to those who walk with their eyes on the bend and not the ground at their feet.  So good luck.
Charles

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March 15, 2008 6:45:43 AM PDT

I just saw your new projects using plastic rods and you continue to amaze me. You were/are my inspiration to start in the gate building business here in Long Beach.

I have admired your work for many years and I couldn't wait any longer to tell you how impressed I am with your creativity and workmanship.

Thanks,
Lee

Well, thanks Lee.  For not waiting any longer and for the wonderful photos.  The house is absolutely gorgeous, as well as the recognizable gate and fence.  But also the white house next door looks to have some interesting architecture.  I think I appreciate architecture the way I appreciate people, in all their varying forms and styles.

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February 7, 2010 4:49:19 PM PST
Dear Mr. Prowell,

What an amazing website you have. Your work is that of a true craftsman. The best work I've ever seen.
I am simply awestruck.

Does your company ship to Canada.

Best regards,

Enrico Patafie

Thank you Enrico.
Is Canada the one to the north, the civilized country with the National Health Care plan?
Yes, we ship to Canada. There are various duties/tariffs that are paid by the consignee(you), but otherwise the shipping cost via UPS Freight is the same. Your project would ship from either the Portland or Chicago shops, depending on what part of Canada you reside.

Charles

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On Mar 9, 2010, at 1:30 PM, Bill Barnes wrote:
You have a terrific web site and your products are beautiful. Your web site is interesting and very easy to get thru.

Thanks Bill.  Nice of you to take the time to send a note.

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On Oct 21, 2010, at 11:01 AM, Thomas Turcic wrote:

You have a very good and easy to use web site, and I even appreciate you dry humor-
However, you have defeated my efforts to discover the type of wood you use and I see no choices given. I have no doubt it is there somewhere, but I am recovering from hernia surgery and can't sit here any more searching.

I am interested specifically in Garden fence #3. We are planning to use it to screen a couple of ground level HVAC condensing units serving an 1888 Landmark Chapel on Roosevelt Island (Chapel of the Good Shepherd). The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved that design. Just dying to know the species and resulting potential longevity.

Hi Thomas,
Regarding surfing the web: You have a plausible, medical excuse for the amount of time you're willing to expend. My own excuse, however, has less to do with anything beyond a lack of patience.

Roosevelt island. Anything Roosevelt is currently of great interest to me, as I just finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, and starting the 2nd in that series: Theodore Rex, and awaiting the final in the series, due to be released next month. I am neck deep in teddy.

The link to Wood selections can be found in the same box as a number of other useful links, which is scattered throughout the site. Such as on the Site Page. But also here <http://www.prowellwoodworks.com/gate/-wood.htm>

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On Nov 12, 2011, at 3:30 PM, Jonathan Parra wrote:

Charles,
Looked at your website and just wanted to say nice work.  Also that you are a hater. Do you know what that means. It means you spend time  pointing out what others could do better when you should just be focusing on yourself. I was interested in your comment in the driveway gate section about turning your head when the contractor shows up with the skill saw. I work as a General and the comment didn't bother me it's just that my mentor, (also a general contractor) blows doors on your designs. All around you would get ruined.  We have a shop as well as skill saws and you should have a contest with us on who can build a better looking and functioning piece. What do you say. You're the best right?

Hi Jonathan.
You've written what reads like a fairly angry letter. But in reading it through and mulling it over, I think you've stumbled upon some humbling truths. Reading through the text you refer to and seeing that I am guilty of what I'm being accused of. Because I deal with so many contractors, spread all over the country, and for decades and decades, I am confronted time and again with how the level of workmanship and shortened apprenticeships have changed the trade from what it once was. The countless projects that are shipped and bungled on the other end by licensed contractors who simply don't have the experience or the knowledge or the tolerance for what should be a level of workmanship that's an accepted given. A trend that began in the mid-eighties and was furthered by a generation opting for tech careers in the boom 90's and gradually culminating in a blight of qualified tradesmen in the field. I don't expect these installers to be designers or artists or businessmen or woodworkers, but I do assume they are competent, reliable, and accountable. Because the majority of them I come into contact with fall short of this, we finally quit offering referrals or accepting their letters and calls to be listed as referrals in their local areas. We do this now only in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I have personal relationships with the contractors over a period of years and that makes a huge difference.

But more importantly, you had the courage to write an angry letter that was drawn from a undeniable truth. Calling me out on a small-minded characteristic or personality flaw that was allowed to leak onto the page following, I would imagine, a bungled mishap on a site somewhere that had the homeowners complaining to me about a site installer who I had never met or even spoken to or even referred. I have edited that text and everywhere else that shows this not-so-good side of myself and am reminded that there is enough hate in the world as it is. Corrections and adjustments in character as we age that are often, and thankfully, pointed out by absolute strangers.

So, in a twisted rebuttal, I believe I'm thanking you for making the effort to write what was on your mind.

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We'll close with portions of a correspondence that is surprisingly common. A commission in Chicago, Illinois that leads us on a labyrinthian, Kafkaesque route to what in the end is a finished result. A dalliance of quirky likenesses that catapults into something more akin to vaudeville than an inquiry into commissioning a work.:

On Apr 20, 2007, at 5:54 AM, Hope -- wrote:

Hi Charles,

Thanks again for taking the time to talk with me on Wednesday. Here are the pics I promised.

Just so you know we purchased the house 2 months ago, red and aqua paint included. That'll change. It's a 1928 Dutch Colonial but I included a pic of the front living room b/c the fireplace masonry has an art deco flair. Most of the walls are finished with an original Spanish plaster effect and the millwork appears to be walnut or mahogany, something with a natural dark color (we think.) I painted the walls a Mediterranean white so the room definitely has a Spanish/Med. feel (especially with the arched windows.)

My preliminary idea is to have a gate and fence just behind the bank of windows running across the driveway. We're having the entire driveway pulled out from that point back all the way to the garage (we have alley access.) What I envision is, after you enter through the gate there's a lush courtyard area - so the gate sets the stage for a beautiful surprise awaiting our visitors on the other side. We want the gate to be pretty solid most of the way up with "windows" at the top. The gate could replicate the shape of the bay windows? What do you think? Judging from your impeccable work and beautiful designs, I trust your instinct 100%.

Lastly, what's your average time to complete a custom gate/ fence?

Looking forward to your response.

Hope L--

On Apr 23, 2007, at 10:17 AM, charles prowell wrote:

Hope,

Thank you for the photos and the general measurements. You have an approximate quote.
These can either be picked up at the shop on Wolcott, or delivered for $225.
Lead time: Production of your products would be scheduled at 3-4 weeks.

ps: I loved the house. Absolutely gorgeous. So much so that I found myself browsing the neighborhood on the web. I have always stayed at the Write Inn in Oak Park when in town visiting the shop on Walcott, and more than once considered just taking an apt, as there's no place quite like Chicago and it's neighborhood hamlets.

Charles

On Apr 23, 2007, at 1:54 PM, Hope L-- wrote:

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! --Here's what I determined over the weekend based on a lot of "you stand here and point to 4 feet on your. OK. Now five," and "Will it look weird if..." We also determined if we center the gate on the 16' width, the gate would be skewed off-center of the remaining driveway and would not lie in a natural place for the walkway on the other side.

Possibly you'll have a creative way to avoid the extra 1K I just added to my extravagant gate idea. This whole gate idea looked like a good idea in theory!

Thanks again,

Hope

On Apr 23, 2007, at 5:58 PM, charles prowell wrote:

Hope,
Yes, a rough sketch from you, and then a follow-up call would be best.

On Apr 24, 2007, at 5:48 AM, Hope L-- wrote

Hi again,
I was informed last night that you had left a phone message on Saturday. I had no idea you had called. Wow, that was really nice. It's a little difficult for me to have any type of normal conversation on the phone b/c of the kids (we have three, ages 5, 3, and 1.) My mother-in-law is coming here today to help out, so I'll give you a try. What's the best time for you?

I do want to clarify that I imagined the three fence panels would be constructed as fence panels with the proper fence dimensions and would merely mimic the gate, not replicate it. I noticed you do do that with a lot of the gates/fences shown on your web site.
I'll be in touch,
Hope

On Apr 24, 2007, at 10:32 AM, charles prowell wrote:

5, 3, and 1. It's a wonder you have time for anything, much less a landscaping project and a new house to settle into and the new culture of the midwest (not the true midwest--for that you must travel south, to southern Illinois referred to by us natives as Heaven on Earth ). Chicago to S. Illinois is like Paris to Provence; we grew up on a farm with a meandering river and grits and the ya'll's of a decidedly southern culture situated amidst the rolling hills of a world no one else was aware of. Certainly not anyone from Chicago, who had no more license into the area an an SS officer in Provence.

But your mother-in-law is coming to the rescue and on a day where I'm leaving at 10:30 (PST) for a site in Belvedere and then onto the Oakland Hills of Monclair to meet with a certain Debbie Reynolds who ordered a gate last year and who wants to re-design her sprawling backyard around CPW and with whom I've had this intriguing correspondence and as a result, promised to make a site visit. Altho her project was handled by an architect, and she has previously ordered products from CPW, I have not as yet spoken with her. She's an older woman, 70's or even 80's I believe. She mentioned in last week's letter that she was busy this week with a boat show and I have to wonder: Is this the real Debbie Reynolds, from Singin in the Rain? Hired for a personal appearance at a national boat show the way she accepts personal appearance fees for certain events in Vegas and elsewhere (I've read). It's possible.

In the interest of your symmetry: The gate with it's specific dimensioned specs is at the center of the drive. To the right I imagine a flanking panel with it's normal dimensioned specs but mimicking the design of the gate, of course. To the left another flanking panels that is the same length as the right flanking panel, tghus creating the symmetry of the centered gate and the two corroborating flanking panels. On the far left, the third panel that departs from the others in that it steps to the stone wall and a different length and probably a different layout simply because it needs to step, or integrate itself to the wall.

On approach, to navigate from the association of a driveway surface, the surface is cut with what we'll call a threshold that spans the width of the driveway surface and this serves to separate the function of the drive from the pedestrian-friendly environment of the inner courtyard. The threshold would commonly be stone or pavers or brick that are aligned perpendicular to the run of the drive, as in parallel to the line of the gate/panels with a slight variance or accentuation at the gate itself. A potted or planted plant or shrub to the left and right of the gate on approach and the pot itself can be important, as well as the plant. The pot must flatter the gate/panels and begin the invitation to the inner sanctum.

I love your house! And all those editors who are constantly pestering me for anything new will love your house and if we throw in a litter of babies and toddlers in the dress photo, representing that dreamy midwestern Americana family, they'll be making offers on the place from all over the country for insane amounts of money and because many of those offers will include the children, you'll be pitted with a decision: rich and childless, or the strapped but happy madonna as the envy of everyone.

On Apr 25, 2007, at 6:34 PM, Hope L-- wrote:

They'd buy the kids, too! What a glorious fantasy: my life - polished, stylized and edited. No one would know about the holes Livi punched, just this afternoon, into the radiator cover screening or the neighbors' eight foot high firewood/scrap lumber pile or the silly addition slapped onto the back of the house or the socks my husband often stashes under the sofa or any of that - just because I happened to have the good taste (and a Mastercard) to put in a CPW gate? Holy shit.

I liked your ideas. My homework assignment will arrive shortly. I just had to respond. We need to talk about southern Illinois a little more, too. We have a VW Eurovan which we've taken some camping excursions in, mostly to Wisconsin. Going south sounds intriguing.

Was it "the real" Debbie Reynolds?

April 26, 2007 Charles wrote:

I'm just telling you what I've heard. People get a glimpse of Americana dressed in bows and ribbons and they go a little berserk.
They forget, in DC and LA and NY that architectural gems like this still exist and because they've focused on their careers instead of family, they have lots of dough but no love, as in munchkin type love. Now they've connected with CPW long ago and because they dont rub CPW right, they've been out on a waiting list of like 10 years. They call again, pretending to be nice, and the wait is reduced to like 9 years. And in the meantime they continue to hang out on the CPW site, dreaming, and see this Park Ridge thing and decide they're tired of waiting and get their lawyers on the phone who find the details and they get their finance people together who advise them on ceilings and by now the missus, who is a senior partner somewhere and about 42 and drumming her nails on the finance page of the Times sitting at her breakfast nook overlooking the Potomac makes the call. An obscene offer. House, furnishings, three kids, and of course, the CPW accouterments. A counter offer from the Park Ridge couple agreeing to all but wanting to take the CPW embellishments with them and the deal stalls and a few more zeros thrown in and it clinches everything and she calls the switchboard at CPW right away and says something immature like how to shove the 9 year waiting list and starts lining up nannys and back-up nannys and surrogate mother-in-laws and year-round kid camps and boarding schools to leave, basically, Xmas eve, Xmas day, Easter, and the 4th of July as the only periods of actual occupation to leave her with oodles of free time to take pictures of herself in front of CPW stuff and email them to CPW with snooty comeuppance while the original Park Rdge couple (you) have gone into business elsewhere making babies and more babies and more babies and selling them with new houses and new CPW stuff for ludicrous sums that finds them with enough resources to one day buy back their original home, and children, and settle in where they left off only extravagantly wealthy and skipping the poopy diaper age.

S. Illinois is sort of a hidden gem. It's so far from anything metro that it hasn't really caught up. I returned a couple of years ago for the first time since leaving Illinois the day after college in Carbondale and was shocked to find homes around 15k that are worth 600K here. But there's no 'there' there. The closest thing is St louis 4 hrs away and St louis is a dump. So you have the Shawnee Nat Forest with endless country roads meandering and winding, going nowhere, threading delightful farms and rivers and hills and woods and meadows without ever passing another vehicle. But at a price: No one knows how to read. They dont know what organic produce is. The little downtowns are all boarded up cause they love their Walmarts instead. Most everyone is on the dole. Average per capita around 17K/yr. But the nicest people you'll ever meet, and bearing in mind that Jackson county was the only other county in Illinois outside Cook County that voted democratic in the last election. That's something.

Not the real Debbie Reynolds, as it turns out. She's a sailor, who earns money somehow sailing. How does one earn money sailing?

On May 5, 2007, at 1:31 PM, charles prowell wrote:

Bulletin:

Park Ridge family stalls. Procrastinates. Dilly Dallies.
Nonplussed, or bewildered, with lottery-like opportunity of a rich childless existence, the Park Ridge couple toe a dangerous line.
The CPW 9-year waiting list looms and lurks like an unabashed ultimatum to the indecisive fence-riding wishy washy huffy puffy proclamations of Hope 'Someday' L--

On May 5, 2007, at 8:07 PM, Hope L-- wrote:

Dearest Charles,

5, 3 and 1 have tortured me this week (has it been two?) Please recall your bulletin and reconsider the 9-year waiting list knowing I've been held captive by three highly demanding, irrational, deranged beasts, and that a stack of close-ups of my lovely home (remember how beautiful you thought it was?) intended for you have been patiently waiting on my dining room sideboard since last Wednesday and also that my nights have been spent mostly awake gnawing on the pieces of this backyard project of mine. I've concluded my success or failure hinges on you. Huffy Puffy" is (sadly) the only untrue descriptor.***Most sincerely,
Hope
P.S. The 17-year Cicadas are coming in the next couple weeks. Were you living here the last time around?

May 8,2007 Hope L-- wrote:

Charles,
I sent some pictures to you yesterday via USPS Priority Mail. It might be time for a phone call so we can hash out the details (and become friends again.) Call me when you get a chance. Yes, I have been majorly indicisive of late.. Like I said in my last email, I'm hoping an impeccable implementation of the front entrance will redeem me. The goods news is my kids don't give a shit how the backyard or deck or gate or fence look just as long as they have a safe place to play, draw, explore, etc. but most of all, they can leave the front door open and let the dog slip out without getting scolded.

I can imagine things have picked up considerably for you in the last couple weeks. Despite my delay, I am anxious to get things going. Although I could say, "Go ahead and fire-off the G-4 gate," I would appreciate your advice and guidance.
Call me

May 8, 2007

My Huffy Hope,

Kids. Kids everywhere. Torturing and pleasing and surprising and snuggling and being charmingly deranged and what a bonus for you that I have a life-long weakness for them, all ages right up through adulthood but nothing quite like the little ones and how it must just trigger something in me that remains a kid. Something stunted, from long ago, that relishes getting down to that level and camping out in that timeless vacuum in an exchange of insane bantering that does more to rejuvenate the batteries than just about anything else i know of. To assuage my threat of the 9-yr-waiting list, I have been busy writing a children's story titled "Waz the Greatest Wrassler in the World VS Tim, the Meanest, Mostest Ferocious Giant Squid in the World" and I'm just sure they'll find it a worthy bedtime story and demand that latest installments are sent without delay. I have to have some pics to go along with the story but it will be ready tomorrow or so for a PDF attachment that can be printed and read and will relieve you of the same old stories night after night. For at least two nights.

Now I see a new letter, and time to hash out things further and yes, things have gone busy of late but no matter how busy they get, it always remains within the scope of my own dictated pace.
I call, now.
Cp

May 8, 2007 Charles wrote:

Yer dangerous. Putting those munchkins on the phone like that. And all of you out on your patch of grass in the pretend Hawaii beach and Livvy coached to say Mr Prowell. You know that I know that you know I know I have no negotiating leverage whatsoever now. Shrewd is the word that comers to mind.

May 8, 2007, Hope L--wrote:

Yes, I have ulterior motives, but those that are directed towards the kids. I want them to "know" you and understand that you made something very special for our family that they need to respect. Any time one of them decides to swing on the gate or thinks about etching their name in it or something equally destructive, maybe, just maybe, they'll think about Mr. Pot or Mr. Growl (Kai's latest spin on your name) who worked very hard to create this functional piece of art. It may sound silly, but Kai does really appreciates hard work, artistry, color, texture, all that kind of stuff, even at five. He's looking forward to your story and is impressed that you build things with wood. He's a fledgling inventor who dreams up amazing creations and gets highly disappointed that me and his dad can't really build a specialized jet plane that can fly him to his best friend's house in Idaho or an elevator that can carry him upstairs to his bedroom or a zip-cord on which he can slide down from his room to the backyard.

And if I have any leverage with you, I hope it allows for an aforementioned visit where you oversee the installation at the "job site" (my husband will be the installer, by the way) and you can enjoy the wondrous cicadas while I barricade myself in the house and, hopefully, you don't think I'm too weird because I am strangely and acutely afraid of bugs.
P.S. I dislike "shrewd" just as much as "huffy" even in it's most optimistic connotation. Creative, I like that better, and wish it were that way.

May 9, 2007 Charles wrote:

Dear Creative,
Wanting the kids to 'know' me. Historically,. I have no resistance to munchkins. Particularly when they have been coached to call using the speed dial. I've been considering making some adjustments to the 9-year waiting list.
The story of the wrestler and Squid needs pictures. I've gone googling images online for crocodiles and squids and stuff. It's kind of taking some time. My mother was an artist, and an illustrator and I grew up hanging out at her easel getting drunk on the scent of oils.

Mr Pot and Mr Growl. Which one is Kai? Too many munchkins. Just name them #1, #2, and #3. I thought it was Olivia (Livvy), and Anna Stira, and, and . . . and, his name? Is it Kai. My apprentice, who understands the work and rewards? If he shares this interest with me, then pick up a copy of Popular Mechanics and Mechanics Illustrated, where they show you how to build planes from kits and back-pak human flying kits. This was me at five and six.

Bugs. I figure there is to mid-june before the bugs, and further north, the black flies I hate. Here, you may remember, we have no bugs. Bugs dont exist in northern CA. But then there are also no warm evenings.

Sore. Sore knees. #2 son ben (19) plays basketball like a gazelle. Like poetry. It's better if I retire, but he's begun standing in with a group I play with twice a week for the last 15 years and tonight I guarded him and he treated me like a gnat. I can no longer guard him. And my knees are sore.
Cp
PS: I'll have someone deliver your package from the PO box so that it doesnt get lost in the shuffle.

May 13, 2007 Hope L-- wrote:

Charles,
It may please you to know, my husband (Ted) and I spent all day yesterday focused on the future installation of CPW goods. The landscape contractor arrives Monday a.m. to begin yanking out the driveway and begin the transformation... This fact, coupled with Ted's enthusiastic response to your rendering, inspired us to hash out all the details. We determined the measurements will be a little different based on a few newly determined factors. We also decided the best plan of action is for my husband to install the posts before the pavers are installed in order to not disrupt them and also to provide accurate measurements to you.

Also... can you think of any way to integrate a mail slot into the left hand fence panel to accommodate a mailbox accessible from the courtyard area. We could mount a mailbox on the front of the fence but that would be blasphemous, yes? My husband likes the idea of the gate acting as our front door (he even wants to put in a doorbell!?) We'll see about that. If your time is limited, for now all I need is your opinion on the gate posts before Tuesday. Ted's taking the day off to install them. Hopefully, your crew at the Wolcott shop can still come through in 3-4 weeks. I'm not too happy about the prospect of these four posts standing guard out front for a month. Aargh. Beauty hurts, as they say...

Best regards,
Hope
P.S. We're anticipating part 3 of "Waz and Tim." By the way, how open are you to receiving literary opinions, keeping in mind they're from a University of Hawaii graduate who took tens years (well OK twelve) to get her undergrad in English Lit?

May 14, 2007 Charles- wrote:

Creative hope,
All day on CPW possibilities. Wonderful. And where were the munchkins during this preoccupation?
A good idea to install the posts first, avoiding any need to cut into the new pavers/threshhold, and to supply me with the dead-on accurate dimensions within 1/16"! Ted must know that I can be reached to help him with this, and that he is not alone and how he should call or write with the slightest question or uncertainty.

Regarding his posts: There is a pictoral on the site regarding setting posts into the grade. A good idea to send him thataway.**<http://www.prowellwoodworks.com/gate/postholes.htm>.
Nothing as crude as a post is allowed to contact the integrity of this house which is an architectural temple and appendages, even CPW appendages, have certain subservient protocols.

Heading off to Menards with all three midgets in tow. What is menards? One of them box stores? Is Target considered a box store, cause that's where we clothed the boys when they were young, but as far as I've ventured in that direction. I once entered a Costco with a buddy to get a hot dog and I was days recovering from the trauma of that. And I once stood outside a Walmart in Kentucky while another buddy went in to buy something. But this Menard's has the posts you need and no point in bandying my name around in there cause they wont know it. Now if you had an architect involved, or even a fence contractor, you could mention it and they might likely get on their knees and stand to curtsey and asking if you would use your familiarity with Cp to make introductions etc.

4x4's are okay, but already you are veering from the master plan and taking matters into your own hands. The design of the flanking panels and the gate varies only slightly and one of the purposes of the 6x6's flanking the gate is to help announce this portal, as well as providing the gate with a more solid structure as it swings, and requires more stability. But at your gate height, the 4x4's are okay. Not great. I didnt say they were great and that you did really good at menards. But they're okay is all.

Mail slots are no problem. I agree in that a visible mailbox is like a cyst, and you can work out your catch box on the inside. And a doorbell is cool. But requiring a conduit and wiring set after they have pulled out the old surface and before they lay the new pavers. And running the wire up the post and drilling through said post to mount the ringer plate on the approach face of the post. easy stuff, and i know ted can do it and maybe Kai will have an invention for what else the doorbell can do, such as opening a trap door in the pavers and dropping unwanted visitors into a chute that send them sliding back out to the sidewalk, or even better, linking it to an embedded MP3 voice-over that can be coded to say or sing anything he wants.

I just left a message at the shop to insure we're okay with the scheduling of 3-4 weeks and figuring Ted should have us dimensions by mid week and then revised drawings and then posting them and then your approval and then over to the shop. oh, and a MC payment from you before any of that. 50% of your total cost, including delivery if you opt for that and another 10K if you decide you actually want to have Cp for lunch but only if you keep it quiet and dont go gabbing to all the neighbors about 'Guess Who's Coming to Lunch', and as you wait for their bug-eyed reaction, tapping your foot and raising yer chin and one eyebrow in the casual insouciance of an absolute snoot who went all the way to Hawaii for a useless degree.

Or is it? I happen to be in great need of an english major right now. Waz the Wrassler' is an aside that was marvelously fun and shows how I know nothing about children's literature other than does it make them laugh and entertain them and have them wanting more? So sure, let's write that together and send it to my agent and see if she freaks out because it doesnt follow the guideline of normal children's book, or freaks out because it is so danged entertaining and different. But we need illustrations.and an editor mwho knows english and comprehension and who takes a certain pleasure in cutting me off at the knees
Cp

May 16, 2007 --4:45 am--Hope L-- wrote:

I'm emailing before my first cup of coffee in order to finally (somewhat) respond to Monday's message. Today begins as the first of three mornings I drive 40 minutes south to take Kai and Livi to preschool, something I've been doing since late January. School ends Friday for them and since gas prices are outrageous and we don't have a fancy DVD player in the van and someone always falls asleep, I'm happy this stint as a commuter is almost over

The posts went in. The stories I could tell about yesterday. I'm just happy they're placed in a straight line. Any time my father-in-law is involved in a project around the house he gets pissed at me if I "hover" and "watch over his shoulder" so usually things vary from my plan considerably. He loathes any mention at "special order" or "custom" and becomes hostilely silent. Knowing things were going awry, Ted called me over to "fix" an issue. Your guys at Wolcott could have never made minor adjustments to account for the changes. It's rained liked crazy since yesterday afternoon so..

I don't have the measurements yet.
I haven't read any of the attached document (that's based on another excuse)
I won't do either until later today
*Will write soon,
Hope

May 16, 2007--6:34 pm--Charles wrote:

Breaking from my early-mornings asides to consider father-in-laws and remembering an issue somewhere not so different. I think it was Hawaii. The Ruess', a childless cuple who both worked very hard, she being a doctor and he being in tech and they seldom communicated with one another, and therefore the details of their installation often got lost from me to her to him, and then to learn that the father-in-law, a retired builder, was 'hovering' over his techie son's awkward laboring. And the comments were passed on, from an old-world builder who in a sense was competing with cpw, and the friction between tech son and father, as well as between the father and his doctor daughter growing every day. Questions of every imaginable scope arriving every day, from the father-in-law posed thru the son down to the doc and then to me and how it was a conversation essentially between father-in-law and myself. A competition, it seemed. cpw lost on the posts, that were set w/o pea gravel and in solid concrete and were pressure-treated and ignoring the skewed layout for the 4-post arbor that were called out specifically on the drawings and for a specific purpose because father-in-law deemed it too fancy and high-falootin' and who the heck is this prowell fella and what makes him so high-falootin'?

My own father-in-law was the one person on earth who required of me a summoned patience otherwise absent. A Brit, who was also the opera critic for the LA Times. And yet he was my wife's father and for that gift, I went to some lengths to summon the required patience he seemed to demand.

Father-in-laws: We must love them because they are also Grandpa and there is virtually no better way to set the pace of a job like this, to regulate the pace with a tinge of fondness by bringing in Kai. Grandpa cannot resist and he and Ted concoct a problem they cannot solve and need kai's help to solve the problem and they present it to Kai and listen to his offerings and tweak his idea as a working solution but so that it appears to be all Kai's solution and they set themselves to implementing the solution, the three of them, together, and now we have the makings for chucking the pressure of a time-table over the magic of how they've always wanted it to be between them: three generations, working on a common task, outdoors, physical, using their collected selves toward a common end and grandpa becomes more patient and ted learns from grandpa and Kai learns from his dad and the daughter-in-law allows them their time. Her three men, being men, together.

So there will be posts that need to be cut to length, and the cut-off lengths must be moved somewhere and how do we do that, Kai? Short, smallish cut-offs, but nevertheless, a solution is required. Kai offers ideas because he's that way and they consider it and that night, or at lunch, show him a picture of a pulley and,

'Hey Kai, check this out. Is this what you were talking about, moving the wood with one of these contraptions?' And you buy a little pulley at the hardware store and they all set it up together and figure it out, following kai's lead, and drag the cut-offs up the drive toward the garage with this wenched pulley that is a fascinating invention.

May 19, 2007, Hope L-- wrote:

Charles,Read your vignettes. I feel like I want to cry. You capture the spirit of children, the sweetness and pureness in them, the loveliness of everyday life so well. Hopefully, your boys appreciate you were so involved in their lives (and psyches) and how much you apparently cherish them. I get so caught up in the daily grind; dishes, laundry, phone calls, emails, patios, gates... If I spent half that time journalling my children's lives - Oh I wish I were a writer! I wish I was compelled to write (which it appears is the case with you.) Yes, you can be a little tangential at times but the fact that you write in a "stream of consciousness" kind of way is exactly why you capture the quiet, intimate details so well. Do you write every day? You're amazingly prolific.

My only comments about "Waz" were that you needed to introduce "Tim" more thoroughly as a character and that little kiddies don't quite understand the concept of writer and/or narrator yet. They do love silly jokes and like to hear their names in the story, that's for sure. I'm a nobody in that world, don't really know shit. The funny things is, I like to think of myself as creative, but at the U of H my favorite parts of Lit. were editing and close analysis. I was a big math geek in high school (partly b/c I liked math and partly b/c I realized there were lots of boys in the math classes!) But, I ruined my brain partying, playing, frolicking. Living in Hawaii was the best, and worst, thing for me. That's another story, for another day. Now I'm a midwestern mom with piles of laundry in the basement and piles of dirt in the back yard, no time for writing.

And regarding 815 Prospect, the walkway went in yesterday, Ted worked late and he's back at work this a.m (since 5:00!) He's gotta make up for the day off Tuesday. Once he returns we'll get the measurements and get this thing moving again.
Hope

May 20, 2007 Charles wrote:

Hmmm. Maybe I should re-read them myself. I didnt realize they were crying material. Not in a sad way though, right? In some other way, such as the fleetingness of children before they're no longer children. So many people dont realize this--how quickly it passes, and opt out for other priorities instead of taking what is essentially only those first ten years and putting everything else aside. Whether the boys appreciate my involvement is unknown, as it's all they know and have nothing to weigh it against and of course the first five years they dont remember much of anything, I'm told. Anyway, your daily grind is just life and much better to stand with them on a patch of grass in the backyard pretending it to be hawaii than inside writing about it. If you have to choose between the two, live it any day over writing it. Here it was sort of a dual thing with Ms P and myself and the shop moved here at the house for that reason and pretty much a 50/50 deal as parents. We suffered financially, for sure, but not something i remember weighing as this or that, at the time. I do remember that most of my men friends worked all the time back then, away from home, getting a stake, and also I remember thinking of some coupes where both worked, the kids early on going full-time to day care, and a Lexus parked in the drive and vacations to wherever and how something seemed wrong with that. The priorities of that.

Tangential. I do have that issue. I wonder if it isnt what I enjoy most about writing--the allowance for tangents and asides when they strike me as interesting. The non-linear route from A to B and how in many cases, it's along this circuitous approach where the best insights are discovered. In fact, definitely. Straight lines get us there quickest, but the insights of wisdom are not available on straight lines; they're obscured and veiled and a little digging and routing is required. It may cost the impact of a page-turning storyline, dull the impact of a who-dunnit type story, but then the reader may realize it's no longer all about the story but the journey itself. Each sentence. each word. What can be learned, or simply appreciated.

Yes, every day I write from 4:30 to 7:30 for several decades now. An addiction, And currently it seems I'm absorbed with a story about a pregnant woman and a pregnant crocodile both sharing a pond in the southern Florida wetlands, and the "Boys" and "Waz vs Tim" and seeing I know nothing about children's literature and if I think about it like a proper story with formatting etc and introducing Tim earlier and better, then it might lose the frivolity of how it is really just a lark, a hoot, a nutty thing. But still, good comments, and you are my level-headed, creative, wild, competent-minded reader who'll I'll listen to. Maybe.

The project. We are approaching the 9-year list. Your timing is suddenly in jeopardy. A really large project, advance paid, is currently being drawn up. Once the drawings are done, they need to go right into this to meet the promised delivery date. I'm worried you're going to be at the end of that schedule. Ugh.

May 10, 2007 Charles wrote:

Hope,
Thanks for the pics and the sketched layout. Before this gets set aside, I've pulled together what I see here as an ideal solution.
A defining detail with dutch tudors is always the muscular window mullions, and so we've carried that over to the gate and panels, separating the lower and upper sections in a manner that keeps with the front windows, and allows us a friendly impression of openness, and yet the lower pickets, at 1-5/8" width x 1-1/8" thickness and spaced at 3/4", are set so that if you are 5-degrees off center, there is no visibility through the panels. And at the distance from the walk, it seemed my first choice rather than introduce a privacy barrier of solid lower planks.

The upper section mimics the grids of the windows, and together it appears to carry over the inherent muscle of the house so our work is an extension of the original architecture. We've also extended the top horizontal rails and mid-rails of the panels in width so we have some alignment throughout.

The gate would normally default at 1-1/2" thickness at this width, and yet it may be an noption to consider to have this at 2-1/4", off-setting it from the panels and thinking of swinging kiddies.

You can elect to pick these up at the shop on Wolcott, or have them delivered for $175.

**The Park Ridge project was completed, without encountering the 9-year waiting list. Nor did Hope and Ted sell their children tothe highest bidders. The cicadas came and went and during their 17-day presence, our Hope discovered they were seeping into the house through the chimney and at once point, in a state of affectation bordering on psychosis, she barricaded hereself in a closet with the door closed and the lights off. And yet through it all, the stages of her project were met and resolved and in the end, something pleasant resulted, and a memory of the process that may even surpass the tangible appreciation of the work itself.