The Lathe - Past and Present

Pedal Powered Lathe, Craft Center, Plimoth Plantation. Photo Credit: Plimoth Plantation

Iffar gazes for hours.

There's an expression that the old folks always used when a child inexplicably began behaving, thinking or liking in the way of his ancestors.  In English, "An apple never falls far from the tree."  In one of the languages of Marash Girl's childhood, "Jinsu cheker."  (Spelled here as it sounds, not as it's spelled!)  the first word of the expression is the same in English.  Translation?  "The genes will come out!"  And so it was that Marash Girl was with her grandchildren at Plimoth Plantation (daily for almost two weeks) this past August. (See Marash Girl's photo above.) Among the children's favorite haunts was the Crafts Center, and at the Crafts Center, Iffar's favorite stop was the woodworker working the pedal powered lathe.  If only Iffar had known his great-grandfather longer, he would have known how many hours in the week his great grandfather (Peter) spent at the lathe in Peter's own workshop in the basement of the family home in Newtonville, creating beautiful furniture and repairing not-so-beautiful furniture . . . but perhaps Iffar did know, or Iffar's genes knew, and this was his way of connecting with his great-grandfather Peter . . . by watching, whenever he could and for as long as he could, the craftsman at Plimoth Plantation creating at the pedal powered lathe.