And yet another name.

One of my students that was in my first year class was an avid paddler who decided that he wanted to build a boat with his own hands. He's a very nice guy who travels quite a bit for his job and was already a talented woodworker. Still, very little stuck out about either him or his canoe to really give a name to the canoe. I really wracked my brains trying to find a name. Months and months went by with no name for his canoe.

Let's see here. What could I use for a name?

He was our class "enabler". Because of the time of day that we have class, (in the morning) students tend to come in with muffins, donuts or pastries for our morning break. (We can't hold a candle to the spread the weavers upstairs put on every week, tho'.) This guy brought things in with stunning regularity. Usually donuts or even better - sticky buns from a shi-shi local coffee shop. Just like mom used to make. Krispy Kreme for a boat name? I think not.

For his feature strip, he decided on two wide strips of Port Orford Cedar. It's a lovely softwood that's really a cypress and when cut, it smells sweet, fruity and spicy all at the same time. It's a fragrance vaguely similar to sassafrass leaves. Good name material? Nope.

When he finally began to sand his boat after fairing the hull, he decided he would use a random-orbital sander rather than a longboard for his final sanding. He put the canoe outside on the edge of the parking lot, (it was a beautiful day) pulled on a pair of safety glasses and a dust mask and went to town with the sander. After about a half hour, we looked over to see how he was doing. The random-orbital sander had put so much sanding dust in the air that he was covered from head to toe. He looked like someone had turned down his contrast - like a spectre. The name came to us immediately:

The Cedar Ghost.

(See the ghost in the grain?)