| In case you haven't noticed, the world is "going to | | | | However, if one were to erect a wall using both |
| hell in a handbasket". No one knows where that | | | | materials, there is no similarity in the visual |
| phrase comes from or what it means exactly, but | | | | experience, the character or any aspect of the two |
| the implication is understood by anyone who hears it | | | | walls. The logs with irregular lines, bold grain, |
| - that things seem to be out of control. If you watch | | | | conspicuous knots and uneven coloring produce a |
| the evening news, read today's headlines, or listen to | | | | visual rendering that Mr. Rockwell strove to achieve |
| the radio then you know what I am talking about. | | | | with every brush stroke. To me, logs exude a |
| The world is going to hell in a handbasket. So what | | | | sensation of warmth, of strength, a sense that all is |
| does the world's demise have to do with the title of | | | | right with the world... and that is a lot to expect from |
| this article? That's easy, in a world out of control, | | | | a dead tree. |
| there's just something miraculous about logs that | | | | So what is it about logs that give me this near |
| creates peace and tranquility in my life. | | | | spiritual experience? I think it is an implicit appreciation |
| If that sounds a little bizarre to you, permit me to | | | | of a sense of perpetuity, of history, strength and |
| explain. Your house may be of a contemporary | | | | permanence. America was built from logs. The first |
| design, or a Mediterranean style bungalow, or | | | | structures erected across this land were more often |
| perhaps you make your home in a French chateaux, | | | | than not constructed of logs. For hundreds of years, |
| but for me there is no warmer, or more peaceful | | | | people carved their homes, shops and churches from |
| environment than a log home richly decorated with | | | | the wilderness using the most plentiful resource |
| rustic and log furniture. I call it my "Norman Rockwell | | | | available, trees in their natural form. In addition, we |
| effect". | | | | Americans like to be noted for being individualists, and |
| The late Mr. Rockwell had a distinctive painting style | | | | at a time when most of the population live in city |
| and his prints portrayed an optimistic depiction of | | | | apartments or suburbs with cookie-cutter houses, a |
| everyday life in America. Even while the world was at | | | | log home sets one apart from the crowd. In that |
| war and our nation was climbing out of the great | | | | same rationale, log furniture is not generally available |
| depression, Rockwell had an uncanny knack of | | | | at ordinary furniture stores. One must venture out to |
| reinforcing what was really important to ordinary | | | | the wilderness (or at least exit the shopping mall) to |
| Americans. The imagery his pictures produced inspired | | | | find quality log and rustic furniture. |
| us to be decent people and live a good life. They | | | | Okay, I will admit to having some plastered walls in |
| evoked a feeling of calming and harmony. I | | | | our home and yes, we even have several furniture |
| experience that "Norman Rockwell effect" every | | | | pieces that one might label as "conventional", but |
| time I walk into my cabin in the woods. | | | | visitors to our home invariably remark about our log |
| There is this undefined something about a log home | | | | furniture and log accents. To date, no one has yet to |
| and log furniture that literally transfixes me in an | | | | compliment us on our marvelously plastered |
| extraordinary way. How best can I describe this to | | | | bathroom. |
| the uninitiated? When I look at a wall constructed of | | | | I began this dissertation with a cliché about our |
| logs, I get a sense that it vibrates at a different | | | | world going to hell in a handbasket, and how that |
| intensity than the rest of its surroundings. No, I am | | | | related to my love and appreciation for all things log. I |
| not some new-age metaphysical tree-hugger, I'm a | | | | am confident that my opinion on both matters is |
| guy who appreciates natural beauty and I connect | | | | sound. We inhabit a turbulent and chaotic planet, but I |
| with things created from logs. | | | | live in a log home with hand-made log furniture. For |
| Consider if you will that a pine log and a 2x4 (or | | | | that reason, all is right with my world. Now don't |
| 2x10, etc.) are both wooden building products of the | | | | anyone turn on that darn TV while I'm reading my |
| same matter and used for the same purposes. | | | | old issues of the Saturday Evening Post. |