Introducing The New Elves and Angels
"Cozy Corner Playspace".
Master Craftsman, David Smalley, has done it again!
We call it "Cozy Corner", in memory of David's Grandfather,
Frank H. Smalley, who was a superb Master Craftsman himself.
Frank H. Smalley with his wife Ethel Smalley
The child of very young and troubled parents,
David's family fell apart
when he was between 5 and 7 years old.
David A.Smalleyand his trips to "Cozy Corner."
(It is too long to include all that he wrote, but I will share some of the key lines that illustrate how the broken child became a Lover of Woodworking, Children, HOME and Family. )
In the words of David Smalley....
"It was a time of great unrest and sorrow in my Home. My HOME and Security were crumbling before my eyes. I was scared, and had no one to turn to for consolation."
"How I wanted my Home, and how I wanted my parents to love one another, and to love me in the context of our home."
"On the weekends my parents would drop me off at my Grandfather's and Grandmother's house. My Grandfather built his own Home, and he made nearly all the furniture himself. The place had a "Feel" that I desperately wanted. The feeling in his house was HOME, and it helped me to feel SAFE." There was no fighting there, but only LOVE."
"My Grandfather was a craftsman in the truest sense of the word. His work was a reflection of himself and his soul. A very quiet, gentle man, that I loved being with. He made me feel worthwhile and special. I was never a problem to him, and he was delighted in just having me there."
"Bedtime on Friday nights they would take me upstairs and tuck me into nice clean sheets and a warm blanket. Then we would say our prayers. It was HOME. I needed Home with no surprises to scare me."
"Saturday mornings we would eat a nice breakfast, and then go out into his workshop that was attached to the house. I delighted in the smell of the wood and watching all he did there. I would always make something too. He loved it and he loved me. It makes me cry just writing about it. Later I would go up into the woods on the hill and play for hours in my IMAGINARY world."
"At dinner time, Papa would say, Dave, do you want to go to "Cozy Corner" for dinner? "
"Cozy Corner" was a nice little restaurant with really good food. It was always "Cozy" when I was with my Grandparents. Papa would ask me, "Dave, are you too full for pie and Ice cream? " "No way!"... Cozy Corner had the Best Blueberry pie and Ice cream anywhere!"
"Then, Home we would go and off to bed, and being tucked in with prayers."
" How well I slept, and how Safe I felt! To be Loved and cared for in the context of Home, kept me going through many troubled times later in my life. I determined that someday I would have a Home, and it would be a Shelter from the storms of life for my family. "
"In one way or another, I have been "Creating HOME" with all that I ever have made. "
"I think there are a lot of people out there, who could use a little "COZY CORNER" of their own."
by David Smalley... Elves and Angels Inc.
Cozy Corner Restaurant
Route 1 Wells, Maine
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