baby lumberjacks still wear plaid

NATE

Who could ask to be unbroken
or be brave again?

Or honey hope even on this side
of the grave again?

"It's not really the dryness you're looking for. You don't want to be too far in either direction, too dry will be splintery and hard to carve." This is all knowledge from long ago, summers spent with a stern and disapproving grandparent finally paying off apparently. If teaching a brat of a kid counts as 'paying off'. "You're looking for more of a soft wood. Trees with leaves, rather than needles usually."

Nate watches the kid swing with a critical eye, reaching out to correct him just a little before finally nodding. He doesn't answer the question of what they'll do with the wood yet, waiting a moment for the tenuous balance the tree is maintaining the fail, and send it crashing down to the ground. When it's quiet again, he simply shrugs. "You can cut it into smaller pieces for individual projects. Let the rest season until you need it."

"What do you need all the wood for anyway?" There hadn't been any surge of woodcarvings in the market that he'd noticed, and while he wasn't exactly tapped into the pulse of the community, he hadn't heard of many gifts going around either.

And who could ask it to be sound
or to feel saved again?

But stick around until you hear
that music play again