"What we need in our lives is an inventory of factors that never change.  I think that skill with one's own hands--whether it's tilling the soil or building a house, making a piece of furniture, playing a violin, or painting a painting--is something that doesn't change with the vicissitudes of life.  {Woodworking is} a kind of therapy, but it's also a stabilizing force in my life--a total rest for my mind."   President Jimmy Carter.