Jeanine and I are lucky to share a great dentist. In his free time, he relaxes by milling tree trunks into slabs of lumber. Last year, he gifted us a large quantity of spalted beech. Originally, I planned to use the wood to build the desk for Jeanine’s sanctuary, but the exceptional spalting proved too frenetic for such a large piece of furniture in a room meant for meditation and soothing energy. Instead, I used some of it to build a small bench for our mudroom.