Wood. Water. Words. Besides wife and kids (and dog) they are three of my favorite things. As I go further into this kit assembly and paddle building business, I look back and realize that woodworking is one of the pursuits that has been with me the longest. If not the longest. All the way from childhood to now.
Likewise, water. Growing up in the country outside of Duluth, we had these little ponds in the woods, mostly from snowmelt and the occasional runoff, but there was always water in them. We had this old beater canoe that my brother and I fixed up (again the woodworking), which we would drag through the woods and plop into these little ponds. It seems to me that is the start of the enthusiasm for water. Almost as old as the excitement for wood and working wood.
Finally, words. By far the most recent discovery and by far the most complex and intricate, at least for my simple mind.