hfte Its been a few days since I first commented and after reading all of the subsequent remarks and watching Tim's short interview with Ellen I've made the following observations: 1. Tim appears to have made an honest and sincere effort in the competition to design and create a truly original piece of furniture - not withstanding that it appeared very similar to that of European designer Simon Schacht. 2. He continues to present as a humble compassionate and positive human being, ( as he presented throughout the whole competition in sharp contrast to some of the other competitors ), while also coming off as very competent and confident ( without an ounce of pretension or "cockiness"). He therefore comes off looking very much like the real winner anyway no matter if he did not get the actual prize itself. He also demonstrated a considerable level of skill most of us can only dream of possessing in furniture design and build. He truly was and probably is in a "league of his own". 3. Now some people are pilling on Katie for various reasons the primary one being she won after Tim was disqualified. Someone even suggested that she or a friend of hers made the anonymous call that "outed" Tim's piece as a counterfeit. Her pieces are also being criticized as not being functional enough and her use of some unusual materials, ( for furniture that is ), such as PVC pipe in her last piece. At this point it is completely unfair to cast any blame on Katie for Tim's disqualification or choices made by the judges and Ellen. Unless it does come out that the "information" that lead to Tim losing the winning title came directly or even indirectly from her then we should not take shots at her. Personally on a purely aesthetic level I thoroughly enjoyed most of her work and the fact that they were also quite functional. Unfortunately for Katie her "plastic marble" table turned into an ungainly "cow table" that would only fit in a children's arts and crafts room. I also believe Katie's second weakest piece, ( the first weakest being the cow ), was her last piece, the table with the Purple Heat wood "pull - out chairs". Now while there where a lot of individual aesthetically beautiful components to the table I really did not see anyone of these individual parts draw the "whole" together. My second major concern with this table "and chairs" is its' functionality. Those beautiful purple heart wood with zebra wood joiners would not survive any adult sitting on them for long. The structure couldn't begin to hold anyone 100pounds and over. And as mentioned by another writer they are also too low. Unfortunately the best that one could say about that last and now also ironically wining piece is that other then that its' constituent parts are well built it is in that euphemistically way of speaking "Interesting". Now were I to pick a clear winner from Katie's more worthy contributions it would have to be the armoire with its hidden storage and bold modern look. 4. So far I have not read anyone commenting on the rather outsized roles the carpenter assistants that were provided to the contests may or may not have played. It certainly was apparent the explicit conflict between the contestant who built the losing baby diaper change table and carpenter was a significant factor in her loss. With regards however to Tim and Katie both had competent assistants. With that being said though Chip would on occasion take Tim's design in a conflicting direction and Tim had to forcefully pull him back into his direction. In contrast Katie and her assistant appeared ( at least on camera ) to have no conflict at all. (I don't recall his name) I have seen this particular carpenter before on either D.I.Y. or HGTV and remember being very impressed with both his ideas and implementation of them. In one instance he appeared on a show (where various TV show hosts from the American version of the above two networks shows were building a dream cottage or cabin). In the episode he took it upon himself to build multiple hidden storage spots throughout the house. His skill and execution was impressive. I'd hazard a guess that there is no way Katie would have made it to the finale. Together they made a great team, however it was surely his knowledge of multiple materials, what tools to use to work these materials, and of course how best to use these tools to obtain the desired effect.

Am I alone in finding irony in the comment above that says "there is a lot of information out there about it from reliable resources" and then later on in the same thread, there's a link purportedly justifying the poster's opinion that leads to a completely anonymous website. Who owns or sponsors the website, what are their qualifications, what is the source of its information, what individuals or companies are involved? Nada. This is an example of how people are easily mislead to think unsubstantiated opinions of unqualified people, if found on the internet, are something more than what they clearly are. These are unsubstantiated and anonymous opinions, not facts. The sources, provenance, and individuals involved with real and authoritative information are always clearly presented on legitimate websites. It's interesting to note that in many European countries, the ownership/sponsorship of websites is a required disclosure. Not in the US and perhaps easily avoided if hosted from a third world country with little or no regulation.

Fantastic photos, Bob! I especially like the one where they are standing side by side next to the fence. He is a mini-me of his mother right down to the blaze on his face. Even at this young age, one can see the horse he is going to be in a few years. What a little beauty he is. He must be providing lots of entertainment at the farm. Everything is new to him and he has the energy to check it all out. I'll bet he is full of mischief!

Hi @Sunny Do, Thank you very much for sharing your photos and observation. I totally agree with you that the Osmanthus aurantiacus has very strong pleasing fragrance. Anyone who want to get one, right now is the best time to visit your local nurseries looking for them while they are flowering. (Osmanthus aurantiacus and other Autumn blooming varieties only bloom from late September to early November, but they have the strongest scent.) I imagine they would not stay on the shelves for long for such attractive smell. I would buy the ones which are flowering rather than those without flower. Many years ago, I bought my first young Osmanthus aurantiacus and other Autumn blooming varieties without any flower at the time. I waited for many years for them to mature to bloom. It was really a painful wait. But once the plants start blooming, they will bloom each year thereafter. Years of painful waiting memory will be forgotten. The Osmanthus aurantiacus took the longest wait.