I got a request (I think) to make something that looks like something in a photo of something. I think it’s a cutting board, but I can’t be sure.

Out of the blue a while back a relative emailed me a photo. Taken with a cell phone, the object in the photo seemed to be a cutting board. The telltale signs were there – it had alternating strips of different color wood, and it was a rectangle – but beyond, the photo is so blurry that I can’t make out any details.

There’s also nothing else in the photo that I can definitively identify for a sense of scale, making it even more difficult. There appears to be an iPad lying next to it, but if that’s the case then the cutting board is the size of a cocktail napkin. That can’t be right, unless it’s maybe a trivet or hot pad for the kitchen.

Making things even more of a mystery, there was nothing accompanying the photo – no email, no text, nothing to give me a clue to what it is or, for that matter, why they sent it. So as not to appear to be a complete idiot for not knowing what it’s all about (or, alternatively, embarrassing the sender by admitting that the photo is unrecognizable) I’ve opted to take the manly route: I haven’t said a thing, opting to place the ball back in their court.

Hopefully, I’ll eventually get another email asking, “Hey, did you get the picture of that [blank] I sent you that I want you to make for Christmas?” If that’s the case, I can say, “Yepper, I got it. Just looking for the perfect wood to make it with.” And, thusly, save face on both sides of the communications gulf.

A.J.