My dad is passionate about clocks—more specifically, he is passionate about fixing antique clocks that stopped running a long time ago. When my parents moved into their current home a few years ago, he finally got his own workshop.

I love visiting and seeing what he’s up to! Lately it’s cuckoo clocks.

Not only is he fixing the works on the inside of the clocks, but this year my dad has started fixing up the outside of cuckoo clocks too, by carving and painting pieces to match the rest of a damaged clock. He’s discovering vast stores of creative talent that he never knew about.

I thought it would be fun to count up all the antique/vintage clocks in my parents’ house—including grandfather clocks, carriage clocks, schoolhouse clocks, and cuckoo clocks, among other varieties—and I came to a total of 22 clocks, 15 of which are in the workshop, in various states of repair. (There are probably several more in storage that I didn’t even see.)

I asked my dad which clock he uses to tell time, and he said it’s the digital clock on the stove. Obviously!