Rock Breakin'

You guys, I love Craigslist. Where else would you find a giant pile of the exact bricks we need for the back yard totally free and only fifteen minutes away? Awesome. The only catch was that they had been cemented into place and so had the cement still caked onto them. No problem, I thought - I've got a masonry chisel, so I should be all set, right? Well, yes, but definitely with some back pain for my troubles. My progress so far:



The area we want to fill in is basically that whole section with the hostas that are growing outside the demarcated flower bed (we're just going to dig them up and move them over a couple of feet). The ultimate hope is that by doing all of this we will make enough space to get an inflatable pool again this summer!

Secrets of the Basement

There are things afoot in our basement... Namely, a long and somewhat involved project that I decided to brave after the success of this shoe rack/hall table combo. It's been a lot of fun trying to improvise a wood shop in the smallness of our basement with my tiny arsenal of tools. Not as much fun? Trying to make my way around this thing every time I haul the laundry basket to the washing machine. It's hard to tell from my intentionally mysterious photo, but this project pretty much takes up the whole width of the space down there.



What is it, you ask? All shall be revealed when it's done. Which, hopefully, will spur me on to actually finish it already!

The here and now

One of my recent promises to myself is to focus more on mindfulness. I am generally very drawn to the idea of fully absorbing the experiential - it's one of the reasons I really enjoy yoga (but not prenatally, as it turns out... can't wait to pick it up again). I have been intrigued by the practice of meditation, but for some reason it seems too intimidating, like something you need to first read books about before doing.

Mindfulness on the other hand? That's just lingering in the moment, living through the process, having the ability to dismiss distractions just long enough to actively capture the here and now. I can definitely do that, especially since life with children is so consistently filled with interruptions that almost any project you undertake is more process than result. You really have to be able to shift attention away from your vision of the finished product and just accept the beauty of the act of doing. Which, admittedly, is difficult, especially for the slightly more type-A accomplishment-driven folks among us.



But when it happens, when you will yourself to let it happen, the quiet delight of the everyday is enough for a happy peacefulness.

Found II

I've been having fun playing with my camera. The instructions that come with it are about the size of a small dictionary, and I always have this nagging sense that if only I read them I would be capable of feats of photographic wizardry. I am actually often beset by this sense of missing out. What if I started reading that Photoshop magazine and learned about vectors and unrasterized layers? How much better would my images be, how much more streamlined my processes of creating them! Ah, there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

But for now, I don't even have a tripod and have to rely on the steadiness of my hands. I don't have a light tent and am at the mercy of the weather. Mostly though, I don't have time to become a master of the technology that surrounds me, so I will try to be happy being only its jack.

Found

I am addicted to roaming the beach bent at the waist, scouting amidst the sand granules for little treasures. Most are of course fool's gold - delicately colored pebbles that lose their appeal as soon as they dry, tiny paired clam shells that inexplicably become cliched kitsch when removed from their context, polished broken shards that are perfect in the palm of my hand but ones I usually leave behind in a neat little pile next to where our blanket was spread out.



Yesterday, however, I found these. Soft, water-smoothed shell fragments each bored and carved in irregular and beautiful patterns. Is there a marine animal that eats the calcium of cast-off shells? Are the holes made by the ocean? There weren't very many of these in the span of shoreline that I combed, and I brought all the ones I could see home to see what happened when they were taken out of their environment. Still lovely through dry, still intriguing, still not hackneyed. Probably destined for jewelry.

Light and Shadow

I've been wanting for a long time to take a picture of my stencils before the painting process. I keep them rolled up, and the sunlight plays appealingly with the translucent cuts. They could potentially make great lampshades, though I'm not sure what kind of material one should use to limit the risk of setting it on fire.

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We are off to Rhode Island for the next few days to go to a wedding. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sneak Peek

I've been working on a new project for a little while now. It will be done anon, but for now here are a few glimpses.



I really love photographing fabric up close - especially a linen canvas like this where you can see the weft and weave and the tiny dimples and divots around the pin.



Pinks, pale greens, warm blues. I hit on this palette sort of randomly, but I really like it. Not a big scale of course... But small dashes of color are always nice.



Insecty thread legs.