Battening Down the Hatches For Autumn

Do you become unduly exercised by people who post slideshows that have no people in them, such as of landscapes and buildings? If so, you and I share this trait. I have little use for unpopulated images. Our telephones were not engineered to capture the grandeur of that glowering harvest moon, or the towering face of El Capitan. They were meant to memorialize friend Scott showing off that he grew a silly mustache. People are fascinating to decode; I have no idea why you found that street corner in Rotterdam so meaningful, but it is narratively illegible to me. It is boring.

Here, though, I have committed the sin of including a couple photos which have no people in them. I have done this because most of what I have been enjoying right now has been the hard work of restoring old homes: learning new skills, hauling mountains of mulch, grinding away at centuries of mistakes and neglect. Waking up with both wrists simultaneously asleep and afire, from holding vibrating tools for six hours straight. These days, when I don't get to go work on house repair jobs, I actually get annoyed. There's a lot to do before Niagara opens above our heads here in the Pacific Northwest, which will happen any day now.

I regret there aren't many cooking photos lately. This is due to constantly repairing houses, and only eating burritos and Triscuits. I have even been resorting to the hot bar trays at places like Whole Foods, if this helps paint an honest picture of the total derailment of my ways.

I am still hesitant to post, like, a couple "of-the-moment photos" here and there, throughout the week, here in the Author's Tier. But I promise I am constantly telling myself that things like that are exactly what this tier is for. It just seems so flimsical (flimsy due to whimsicality), so "social media." Perhaps this weekend I will take a happy photograph with people in it! It might also have me, but I am the Author, and that must be allowed for.

Ah, one last thing. I'm editing an unreleased piece I wrote about running a marathon last fall, which I'll have for you soon here in this tier. I finally got to spend a couple hours looking it over last night, and I've decided it's good enough to share. It ran (!) to like twenty-four pages, and it needs some trimming first. 

Many thanks to you all, again, for supporting Achewood here. I am deeply grateful.

C