'Music In The Garden' - Tour

In March of 2022 we accepted an invitation to be one of seven homes featured in a (Long Beach Peninsula) garden tour. This normally
annual event is a fundraiser by the Water Music Society to fund music programs in local schools. A good cause. On July 9th, from 10am to 4pm we opened our garden to some 400 visitors.

In Kathy's words "that's a lot of socializing". It was actually a fun experience and was 

of course, gratifying to have other gardeners confirm
that what we've created in our small spaces - was lovely, unique or clever (maybe they were just being kind :-).

We met some great folks, some of which we're now pursuing friendships with - and at the beach it's always nice to find people you have natural affinities with.

Our friend and neighbor Steve Kleinbart was kind enough (with pal Ron Hetteen visiting from Maui) to provide their musical talents. Sax and guitar provide a whole new dimension to a garden space!

One thing that was interesting was to see what others found fascinating that to us were - well, not at all noteworthy. Everyone sees things differently, I guess.

Scott and Donna Horenstein surprised us with a visit (from Vancouver) - and we had a nice dinner with them later at The Depot. 

We also opened the new studio (letterpress and grandkid hangout) to visitors, and many enjoyed poking their heads in. A really nice bonus to the tour was that we got to visit the other host-gardens on the following day. It was fun to see how others approach the garden creation process.  

Naturally, there was a lot of work that took place from March thru the event in early July - trying to get our garden looking as good as possible.  One big effort was building of a stone wall at the street entrance to our property. Friend Jerry Boileau worked fearlessly with me through pouring rain and winds to lay the foundation and construct this wall. Without his help and internal 'compass for level' - it wouldn't have turned out as nicely as it did. \mf

Book Review: 'Shop Class As Soulcraft'

 

Hyperbole stoked by enthusiasm can be tiresome and to an extent, abuses the listener/reader (e.g. "this is the best book I've read in 20 years"). I will try to keep it and my enthusiasm in check as I tell you about a book recently recommended to me by friend Jeff Lindberg.  The book in question is Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford.

I finished this a couple weeks ago. Not sure I've ever encountered a writer who so deftly synthesizes thoughts. He makes, in this unusual book, the case for a number of things: old-school shop class, the trades (both those which are repair-oriented as well as those which involve some kind of building), and any craft-work that involves the use of both hands and brain.

This book is a wholly revealing and refreshing look at the work we do and the great salve it is to our soul - when it engages the full person (hands and mind).

Here too, we see the folly of a denigration (that began in the late twentieth century) of the trades in favor of a presumption that a college pathway is for everyone. A presumption without regard to talents, inclinations or dispositions - and one that holds that it is the only savvy and respectable route for our children to take.

If you have an interest in this subject, you'll find sound thinking here and an author who thankfully doesn't much traffic in cliché.   \mf

Summerhill Letterpress

 

Plans (literally) and workflow breakdown are underway now for a new home for our  vintage (1906) Chandler & Price letterpress. 

This will be a small footprint structure (seems crude to refer to it as a shed) - just 12' x 16'. Inside will be space for the press, a layout table, Bobby Tozer's leather chair for reading and pondering new projects.  There will likely be a small locked (library) bar for visitors - as well as a narrow sleeping loft for wayward teenagers seeking to expand their horizons.

Building permit is now approved, concrete work (slab foundation and nearby washed aggregate courtyard) done and framing in-process.

As we've left the Bad Dog Inn behind, a  new name seems to be needed - and 'Summerhill' is the obvious choice.

We're shooting to have the press transported (from Tacoma) and on the concrete floor by September 1st, 2021.  Stay tuned for updates. \mf

'Pappyland' - a book recommendation ...

 

 

A friend and fellow whiskey lover - Scott Horenstein sent a copy of this to me this week.  The author, sportswriter Wright Thompson took this project on as a joint venture with hero Julian Van Winkle, III. To say that he's a skillful or talented writer - is just flat-out an understatement. The story Thompson weaves here is about bourbon, Kentucky, elite horseflesh and the people that are immersed in each and it is, well - wonderful. 

When he talks about 'the derby' - he says "it attracts new money people desperate for the lifestyle. Day trippers wearing gangster suits and outlandish patterns and hats inappropriate to the latitude, temperature or setting. The homogenization of America has left people wandering the land in search of a place to belong. We are a tribeless nation hungry for tribes."

"Opening a bottle of Pappy is a way for some people to signal they don't need to care about money, while for others it is a way to show a guest how much they are valued. When my friend, the great writer Charles P. Pierce, first came to my house to visit, I opened a bottle of Pappy 23. That was my way of saying: I am humbled and grateful for you to be in my home. A bottle of bourbon is a coded way for so many unspoken ideas to be transmitted and understood. In many ways, the most important ingredient in bourbon is added by the drinker once the bottle is purchased ... ".

I recommend you lay your hands on a copy of this - and enjoy it with a glass of something decent by your side (and then share it with a friend).  \mf

The Art of Building The Impossible

 This was forwarded to me by my carpenter-builder friend Felix Smith (SmithBuiltINC).

Mark Ellison (carpenter in NYC) has, in addition to skillful handling of demanding and perhaps absurdly wealthy clients in the city, an uncommon knowledge of materials and methods - seasoned with an inventiveness that elevates his work way beyond the normal.  

Now, when I think that I've done something clever and employed what I consider solid craftsmanship - I might humbly realize that what I've done is 'Lincoln Logs' to what this artist tackles and delivers. 

Not sure how long the New Yorker will keep this article up but here it is.

The Art of Building The Impossible.   \mf

Life and Fate (Vasily Grossman)

I stumbled on this on recommendation of a friend - and having just finished it  - I have to say that it's a great novel and one that puts today's political antics (and so-called activism) in pathetic contrast with the harsh reality of life in Russia/Ukraine during (and before) WWII.  

Grossman's a good writer and I found him (as others have observed) somewhere between Tolstoy and maybe Pushkin in style and his ability to paint a picture of the Russian soul and spirit.

[from other reviews]

A book judged so dangerous in the Soviet Union that not only the manuscript but the ribbons on which it had been typed were confiscated by the state, Life and Fate is an epic tale of World War II and a profound reckoning with the dark forces that dominated the twentieth century.

On 23 July 1962, the Politburo ideology chief Mikhail Suslov told the author that, if published, his book could inflict even greater harm to the Soviet Union than Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, speculating that it could begin a public discussion on the need for the Soviet Union. Suslov told Grossman that his novel could not be published for two hundred years.  Suslov's comment reveals both the presumption of the censor and recognition of the work's lasting significance. Grossman tried to appeal against this verdict to Khrushchev personally, unaware of Khrushchev personal antagonism towards Grossman, and misunderstanding the climate of the time.

"I ask you to return freedom for my book, I ask that my book be discussed with editors, not the agents of the KGB. What is the point of me being physically free when the book I dedicated my life to is arrested... I am not renouncing it... I am requesting freedom for my book."

In 1974, Lipkin got one of the surviving copies put onto microfilm and smuggled it out of the country with the help of satirical writer Vladimir Voinovich and nuclear scientist Andrei Sakharov. Grossman died in 1964, never having seen his book published, which did not happen in the West until 1980.

something concrete ...

 Gotta say - I love working with concrete. It's so permanent and solid - a miracle material.

We had a bit of a crater in the beach house garage where the blacktop had fallen apart. Over the years it just got bigger and bigger. Seemed like every week there was another chunk of asphalt to trip over when you walked into the garage. I had previously done a small concrete section as threshold as you first entered the space. So, with help of a circular saw and masonry blade - I scored out a big section that I wanted replaced with concrete and excavated the area. You want some rebar in the pour to strengthen the slab and reduce likelihood of cracks. I also added a 1x4 cedar separator - so that we had two sections rather than one large one.  All went well and ten bags later ($4.95/60 lb bag) and with friend Bill Caldwell's assistance at the mixer - we completed a nice patch job (later roughed-up with a broom). Maybe not 'pretty' but certainly improved. \mf