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Contract signed
Well, it’s done. The contract for construction happened yesterday. I signed the papers and Tod transferred first payment to Sasaki-san. The contract isn’t the beginning or the end. It’s sort of in the middle of the process. It’s been about a year in the planning and it will be 10 months in the making, more
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Pitchfork memories
This week, I have been using this hay fork to shift wood chips from in front of the chipper to a farther pile. And every time I secure the fork back into the pile, I can’t help but remember my first encounter with a pitchfork. I was six or seven years old and my next
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Inhabitation
Yesterday, something shifted in my way of thinking about 555. With the yumbo on site and the all-star team cutting bamboo and brush, this place is now a site of continuous habitation. Someone will be around most days. From August 19th, 2022, there will be activity of all sorts, life lived, and stories created for
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Cats on the prowl
Our neighborhood has a lot of indoor-outdoor pets and a few truly feral cats. The ones in this house are free to come and go; they have schedules around meal times and naps, so I usually know where to find them. More or less. Cats are very territorial, but the territories might not be quite
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Climate Catastrophe Dissonance
Bill McGuire’s book, Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide, came out this week and a lot of press are turning their attention to climate catastrophe. In the face of yet another summer of extreme heat, floods, drought and fires, it is pretty clear that we are facing the catastrophe in this generation. Right now and maybe for
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Goodbye, Tilly Good Car
Tomorrow we say goodbye to Tilly, our 1999 Daihatsu Mira Gino. I have been emotional about this all week, because I anthropomorphise her. She is cute; she is stalwart. She loves to wait for us under the shade of trees. She is fearless on rocky roads. She delights in hooning – going a little too
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A New Canvas
I haven’t been writing much about our future house at 555, because everything has been very slow and the architect prefers that I don’t share his work too much. I didn’t feel comfortable writing about the design process that’s been going on since October. But lately the pace is picking up. The final drawings are
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Christmas 2021
I feel like I planned poorly for this holiday, though I did my best. I made an artful painted tree a couple of weeks ago and hung solar lights on the “Christmas bush” at the edge of the driveway. I did, finally, host a cookie exchange – my first in Kamogawa. I only just finished
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Thirty Second Anniversary
We discussed what to do for our anniversary this year. Travel is traditionally our celebration, but after 18 months of staying home during the pandemic, it’s feels uncomfortable to plan a holiday. So instead, we bought a clock. Because it is our 32nd anniversary. This one is an antique Enfield from the UK. It was
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MaurArmature
As often happens, Maura decided to help me at my desk this morning. But today, his assistance created a beautiful composition on top of the armatures I was exploring. Thanks, Maura. You’re a good boy.
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