There’s something magical about puttering in the shop. It’s not about deadlines, project plans, or getting that project finished before the weekend. Nope—puttering is woodworking without pressure, productivity without performance. It’s you, your shop, and a few quiet hours just hanging out. … Puttering isn’t wasted time. It keeps the place running smoothly, it keeps your tools sharp (literally), and it keeps you connected to the space where your ideas are born. It’s shop therapy.
Reading
Planet Narnia
Michael Ward
thinking
woodworking
Puttering
photos
kids-art
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Clown
trees
winter
photos
IroquoisPark
Iroquois Park Walk
maintenance
Maintenance as Mastery
Tim Harford: Why Self Improvement Starts with Maintenance
That reflects a second underrated fact about maintenance: good maintenance is often nothing like the chore of brushing teeth and washing dishes, but an intellectually demanding task requiring knowledge, intelligence and curiosity. To repair a complex object requires patient problem solving and the diligent discovery of hidden trouble. It is an act of mastery.
trees
clouds
winter
photos
Louisville
YewDellBotanicalGardens
Yew Dell
We took an afternoon family walk and explore at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens this afternoon for my wife’s birthday. So nice to be in the woods. Such an interesting place.
clouds
photos
moon
thinking
The True, the Good, and the Beautiful
This is a good article on how the things we allow ourselves to think about and dwell upon shape us over time.
Clinton Manley: “To change the metaphor, you write “on the tablet of your heart” through your patterns of attention (Proverbs 3:3, 7:3). The more you return to a line of thought, the deeper the inscription goes. Over time, the scribbles on your mind become well-worn carvings. They harden into habits.”
When the kids were young, and this still applies to the 5 year old, it was very hard, nearly impossible, to get them out of a rut of negativity and complaining. The longer they’d continue, the deeper the rut would get. There was never any reasoning them out of it. Usually the only path forward was to distract them and change the subject entirely.
I’m not sure it’s much better as an adult. If I let myself continually dwell on the Lies, the Bad, and the Ugly, then over time it gets hard for me to get out of the rut. There is much to confess and repent of here.
update
Admin Day
My wife and I are trading “admin days.” I got the whole day with no parental responsibilities to do some organizing and planning for the coming year (hers is tomorrow).
I spent the early morning doing some paperwork and research for finances.
Once the sun came up and it started to get a little warmer, I was able to get out into the workshop and clean it a bit. We’ve been in this house for ten years and I’ve remodeled most of the house from that workshop, but it is an organizational disaster. I really need to think through how it is laid out and how I use it and how it should work better. I need to throw out a couple of hundred pieces of scrap wood. The kids are starting to get interested in woodworking, and the place just isn’t safe or set up for them. Taking a step back to hopefully take several forward.
I went to the library and checked out an audiobook of the Silmarillion, which I hope to listen to with the older two kids this year. We tried previously, but we got bogged down and never finished. I hope an audio version will help!
I went for a hike. New Year’s Resolution in action.
A couple of years ago I remodeled a closet upstairs and put in a little office. When I say little… it’s very little – about 4.5 x 5 feet. But it’s got bookshelves that finally let me unpack some books that had been in boxes for like six years or more. So, in the afternoon I started going through those books and making a stack of books to give away and a stack of books I want to read this year. The rest I tried to organize into categories. It’s a first pass. I’m sure I could get rid of a whole lot more and never miss them.
It feels good to be a little more organized. Still a lot of work to do though, on all fronts.
photos
exercise
If I can only do this or better about 103 more times this year…
trees
winter
photos
IroquoisPark
Christmas Walk
The woods are so brown at the moment, but looking closer and small, there is green to see.
sky
photos
Louisville
Family Walk
It’s a little warmer than average for late December, so we took a family walk down over the Ohio River on the pedestrian bridge. Christmas colors and the city in the near distance.
sky
clouds
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Contrast & Patterns
I had to work a couple of night shifts this week for a coworker who was sick. It always leaves me tired, but I was able to join the family today for a sunny trip to a very cool playground. There were some very interesting contrasts between colors and materials. Also some interesting patterns.
And then t wore a cone around for a while.
reading
LeGuin
Norse-myths
Children of Odin
Currently reading: Children of Odin by Padraic Colum 📚
I’ve never read any of the Norse myths before, so I didn’t recognize the similarities between Rocannon’s World and the story of Freya and her necklace as well as Odin the Wanderer. Trying to fill in a knowledge gap with this easy read (the one Le Guin had, according to a footnote).
photos
hymns
christmas
That the Powers of Hell May Vanish
Church last night was a service of lessons and carols. Concluded with this…
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly minded, for, with blessing in His hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood. He will give to all the faithful His own self for heav’nly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way, as the Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day, that the pow’rs of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six-winged seraph, cherubim with sleepless eye, veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry, “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, Lord Most High!”
With everything dark going on in the world around us, we need more than ever this Light of light from the realms of endless day.
winter
kids-quotes
Forts
E, 14: “On the first day after it snows you build forts outside with snow. On the second day, you build them inside with cushions and mattresses and blankets.”
Adventure followed by coziness and comfort.
photos
Snowman #2
Another round of snow (4 1/2"), so another snowman. This one all by j.
winter
photos
kids-crafts
christmas
e
Snowflakes
E crocheted these snowflakes over the past few weeks. Constantly amazed at what she can do with thread.
photos
kids-art
kids-crafts
surgery
j
t
e
Art Therapy
Still feeling terrible. This cold is taking me a long time to kick. I went back to work today but felt like I was moving in slow motion. Maybe the fact that I got called in for an emergency appendectomy in the middle of the night didn’t help. I could use a good night of pure sleep.
Life goes on in the meantime though. The kids have been busy with some art projects. J started a snowman (until she came down with the same cold) and T finished it. E, age 14, finished a gift for a friend – Luna from HP complete with Gryffindor lion hat. And T did another drawing of me, himself, and J. Pretty good likenesses actually.
family-read-aloud
Recommended Family Reading
Currently reading: The Christmas Barn by C. L. Davis 📚
It’s a family tradition to read this every December leading up to Christmas. One chapter a day gets us finished on Christmas Eve.
family-read-aloud
A Tree for Peter
Finished reading: A Tree for Peter by Kate Seredy 📚
Everyone loved this story about renewal and change in “Shantytown.”
trees
winter
photos
First Snow
In our house we always mentally count winter as beginning at the start of December. The weather agreed with us … first snow of the season last night, about 4.5". Unfortunately half the family is now a little sick, so the outside enjoyment was very short and half-hearted.
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kids-art
j
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christmas
Advent
Home sick from church today, unfortunately. Sinus infection of some variety, flu-like. Feel pretty terrible.
That being said, happy first Sunday of Advent. I thought I would share these two kids-art pictures to mark the day.
A drawing by t, age 5, of the nativity, completely unprompted. I guess he’s taken in a lot from years past. And a rock arrangement by j, age 10, of the same. She’s always making cool stuff out of ordinary objects.
photos
BernheimForest
Sister Giant
After a stop at the playground, we made it to see the sister giant of the three Giants that are at Bernheim.
trees
photos
BernheimForest
Silver and Gold
Second stop was the Canopy Tree Walk. 99% of the leaves have fallen, but these golden ones remained to contrast with the plain silver of the trunks. The picture doesn’t do justice to the metallic feeling and the glow of the backlit leaves.
