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| -rw-r--r-- | TODO | 7 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | birthday.txt | 16 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | land.txt | 17 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | lttr/lttr-01.txt | 14 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | lttr/lttr-02.txt | 19 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | scratch.txt | 10 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | summertime-rolls.txt | 43 |
7 files changed, 113 insertions, 13 deletions
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@ birds to write about: +carolina wren tree swallow black capped chickadee cedar waxwing @@ -11,12 +12,6 @@ blackthroated green warbler --- -Set up rclone to backup git repos once a week to backblaze and amazon -make it possible to have two locations overlap if one is a child of other - - ---- - post on living outside, tiny homes mean you're outside more. public spaces are more important, you end up living in public much more. "It seems to me that we all look at nature too much, and live with her too little." -Oscar Wilde, De Profundis diff --git a/birthday.txt b/birthday.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6b6102 --- /dev/null +++ b/birthday.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +This year we spent the girls' birthday in Texas. Stuck in the middle as it were. We made the best of it. I drove to the nearest Mexican market and got a piñata. We found some papel picado at the bottom of a bag. We bought way too many balloons. As you do. + +We made do with what we had, a skill you learn well living on the road. And we had a pool, a lake, and family in town. And some [chocolate waffle cake](/essays/waffle-world). Of course. We'll always find a way to make chocolate waffle cake. Everything you need for a birthday. + +As per usual we were up at early dark thirty for the girls' seventh birthday. I've embraced this early rising thing lately. I'm usually up before the kids. Not on their birthday though. No one beats a kid out of bed on their birthday, not even the one trying to pile balloons on them before they wake up. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_060402_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2053" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_060508_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2054" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_061331_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2055" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_061922_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2056" class="picwide" /> + +After presents and breakfast we strung up a piñata and took turns pounding on it with a stick. I can't recall who finally broke it, one of the birthday girls, but it was a sturdy piñata, made in Mexico. More impressively, despite never playing or even watching any baseball, the kids can hit. Some things come naturally, especially things useful in the pursuit of hidden candy. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_094527_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2059" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_094821_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2060" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-07-11_094314_seventh-birthday.jpg" id="image-2057" class="picwide" /> diff --git a/land.txt b/land.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27c2078 --- /dev/null +++ b/land.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +In my usual manner of reading things that have no bearing on where I actually am, I've been sitting in the linger summer heat of Georgia reading Barry Lopez's *Arctic Dreams*. It's one of the finest books of natural history I've ever read and many things have jumped out at me, but one in particular has stuck with me for a while now. + +I have a tendency to always be defending the way we live. This is the last artifact of a long process of shedding certain cultural conditioning. It's a terrible habit in other words, but one I have yet to break. After all, even I can admit that we are a bit eccentric, those of us who make our homes in small spaces we share with engines. + +Why do it? What do we get out of it? + +Lopez comes to believe that for the native peoples of the Arctic "land does... what architecture sometimes does for us. It provides a sense of place, of scale, of history." + +This struck me because whenever we are around non-travelers I notice how much I talk not just of what happened, but where it happened. I have developed a largely unconscious need to locate my past in both time and space. I have to watch out for this because it is annoying to non-travelers. Space, the land around the event, is information they don't want. + +But those of us who insist on moving through the land are doing the same thing that Lopez identifies in the Arctic natives, searching out our own sense of scale and history in the land around us. + +Land becomes paramount to life when you live this way. Where you are is as meaningful as who. Where defines who. Landscapes rise up become more than backdrops against which we live. They are the mysterious aggregations that shape our lives, all our lives, all the time, but out here it becomes so plain, you feel it deep within. It's not something you seek out. It is something that arrives. Slowly, almost unnoticed. Until one day you realize you're not talking to the trees, you're answering them. + +You gain a sense of place by merging into it, however briefly, in way that can only be done by giving up familiarity. Novelty sharpens the experience of place. Perhaps because we evolved to be wary of the novel, to be on edge in experiencing the unfamiliar. Now the evolutionary threat is largely gone and novelty becomes the grindstone that sharpens the experience of place until it comes to the foreground for our lives. + +Out here you mark time by space. The land is always present in you. The smell of wet leaves after a rain. The grit of fresh soil under your nails. The silence of snow. The glitter of water in noonday sun. The small patch of gravel where you first noticed your broken axle. More than the words that describe them, places become real things in which we exist and locate ourselves, our past, our present, and how we measure the scale of ourselves. We speak not of things that happened, but of things that happened and where they happened. Experience gains extra dimensions. Places become a way of locating the self within the world that is either not necessary or not possible when the places in which you exist rarely change. diff --git a/lttr/lttr-01.txt b/lttr/lttr-01.txt index f314175..07b137e 100644 --- a/lttr/lttr-01.txt +++ b/lttr/lttr-01.txt @@ -2,18 +2,18 @@ Greetings Friends! In case you've forgotten, you signed up for this mailing list at luxagraf.net. <https://luxagraf.net/newsletter/> -This is the first time I've actually mailed the list. This is first time I've done much of anything with luxagraf lately. But there is, at last, something of an update. A new entry up for you to read anyway: +It's raining and I'm sitting in the bus watching the water run down the windows. I'm feeling a little smug because, so far as I can tell over the last hour or so, there is only one leak. One leak is pretty good for fifty-year-old rubber seals. But as I often say, people who claim their RVs don't leak are really saying they don't know *where* their RVs leak. -<https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2019/06/hasta-luego> -"We came to Mexico planning hang out, visit family, live cheap, save money, get some projects done. But sawdust in a hurricane has more permanence than our plans, so none of that actually happened." +The other thing I did while I waited for the rain to stop, was publish an essay on using a waffle iron as an oven. It's a slightly different version of something I write for WIRED. This one isn't as breathlessly excited, since that's WIRED, not me. But I enjoy it more I think. Did you know you can make just about anything in a waffle iron? True story: ---- +<https://luxagraf.net/essays/waffle-world> + +Until next time... -Plans. I am not so good with those. I had plans to publicly announce this list at some point, but I never have. It's on my todo list anyway. If you know anyone who you think would be interested, feel free to forward them this message or point them to the sign up page: https://luxagraf.net/newsletter/. +-s -For now I'm going to focus on getting caught up with everything that's happened in the last three months. I've got some stories to tell, like the time we camped next to a lady with two cats, one named asshole and the other named fat bastard. Or the time we went to a chili cookoff with no chili, or the time the brakes went out and I had to stop the bus by ramming a shipping container. That one is still too fresh, still working through that. +--- -Stay tuned. You can unsubscribe from this newsletter whenever you like, just reply with the word "unsubscribe" and you'll be removed, no hard feelings, no questions asked. diff --git a/lttr/lttr-02.txt b/lttr/lttr-02.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f314175 --- /dev/null +++ b/lttr/lttr-02.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +Greetings Friends! + +In case you've forgotten, you signed up for this mailing list at luxagraf.net. <https://luxagraf.net/newsletter/> + +This is the first time I've actually mailed the list. This is first time I've done much of anything with luxagraf lately. But there is, at last, something of an update. A new entry up for you to read anyway: + +<https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2019/06/hasta-luego> + +"We came to Mexico planning hang out, visit family, live cheap, save money, get some projects done. But sawdust in a hurricane has more permanence than our plans, so none of that actually happened." + +--- + +Plans. I am not so good with those. I had plans to publicly announce this list at some point, but I never have. It's on my todo list anyway. If you know anyone who you think would be interested, feel free to forward them this message or point them to the sign up page: https://luxagraf.net/newsletter/. + +For now I'm going to focus on getting caught up with everything that's happened in the last three months. I've got some stories to tell, like the time we camped next to a lady with two cats, one named asshole and the other named fat bastard. Or the time we went to a chili cookoff with no chili, or the time the brakes went out and I had to stop the bus by ramming a shipping container. That one is still too fresh, still working through that. + +Stay tuned. + +You can unsubscribe from this newsletter whenever you like, just reply with the word "unsubscribe" and you'll be removed, no hard feelings, no questions asked. diff --git a/scratch.txt b/scratch.txt index d051377..ea63c3b 100644 --- a/scratch.txt +++ b/scratch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ +## travel with kids + +"As with any thing, the needs of small people are different, and the same, as big people. They thrive on novelty, on the right amount of ease and challenge, and struggle with boredom. They find it hard to regulate when hungry or tired. These needs are simply scaled down. Adults, especially adults who have been around a bit, like to see what is between two mountains by viewing it from all sides. Little people and their minds are content with seeing the two mountains via their emissaries, the little rocks which have fallen off into the valley in between. Little people almost do well getting outside and having an adventure, again, today, but once things proceed much beyond a few miles the wants of the little become subservient to those of the big. + +Which reminds us that adventure, especially in the internet age, is always found in the mind anyway. There is nothing more adventurous than trying, really trying, the impossible task of understanding another person. Is this task more weighty with progeny than with a spouse? Your answer tells everything. + +Understanding the two of them at home is simply easier, if by easier I mostly mean more predictable. With answers readily accessible. Beyond that, after deciding have we the adults sufficient energy, sufficient motivation, sufficient bravery to take everyone and everything important out into the woods this weekend, it becomes a question of matching big person ambition and rules to little person energy. " - https://bedrockandparadox.com/2019/08/31/the-veneration-of-lameness/ + ## Universal Druid Prayer It appears in several forms; the one most often used in AODA runs like this: @@ -19,9 +27,11 @@ And yes, it's a good intro to any sort of communion with the deities. ## Octavio Paz quote + > Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the maze of a nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason. When we emerge, perhaps we will realize that we have been dreaming with our eyes open, and that the dreams of reason are intolerable. And then, perhaps, we will begin to dream once more with our eyes closed. <cite>–Octavio Paz</cite> ## Stopping travel + Full time travelers who stop traveling, regardless of how long or why, tend to feel like we've failed somehow. Which is silly, but I'm no exception. I feel it anyway. I have been feeling it lately. I like living on the road for two main reasons. One, we spend more time outside. There is nothing so valuable as spending all day outside. Two, it satisfies a pretty basic curiosity: what does it look like around that bend? What is the view like from the other side of the hill? What does the river sound like down in that valley? What is like to wake up in middle of the desert? How does it feel to fall asleep in the sand listening to the sea? How does it feel sitting in the shade of a sandstone overhang where someone else sat thousands of years ago? What's the scent of an aspen forest in a downpour? How does the sandstone feel on your fingertips after the thunderstorms pass? diff --git a/summertime-rolls.txt b/summertime-rolls.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0c7dc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/summertime-rolls.txt @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +When we flew back to states we had a rental house booked in Athens. That ended up falling through at the last minute so we headed down to where the bus was stored to see where things stood. + +We knew we had to stay in one place for a while and unfortunately we didn't have time to move to somewhere better than Texas. Between the summer heat and the cracked exhaust manifold, there was just no way to go anywhere. + +We decided, against our better judgment, to hunker down in Texas and wait out the summer. We'd get our exhaust manifold, knock out a few other bus projects we'd been wanting to do and then, once the weather caught up with us and things cooled off we'd head west and spend the autumn and winter our west in the Arizona desert. + +It was a good plan and we actually would have done it, but for one rather large hiccup I'll write about later. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-08-01_190811_around-trinidad.jpg" id="image-2050" class="picwide caption" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-05-31_124006_pool-misc.jpg" id="image-2040" class="picwide caption" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-08-01_203356_around-trinidad.jpg" id="image-2051" class="picwide" /> + +The worst part of this plan was in the middle though, the wait out summer in Texas part of the plan. As regular readers know, I do not like Texas. I try not to complain too much because we have a pretty great life, but Texas rubs me the wrong way. Still, it was the best plan we could come up with and I thought we could do it. + +There were a couple things going for us. The RV Park where we were staying had a nice big oak tree we could park under and a swimming pool to cool off in. Even better, just down the road some extended family have a lake house where the kids could swim, ride jet skis and generally have fun and stay cool in the summer heat. + +Those things, the pool and the lake house were the highlights of the summer. The girls learned to swim and got to go inner tubing, ride jet skis, and spend their days in the water. If you're stuck in Texas, this is the way to do it. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-05-17_174826_swimming-texas.jpg" id="image-2036" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-05-17_175305_swimming-texas.jpg" id="image-2037" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-05-17_175545_swimming-texas.jpg" id="image-2038" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2016-03-25_155523-25_misc-pool.jpg" id="image-2052" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-05-17_175857_swimming-texas.jpg" id="image-2039" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-15_134842_lake-house_UYnd1Kh.jpg" id="image-2047" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-15_151813_lake-house.jpg" id="image-2049" class="picwide" /> + +Early on, before the heat became insufferable, we went out and explored the area. There was a big flea market once a month in nearby Canton, Texas that was fun to explore. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-01_104520_pool-misc.jpg" id="image-2041" class="picwide" /> + +I was struck by the fact that we could stroll around a huge flee market for a couple of hours and the only thing we bought were some small bamboo flutes for the kids and snow cones. + +Living in a small space really does curb your consumer tendencies. Everything we even consider buying has justify itself: where would we put it, and is it worth the space it takes up? The answer is almost always no. At this point we don't even really have to think about it. We have what we need, adding more would create clutter. + +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-01_105311_pool-misc.jpg" id="image-2042" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-01_105902_pool-misc.jpg" id="image-2043" class="picwide" /> +<img src="images/2019/2019-06-01_105927_pool-misc.jpg" id="image-2044" class="picwide" /> + +What's nice about this way of living is that it eliminates purchasing stuff as a form of entertainment. That leaves us free to be entertained by just wandering, watching the world around us. We've always done this to some degree, but I think our time in Mexico really brought this out. There's so much to see just walking around in Mexico that it became a habit. When there's nothing to do you walk up to the Paroquia, sit in the shade and watch the world around you. + +In his book, Written in the West</cite> Wim Wenders talks about improving photography by completely immersing yourself in what you see, "no longer needing to interpret, just looking." I find that it's not just photography that can be enhanced this way, but all of life. All you need to do is let go and look. Let go of any agenda and just walk (or sit) and watch the world around you. The world is endlessly fascinating. Even the parts you don't like, like Texas. Step back from the things you want, the things you think you need, the things you think you should do, and a new range of possibilities opens up. + +That was early on though. As the heat increased and the utter lack of anything to do overwhelmed me, I got considerably less zen about being stuck in Texas. Still, I'm old fashioned. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. |