As we enter our fifth (sixth?) month of isolation because of the pandemic, we’ve spent a lot of time looking at the things in and around our home. Little things that were minor annoyances were quickly dispatched, since we would deal with them more frequently.
One thing that I’ve come to appreciate more are all the little tchotchkes around the house.
They are subtle memory triggers of a different time and, more importantly, a different place.
We will always have the memories but the little souvenirs trigger those memories – it’s kind of nice.
232 sand dollars [Derek Sivers] – I’ve long been a fan of Derek Sivers’ thinking, which he captures quite eloquently in his writing, and I won’t excerpt this post because it’ll take you only two minutes to read. I recommend it.
This next story is fun because it’s how I’d imagine things going if me and a few of my own friends decided to build our own cabin.
We Quit Our Jobs to Build a Cabin—Everything Went Wrong [Outside] – “We were two or three weeks into building a cabin when the first two-by-four became the target of a sudden, white-hot flash of anger. It was the summer of 2018, in the middle of Washington’s emerald-soaked Cascade Range, and I was on the phone with my father, seeking advice about some framing conundrum, while my longtime friend Patrick (who goes by Pat) was wrestling a 16-foot board toward a miter saw. When the whir of the blade stopped, it became immediately clear that he had cut it wrong. The sawdust still airborne, Pat reached down, grabbed a two-by-four with the conviction of a Baptist preacher, and sent it flying into the forest with a short, crisp, ‘Fuck.'”
And to end it on something a little weird…
A Highway Pickle Mystery Is Preserved in Missouri [Atlas Obscura] – “WE ALL HAVE OBJECTS THAT we notice every day, that ground us in our communities. Maybe it’s a particular mailbox, or a nice street tree. Maybe it’s a sign on the way to work that makes you laugh. Or maybe it’s a pickle jar, perched on a concrete wall next to a highway ramp.”
The story ends with the last sighting in 2018 but if you go to the Facebook group, someone posted last week that there are now three pickles there!
See you tomorrow!