Do you have woods?

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I have been doing some work on the outskirts of Millsboro DE. It is a special project for a friend whose shed has fallen into disrepair. The shed backs up to a patch of woods which goes on for about a half a mile before it reaches the highway. Last week I stepped into those woods for a moment to take advantage of one of the best things about being a man and I was confronted, instantly by one of the best things about being a boy.

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It was as though these were the very woods I had spent time in near Dover as a kid. Everything about the scene was familiar. The closeness of the air, the threat of mosquitoes and the distant, distorted highway sounds which could be ignored if so desired. The patches of bright fuzzy sunlight and cool shadow were there as well mixing with earthy, leafy smells. The greens and grays and the lonesome sound of a single engine plane all conspired to blur the line between twelve and forty three. For a brief moment I envisioned myself putting one foot in front of the other and then, brushing aside the different shaped leaves, I’d be off in search of a stream or a civil war gravestone!

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Chicken Plant

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Vincent Overlook

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What closed the door on this American Dream?

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Gas Station Giving

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We were ridiculously lost on the way to an appointment in Wilmington DE on Friday. A young woman at a cash machine overheard us asking the cashier at the convenience store about Mill road. She collected her money and then politely inserted herself into the meeting of minds realizing that hers was the most qualified to help us. I wrote the directions while she visualized the streetlights and stop signs. I said: “You grew up around here didn’t you?” “Yes” She answered “and I work over there”

Pass Galvuccios Restaurant…

Turn right at Shins Paint…

The latter was the detail that really saved us. In the end we were one hour late for our appointment and still we were taken. I hate to think what would have happened without our Good Samaritan.

Thank You Ma'am for your help and especially for taking the time.

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Me? New? Never!

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I am, since at least high school and maybe before, a fellow who likes older things. My tastes linger somewhere between the 1940’s and the 1960’s. I like the feel, the smell and the way things from that era are built but there is one drawback that becomes more noticeable as one ages and that is the weight of yesteryears highly durable non-durable goods.

I have a good friend, Bob, who is about 15 years my elder and I noticed when we first met (about 20 years ago) that he had readily adopted plastic cases into his family of carpentry containers. I was just getting started gathering my version of the tools of the trade around me and they included wooden, metal and leather cases. Twenty years ago would have made bob roughly my age now and I have to chuckle to myself each time I discover some lightweight plastic case in a thrift store these days and eagerly buy it dreaming of that magic combination of lightweight and organizational components that will make my efforts more streamlined and practical.

For me, apparently the future really is in plastics but how do we know that the plastic we hold in our hands is good plastic? Last week on Twitter I caught a passing tweet about large amounts of plastic’s in our oceans leaching chemicals. The Tweet had a link attached to it but timing prevented me from investigating further and now I have only this tidbit of info on the brain. I think “Twitter” ought to have a big brother/big sister called “Fritter” which allows up to 640 characters and could get a little more in depth so the application itself could actually be used more as a learning tool rather than primarily a linking tool. A couple of years back I bought two number 7 drinking bottles for work and loved them just prior to the bisephenol business. Don’t even get me started about PVC.

Today’s plastic will never be Bakelite but there are some companies out there taking the medium to all new heights.

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Red Square

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While in Lithuania my wife and I tagged along on a journey my sister & brother in law and some of their friends were taking to Trakai. Panchia and I rarely do things like this but are always happy when we do. So, we had a great time and at one point Sergei and Katia went off alone together to have some ice cream, or ludai as the locals call it. The next day I discovered that they had also taken a moment to purchase for me a 100 percent authentic party hat.  I cannot wait to play ball this winter with my comrades Edward and Grace!

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La Machine

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I am trying to rate and re-evaluate the systems I am creating sooner rather than later. 

My wife wrote a paper this week on the computer program ConstructionSuite. This program is a central part of Junction’s organizational framework. She asked me how it had changed the way I work and I told her that ConstructionSuite enables me to integrate various programs such as quickbooks for the company finances and excel for estimates and schedules. It saves me time by reducing my data entry and performing tasks that I would have to perform manually. Still, the program is only as good as the data that is entered. It is the old garbage in/garbage out scenario and while I would not necessarily call the information I have entered garbage it is amazing how plain it becomes that revisions could be made.

Another added factor is that our photography library (Adobe Lightroom ) does not integrate with any of the business programs but I use the same account and project names and numbers to keyword and label the photographs. 

At times I marvel that the little box that is my laptop and the little egg that is my head can cooperate to make the ends meet but If I think back to the days when I organized everything business related in windows alone, I quickly count my blessings, take a deep breath and return to whittling away at the presents relatively simplistic problems.

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People who need people...

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I have one client who pays me to work on her vacation/rental home while she works with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. I have another who says “sometimes the good guys win.” The folk’s I work for are a diverse and interesting group and I really enjoy getting to know them.  

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Say it ain't so Joe!

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<((You don’t say))>

Yesterday’s Talk of the nation: Science Friday was about the conceptions folk’s have about food and the best possible scenarios for its distribution. People, me included, have a tendency to be dramatic. They often make big choices based on limited information that they deem important because of the source. In fact it seems that as the amount of knowable facts increase at a dazzling rate, finding a trusted source to fill in the gaps in our knowledge is as important as finding a good doctor or mechanic or, dare I say, carpenter.

The guests on Science Friday and the host Ira Flatow were discussing the distribution of food and the carbon footprint of various methods of food production. I like Mister Flatow because in his roundtable discussion’s he always tries to bring the conversation around to a reasonable conclusion based on all of the participants viewpoints. The conclusion yesterday was that buying locally produced food does not always yield the smallest carbon footprint. Now, for the why’s and wherefores I’ll refer you to the program but the thought I am pursuing here is more about how we reach our conclusions than what we conclude.

<((Give the people what they want))>

The quickening is a concept I have been hearing about for years. The quickening is manmade and involves every facet of human knowledge. Basically, the idea is that things are getting faster because we continue to find ways to do more things. (I can do more, I do more and things happen faster.) Another concept I have been hearing about for some time is the individual’s fast growing ability to get through the day without encountering a thought or idea that they do not at least partially agree with. Blogs and websites and targeted media of all types are being produced at ever greater speed. Many of them exist to turn a profit and have discerned that preaching to the already converted is a surefire method of doing so. 

There is simply more information in the world, which means there is more erroneous information and that means there is a better chance that any one of us might be infected with facts which just aren’t true and then, we too, can turn around and infect others…

<((The theory of relativity))>

Are facts and the truth the same thing or are facts something we can prove while the truth is something we have taken on good faith? It really does not matter because both the truth and the facts of the matter are informing our beliefs. I guess the truth and facts combine to produce perception and perception is relative so knowing thyself really can only happen if we admit that there are things that are unknowable. By that I mean it just is not possible to know everything. So, some of what we know we simply believe and those beliefs are only as trustworthy as the source they rode in on.

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Flip the Switch

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This page had become crowded so I added the Junction Switch for links. You will find it on your left.

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Naming Names

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Six weeks or so ago a kitten marched onto our land and right up to the back porch. His tail was high in the air with a little twist at the end and his attitude was “here I am. I bet you were wondering when I would get here.” He was promptly chased by our smallish dog out toward the outhouse…

Right now the kitten is enjoying himself with a candy wrapper in the kitchen. He is super good at entertaining himself, has nice markings and still doesn’t have a proper name. What he does have is a call that he answers to. It is a tsk tsk type sound that is produced from the sides of an exaggerated smile rather than from the front of the mouth. It reminds me of the African languages that include clicks and pops and twirls. He responds to it without fail.

Maybe he does have a name.

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Patres Familias

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<((Extended Family))>

My new Brother in law, Sergej Trifonov is a fantastic guy. He married my wife’s sister Jekaterina Bojarkina on august 8th, 2009 in Visaginas Lithuania. The wedding was idyllic; the weather was gorgeous, the guests enjoyed themselves thoroughly and the bride, whom I am really fond of because she is a great person, told me it was the best day of her life. I could not be happier for them as they seem to complete one another in a wonderful way.

Sergej is a furniture maker and carpenter in his own right. He is smart and resourceful and I am happy to say one day soon will be joining us here in the states. Sergej and I have decided to combine our talents in the family business. The burgeoning Junction Home Services will expand its horizons to include built in and stand alone furniture. We are very excited and will keep you posted.

<((A Wedding and a Funeral))>

A couple of days back I wrote about a frightening incident where my wife was choking uncontrollably. As the incident occurred a day or so after the Bojarkina/Trifonov wedding my wife told me that as blackness closed in around her the saying crossed her mind “A wedding and a Funeral”. Today that saying came true with the death of my father in laws father in Kazakhstan. My deepest condolences to Yuri and the entire Bojarkin family. I never made it to Kazakhstan to meet father Bojarkin but I heard his voice just last week as skype made the other side of the world sound like the other side of town. My own father told me the other day at the hospital that he had gone to have a spot on his lung biopsied and that he will not have results for nine days. Our future points at the compass, the calendar and clock and whispers: “ready or not, here I come.”

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Nuclear Family

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Four people in a hospital room are the closest of relatives. It is the first time they have been alone together in more than a quarter century. There is plenty to say and avoid. 

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The view outside the window is 4 stories of solid brick wall. 

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I bring up the pony which get’s my father into trouble. I tell him if he wants to get me back he should bring up the rabbit. 

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Mom says that we kids got all of our good traits from her and our bad from him. Dad says he believes she might be right. 

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My sister calls him daddy and I call them Ma’ and Pop respectively embracing my inner Jersey. 

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For the first time in 35 years there is nothing wrong with this picture. Everything is as it seems. It is a perfect moment and no matter what happens next I will eagerly add this snapshot to my album.

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Back to Dover

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Yesterday my sister had excruciating pain in the area of her appendix. She visited her doctor who arranged an appointment for Wednesday with a surgeon. The pain failed to subside and she was taken to the emergency room. By 4 in the morning they had operated on her for acute appendicitis.

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Several years back, while building my first house, I noticed that almost every morning in the beach resort town of Ocean View, Delaware there was some form of emergency that sent sirens wailing off into the bright morning sun. I imagined a myriad of possible emergencies playing out under a deep blue summer sky. I imagined the Jaws of Life peeling open a car and letting in the smell of tanning lotion.

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I remember the first time I realized just how fast an accident happened. It was like an amazing glimpse into the nature of time. Suddenly, I understood something about being alive that I had never known before; Time is different for each of us.

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While in Lithuania I went to our guest room in my in laws apartment and lay down. The trip had been exhausting and my body had yet to catch up with me. As the fog of sleep fell, I heard in the distance my wife choking uncontrollably. I raced to the kitchen to find her mother striking her back and P. buckled over convulsing. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her. The crepe that had caused the irritation dislodged itself. Last night she told me that during the episode everything had begun to go black. In her solitary time of emergency she had mused that it was somehow fitting that she had traveled all the way across the ocean, back to her hometown, to die in her childhood kitchen.  

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Turning Point

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I am pretty well aware that the best time to declare an epiphany may not be in the golden afterglow of a trip to a place where there is good food, clean water and languages other than our own. Still, I return from Lietuva re-energized and  re-committed to the entirety of my vision. By that I mean even the parts of it that have yet to be unveiled to me and, like in the picture above, to the parts that I have only begun to understand. I know that life continues to feed faith with introductions and affirmations and that only good omens should be taken into account as bad luck never will ruin the surprise of its presence with hints and whispers.

I am glad to be back and most excited to take every junction to the next level. 

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I still love Lietuva

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Back on the 15th!