walk log late september

walk log

been taking walks in my rural neighborhood.  using the voice dictation feature on my phone to record little logs.  abbreviating names of roads and people for privacy.  (seems like this writing has a different style, an immediacy from being recorded as i walk, not recalled later)

9/18/2025

4:45pm parked on b. road. walked up side road to road below grassy, over to the clearcut. huge trees in the valley. 

light wind. vine maples turning. smoky views to the south, scott said it is from fires on the olympic peninsula. Smells smoky here and it is 71°.  no rain. walked 2 hrs. (picked up) 1 gallon ziplock of trash

9/19/25 Friday 

tried the road after county line but got creeped out by truck, so came back to county line road. 6pm. noticing steep slope with vine maples, sword ferns, moss and salal. possible solution for populating my bare bank. feels warm today 78. i have been sick, but somehow getting exercise makes me feel better. timber harvest markings are all over these woods. Considering the millions of clear cut acres east of here, it's devastating that these last stands of big trees are slated to be aggressively thinned. 

9/21 Sunday

it rained this morning, so the plants are wet. I walked from my house to the end of b. road and back taking about two hours. saw a water dog and some mushrooms peeking out, took some pictures of raindrops on the stem of a Queen Anne's lace. 

marvelled at the iridescent colors on thimbleberry leaves. 

the vine maples at the edges of clearcuts are turning red. some of the princess ferns are brown now as well. my shoes are wet. i'd really like to trim the brush on the trail that connects my place to b. road.

9/25/26

walking towards tom's place and over to b. road. 1230 start time. noticing tiny, five petal pink flowers blooming. warm and dry. 

walked to the top of the b. road second side road. was checking to see if there was any new trash because I saw a truck drive up here earlier.  1350 feet elevation there which means about 500 feet elevation gain, and i'm breaking a sweat

9/26 Friday 5 pm

what I didn't tell you yesterday is that earlier this week I picked up beer cans and there were three or four of the same style in different places, and I arranged them all together in a group, visible from the road. I think that was on Thursday and on Friday when I walked by they were gone. maybe I made a point to someone.  

ultimately, my plan is to walk through this with a scythe, and clear the brush so that when it's wet, I don't get soaked walking through here. but a lot of this is salal, and I don't know if my scythe will be able to cut the tough stems.

so I got to the clear cut at the end of b. road and there's a red truck, and a guy with binoculars scanning the clear cut (for deer, he says). his name is pat s. He lives on h. road. he talked to me for about a half hour all about his childhood near Klamath Falls, growing up on a dairy farm hunting, growing up poor, that they hunted to eat meat and never ate beef. he bemoans the shortage of deer in these parts says it's gone down a lot, but there used to be lots of deer and elk through here. he has some neighbors who hunt at night which is not legal because the deer need to be able to relax at night and he thinks there's poaching. i asked him if when I see bones on blm it's poaching, and he said yes it's likely poaching. deer season starts next week. this guy was a bow hunter.  i saw arrows in the cab of his truck, or do people do both? I'll have to check and see if it's gun deer hunting or bow deer hunting. 

the yellow grasses and the daisy heads are so beautiful. 

there's teasel and there's ocean spray and sword ferns and horse tail and self heal. it's really a wonderful pallet of colors. this is on the side of the road in a clear cut.

a little further down on the left, a tiny stream trickles melodiously down a narrow strip of trees that have been left as a buffer. there's a few vine maples and some big leaf maples, and one scrawny cottonwood. but it's just a beautiful beautiful trickle. i can't wait to see it running strong after the rains.

i need to start wearing gaiters on these walks, i keep having to stop and pull burrs out of my socks.

we're a part

"Life is a project..."

Massimo Pigliucci, Answers for Aristotle

"In order for the path to be fulfilled, it must be shared."

Debra Seido Martin

"What does matter is that we're a part. Like a thread in a cloth or a

grass-blade in a field. It is and we are. What we do is like wind 

blowing on the grass.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

As spring moves toward summer and the days warm, I have been 

feeling interconnectedness.  Ideas and lives and plants and birds 

and food and wool.  Thank you and thank you.  

on kawara

I just discovered the artist On Kawara.  He is the last artist profiled in the book I posted about last time.  

Last night I stayed up late, inspired by this painting, "100 Year CalendAr".

https://gerrishfineart.com/product/100-year-calender/

Another image of 100 years, with different days represented as different colored dots depending on (for example) whether he made a painting that day.

I stayed up late, creating a spreadsheet that listed all the days I will be alive.  With blank spots starting now and continuing until 100 years after my birth.

I played with a couple of different formattings, one which would generate a 8.5 inch wide banner about 15.5 inches tall.I have a 16 foot tall wall in my house, so...

With a ladder, I could have a sense of perspective of the scope of my days and life.  I could fill in with a pencil the days as I live them.

Here is a screenshot:

This is also spin off from reading 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.  Our lives are both long, and also limited.  We can't comprehend or accept the limitations of the time we have, and thus, sometimes think we can do more than we can.  I copied this: "The limit embracing life...you are no longer befogged and bewildered by a false and misleading illusion about your life".

It feels truly elusive to comprehend the scope of one's days.  At 48 years old, I'm exactly halfway to the age I expect to live to, 96.  So a good time to consider this.  

Going back to On Kawara, I located this video where the artist Annette Lawrence speaks about their shared sensibilities.

Here is her list of what she appreciates (and relates to) about him.  (In her words):

• he's a systems guy
• he makes monumental things about everyday occurrences
• focus on process rather than product
• work is introspective, contemplative, meditative and quiet
• ...and generous
• work is a refuge from our culture that clamors for our attention at every second
• repetition sets up expectations and fulfills them
• that rhythm goes on for decades

[I will have to research Annette Lawrence, also.]

Here's what I'm liking about On Kawara, that I would like to learn from or copy:

• a repetition that slowly accumulates to something  
• mundane rituals: some of these rituals acculumlate to nothing visible, except a life (an accumulation of its own.)  

Kawara came up with a system (his date paintings) and then incorporated dots about them, into the 100 year calendar.  

• a big system and then little systems that support or are part of the big system
• everything being connected makes it simpler
• consistency makes it quieter  

He placed each date painting in a box which he made, lined with a local newspaper, as he traveled the world.

• connected to place and time

The fact that his output was repetitive, likely meant he needed only a limited number of supplies and tools in order to work.  I aspire to 

• a minimum of required possessions

• journals! still a focus on when & where (sadly my trusty red journal brand was discontinued, so my shelf won't look like this)

• telegrams 1969-2000

• other lists: I met, I went
• taking photos of the same view over and over again on different days

Which makes me think of how lately my life has been repetitive in a very satisfying way (we do the same trips each year-end, each march break, each summer).  And to embrace that and allow that to structure my life, could be quite perfect, and satisfying.

Daily, weekly, yearly patterns: a life.

what are we doing?

 

When I thought about that question, it came back to Maslow's hierarchy.  Lots of survival, feeding, sleeping, the basics.   Earning money.  Connecting with other humans, and then further along, you get to: making things nice, and expressing yourself.  Creating.  

(Images of a book by Leonard Koren)

Also: self-discovery.  Luxuries, I guess.  Not to be explored when you are hungry, unhoused.  

Which of the items on the list are ones you want to create for?

the time between

between the silence

before birth

and the silence 

after death

...

are the days

we string up

one after another

waking, quickly going

tasking, then returning

...

i really don't understand

why we move so much

why it's hard to be still

what exactly we think we are doing

...

what are we doing?

subtraction

to find who you are

take away

everything 

you are not

doors that close and doors that open

the constraints of a life...

only so many things you can do

within an hour, a day, a season, a year

if you choose well, it's balanced.

you feel alive, and connected

to both people and a purpose.

Image Credit

The world may respond more enthusiastically to some of your offerings than to others.  

I've pursued paths and had doors close, close, close.

Other times alignment felt magical, and doors opened.  

In 2015 when I left New Jersey, I applied for a timberframing apprenticeship, and did not get in.  I went to a timberframing workshop, got violently ill, and had to leave.  I was introduced to a timber framing mentor, and went out to work with him on a rural property, but things got weird and I chose to leave.  I loved the idea of timberframing, but ultimately I realized it just wasn't working for me.  But all the timber framing experiences have informed my furniture making.  

I moved to Portland Oregon for a month, joined a woodworking maker space, and made furniture.  I made up a residency program that was exactly what I needed at the time.

I let go of timberframing, but opportunities to learn housebuilding skills continued to open up.  Workaway.com provided 2 weeks of learning basic wiring, which I was able to apply at another workaway stay.  I traveled with my van and tools and made friends in the valley where I'd ultimately settle.  I helped a friend build a cabin and learned the basics of conventional framing.

I'd tried to escape teaching, but a teaching job opened up and I took it.  The stability and income enabled me to buy a property and build, first a shed, and then my own house.

...

Now that I am living in the house, I'm curious which doors will open and which will close for me, as I look to my next chapters.  

My teaching position connects me with other teachers, whose wide-ranging experiences and backgrounds open up my perspective.  My students connect me to this community via the experiences they share.  I see the many ways teaching grounds me and supports my life.  

But making things, and design!  I love materials, and tangible, humble, practical objects.  Will it be furniture, houses, or something else?  Is this a new career, or a side hustle? 

Two ways to navigate forward. One is to listen to my heart.  The other is to watch for doors that close, and doors that open.   

...

Today, I choose: to spend the afternoon creating my woodworking space.