photos on instagram

Just because it's easier to do from a phone, I have started posting on instagram.

This is the link, or you can follow me @paulathonney.

Phase 3 of the journey begins now.  Heading over to West Virginia today.

timber frame pavilion

In a couple of weeks I'll be helping to build a timber framed pavilion.  This is a rough sketch of the building, minus the rafters, which will not be timber framed.  A nice basic structure.  Lots of braces.

Hopefully I will have pictures of the real thing to post later this month!

a passage by Sir Wilfred Thesiger

"For years the Empty Quarter [of the Arabian Peninsula] had represented to me the final, unattainable challenge which the desert offered.  Suddenly it had come within my reach.  I remembered my excitement when [British researcher O. B.] Lean had casually offered me the chance to go there, the immediate determination to cross it, and then the doubts and fears, the frustrations, and the moments of despair.  Now I had crossed it.  To others my journey would have little importance.  It would produce nothing except a rather inaccurate map which no one was ever likely to use.  It was a personal experience, and the reward had been a drink of clean, nearly tasteless water.  I was content with that."

From Arabian Sands, by Wilfred Thesiger.

As I prepare to go timber framing next week, Thesiger's thoughts resonate for me.  I've been offered an opportunity, which opens up a different world.  And I know it's going to be hard at times.  But I'm so glad to have the chance.