New Octave

I’m easing up on the one-a-day posts on this blog. Change of course in my life.

Finishing Tiny Homes on the Move was sort of a punctuation point in my work. And now, having finished a couple of months of promo (I love being out there, meeting tons of like-minded people, seeing old friends, exploring new territory, but getting there and back is the problem — air travel and too many hours of driving/sitting).

I knew an artisan dope grower years back in Santa Barbara and he said that his plants would be almost dormant for a while and then, in a burst, would grow. Ideas are like that: you’ll think about something on and off, now and then, and suddenly—Eureka!—breakthrough. You’ve put it all together, a new level of, um, consciousness.

Likewise I was in the Gasser photo store in San Francisco once and a hip tattooed bike messenger was telling the counter guy that he’d just had his first kid. “It’s a whole new octave, man.”

Body and Soul Plato had it right: balance intellect/mind with the physical. I’ve gotten too far away from the body of late. Now that I’m back home, I’m swimming a little, running a little, about to cycle and kayak. I have 15 lb Reebok dumbbells at the computer, by the TV, and you can do a lot of light weight training this way. (I’m going to do a short video of office workout equipment soon.)

Time Off From Connectivity For the 1st time in a couple of years, I’m turning off the computer on weekends. No more Saturday or Sunday blogging. A relief! Opens up a whole world of other things to do.

I practically never have my cel phone on—only when I’m on the road. I invariably miss messages from people who are connected 24/7. I hardly ever check email on phone.

Gizmos: MacPro, 3 printers, MacAir, iPhone, Garmin GPS, Olympus OM-D, Sony Cybershot RX-100, Go-Pro…it goes on: digital projector, portable speakers, blah blah…Email, texts, wi-fi problems on the road, roaming, battery life, (boy, does it sneak up on you!)…

Local Food Best salmon season in years here. I’m looking for a medium sized one from fisherman Andrew now that I have time to smoke it (and make lox). On weekend I made a new batch of sauerkraut and juiced apples, got some hard cider going,

Blogging I can’t get 1% of the interesting stuff I run into in this world out there in these posts, and from now on it’ll be scattershot.

TheShelterBlog I’m starting to post more material on https://www.theshelterblog.com/, which is looking better by the day, thanks to Evan, Rick and Lew. Our goal is to build this blog into the digital Shelter, meaning the message of our 1973 book Shelter now ongoing in digital form in the 21st century.

We’ll alway produce books, but this is our way of getting the word out daily.

There is really no other blog like this, with this focus on handmade, homemade, owner-builder, carpenter, gardener. homemaker and related subjects. Note you need the “the” in the URL to get to the right place.

Over and out this foggy/sunny Thursday morning…check out these 2 songs from John Fogerty’s new album, “I Wrote A Song For Everyone:” Fortunate Son, with the Foo Fighters, Fogerty sounding as strong as 30 years ago, and Proud Mary with Jennifer Hudson. Allen Toussaint and the Rebirth Brass Band. Made me think of Ike and Tina’s Proud Mary…

Fortunate Son (with Foo Fighters) by John Fogerty – www.musicasparabaixar.org on Grooveshark
Proud Mary (with Jennifer Hudson feat. Allan Toussaint & Rebirth Brass Band) by John Fogerty on Grooveshark