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Posts Tagged ‘time’

… then there’s Steve who decides to make a cedar tongue and groove liner for the drawer that will hold some woolens. Last year, in 2020, around this time he’d crafted a dining room table out of three different woods, made a cutting board out of some of the remainders, and gave me some of the shavings from the tapered legs so that I could experiment with some wall art.

This year he received a commission (from me) to create a side table. He purchased some live edge wood and is experimenting with mortise and tenon jointwork for the legs. That incomplete project is leaning against the wall in his woodworking shop with one experimental leg sticking out. The focus right now is to methodically complete the cedar lining for one drawer, and with the remainder make some cedar blocks to hang in the closets.

The former owners of the house left behind a large wooden piano seat top. He’s planning to turn that into a utilitarian table to help organize his work space and properly sort out works-in-progress. I asked, silly me, why don’t we grab a hammer and some nails and put legs on that thing right now. With an arched eyebrow he described his plan to make a frame, the seat will rest on the frame, and legs will attach to the frame, just like the dining room table.

But of course.

2021 was a hard year physically (though not as hard as some I can remember!). He is not pleased at how long it is taking him to complete a project or sometimes even to saw through a thin sheet of wood. As his “sous chef” in the shop I am picking up a whole new language involving woods and tools. I’ve learned how to loosen a hold fast and help make a handle for a delicate Japanese saw blade. But mostly what I’m learning is a different kind of patience. Patience in working with the wood … you can’t rush it or you’ll destroy the wood or worse yet tools. Patience with that fellow as he learns, at least I hope he’s learning, to be patient with himself as he moves forward in the world at a different pace.

Oh, did I mention he has plans to make another dining room table? The plans are just in his head for the moment. When he starts to sketch it out on random pieces of paper that he leaves lying around the house then I’ll know he’ll make it real. At this pace … and keeping in mind I will co-opt his time with gardening related matters … he may not finish that table until Christmas 2022. And that’ll be just fine.

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The exterior of the National Technical Museum is austere but the interior is magical. The exhibits are well curated to appeal to the child of any age and background. There were at least 11 major exhibits, and my favorites were Astronomy and the Measurement of Time. Prague was home to astronomers Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). The Astronomy exhibit, and the Measurement of Time, with great reverence and artistry, highlight the Czech contribution in these fields. Easy to visit via public transportation. A lovely kid and adult friendly cafe in the basement.

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http://www.ntm.cz/en

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Caustic in Black & White 1

Okay, I first remember reading about John Cage in a story by Alex Ross of The New Yorker. The piece opened with a description of the 1952 performance of John Cage’s composition, 4’33”, which turned out to be four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. It’s a bit more complicated than that, or maybe not, but you can read more via this article link.  John Cage and silence came to mind recently because I was sharing a video I’d made with the physicist in my life and when I asked him what piece of music should I pair with these images, he suggested, “soundtrack by John Cage.”

Caustic in Black & White 2

Caustic in Black & White 2

At first I thought he was kidding.  There had to be a short classical piece to fit the light and motion so reminiscent of northern lights.  When I’d asked him what music to pair with a short video of sunlit water flowing over rocks, he’d suggested Faure’s Requiem in Paradisum.  Now he recommended silence? On my own, I found Bartock’s Evening in the Village. I tried the pairing. He appreciated Bartok but he still favored Cage.  I read a bit more about Cage, his compositions, his performances, his poetry … an interesting man to say the last.

Caustics in Color

Caustics in Color

So what I captured on the wall one morning took place in less than four minutes and thirty-three seconds.  It involved a rippled window, a different one in the house.  Light shone down through the gaps in the leaves and branches of the oak tree that towers over the house.  That light made its way through the glass refracting through the ripples producing a dynamic pattern of caustics on the wall.  Most often that pattern of light is static but this particular morning the wind was blowing. The branches and the leaves they moved creating what that physicist described as “a pattern of illumination that varied in space and time.” It was a good moment inspiring some experimentation as you can see in the video below.  The flickering on the wall is as it happened … in less than four minutes and thirty-three seconds.

A Silent Dance from Cynthia Staples on Vimeo.

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