A Carpenter's Fence is Repaired

I really loved my walk yesterday morning. It was a glorious morning, bright and sunny and no rain is in sight for another week.

I worked at Time/Life  on an exhibition from their archives way, way back. Every day I was there, as I was going to work, I thought to myself: “Me: Mr. Nobody from North Vancouver, is going to work in the Time/Life  Building in Manhattan!” I was high on the joy of it all and my pride. I get that same high here, every morning, because I live here.” (I don’t think of myself of Mr. Nobody any more. I’m Mr. Lucky!)

All afternoon and evening, I worked on the armature for my figure. I worked until I ran out of wire. I love how it’s coming together. It’s fabulous to see something exit my mind to become something tangible. I love building armatures; I love doing crafts. Building an armature is like creating a basic compositional under-painting with delicate light thin paint as a guide for the painting that will emerge over it.

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There is a short, but high,  wooden fence between my yard and the neighbour’s. It was here when I moved in. It serves, I think, to give privacy to the people next door. It cut off view, from my yard, of their front door and entrance deck. It’s built of several pre-fab sections and one of the sections is falling down. 

Yesterday’s task, therefore, was jury-rigging a temporary solution so that it does not fall further. Me: Hammering an unstable fence whilst standing on top of a high ladder. Me: Nervous as Hell! The neighbour: Young; perhaps forty. The neighbour: A carpenter. He’s done nothing for two weeks, but he’s a tenant so…. I think I did a great job!

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Today’s another brilliant sunny day. I’m going to take my recycling to GIRO, water the plants at Jay’s house and pine for the wire I’ve ordered from Amazon that’ll allow me to finish the armature. Until it arrives, there’s not much I can do with the figure. Instead, I’ll be tidying up my shed and chopping some kindling.

Which is to say, how I’ll spend another day alone with my pets. That’s how I spend every day and I don’t expect any visitors until April or May. I spend 4.5 hours per week with people on dog walks. So it’s easy to understand why I love the infrequent dinners I have with other islanders and my visits to friends in Victoria and Parksville.