Fall comes. We gently retreat. The sun hides behind the clouds, sometimes peeking out enough to remind us that it’s there, but usually is in retreat behind the gray veil, thin enough to just see the pale circle.
We become slightly more introspective. Our patios and back yards are carefully covered with tarps and strewn with leaves. We are inside, eating warm comfort food, thinking a lot about ourselves. The church year gently pushes this along–bright Spring music moves to more somber tunes of Advent and Lent. We wait. Gently.
When we venture out, we have retreated from our shorts & flip-flops, now nestled in jackets and clogs. The trees, once brilliant with buds and green leaves, pull life into themselves, leaving a dappled mark of death, celebrated by long drives and countless photos. Under the falling, speckled canopy, we contemplate home improvement, the crisp air flecked with coffee and sawdust.
Share this Post[?]
fowlerjk life fall, life, weather, writing
Something so basic and simple as rain can help us frame our own lives against the perspectives of others. It can also help us realize how far we’ve come in life.
Read more…
Share this Post[?]
fowlerjk life family, homeowner, landscaping, life, yard
It’s a long weekend for me. I work for the School District of Oconee County (my freelancing is done when I have the time) and Monday is a holiday for students & faculty. This comes at a perfect time, as the weather has warmed during the day in South Carolina. I spent all day yesterday getting the front lawn in better shape and doing what I can with the back yard. That deserves a post of its own…the back yard has been a work in progress since we built the house, thanks to shoddy landscapers. As of today, it’s almost ready for sowing. We hired a great hardscaper to turn a horrible mountain of dirt into something wonderful.
I’m sitting on our patio, looking at the smooth dirt rippled with excavator treads, listening to the birds and planes overhead. This patio had thus far been anything but welcoming. One would walk out and be immediately presented with a rising mound of red dirt, speckled with fescue grass and weeds. Now it’s rather inviting. A real place to enjoy the spring and summer days ahead. Before long, I’ll be able to walk off the patio into grass.
Share this Post[?]
fowlerjk life life, spring, yard
This is from my old personal blog, back in October 2008…
It looks as though I’ve forgotten about this blog. Not really…I knew it was here, I just didn’t have much of anything to say. My time has been consumed with my work. Consequently, my work blog (jonathanfowler.blogspot.com) has fared much better than this one.
Earlier this month, I bought a French Press for my coffee. I love it. The big 12-cup Mr. Coffee has been whisked away to the pantry shelf, waiting for company to come and the need for 12 cups of coffee at 1 time to be brewed. Truth be told, though, I’ll probably buy a 12-cup press for that.
I have taken a low-tech approach to many things…shaving with vintage (sterilized) DE razors, writing with fountain pens and vintage ink, and now, coffee. I have moved from a monster Mr. Coffee and Krups espresso machine to a Bodum press (two, actually) and a moka pot for espresso. The Krups gets used for steaming the milk, but I’ll find a better way soon.
Coffee from the press is one of those great things that you thought you knew but rediscovered. Beans I had used for a long time tasted different in the press-–more crisp, more alive, more intense-–and I chucked the Mr. Coffee after using the press just once. In the absence of machined mediocrity, I realized what the press had removed from my coffee. Plastic aftertaste. Burn, brought on by the warmer. Flat flavor. The press simply pushed these mistakes out of the way and allowed the simple process of water and coarsely-ground beans to come alive.
Share this Post[?]
fowlerjk life coffee, life
I love writing with my vintage fountain pens, and I’ve recently found the need for an ink blotter. In my search for a rocker blotter, I found a stack of promotional blotters from a local historical business.
Hunter’s Store operated (under the Hunter family) from 1870 to 1962. Craddock started production around the turn of the century, and the styles appear to be from up to about 1920. These cards have never touched ink. I bought two in order to save one and use the other to blot my fountain pen ink.
Share this Post[?]
fowlerjk life life, local, vintage, writing
