Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) Since I was a teenager I’ve always ridden nimble, road racing bikes and my attention has been on speed and navigating the road to avoid flats. Inspired by our rural environs and the Rivendell ethos, I’ve recently swapped out my racing machines in favor of a sturdier, Surly Long Haul Trucker, […]
Author Archives: Scott
Fools Parade and The Blessing of the Fleet
Occidental Fools Parade, Occidental, CA Two contrasting annual traditions merge seamlessly with the season in West Sonoma County. The Occidental Fools Parade continues to grow exponentially since its inception six years ago. Everyone is invited to participate, and people of all ages bring instruments and march in elaborate costume around Occidental’s tiny square. The event […]
Small is Beautiful, Revisited
The cardinal virtues of temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice I recently reread E.F. Schumacher’s classic Small is Beautiful (originally published by Blond and Riggs Ltd., London, 1973). I first read this book as part of my training with the US Peace Corps almost 20 years ago when I was an ‘appropriate technology’ agent in West […]
Comparative Menus
menu of bronze patina finishes, Artworks Foundry, Berkeley, CA To me, making is best the more closely it resembles cooking, and a day of making-related meetings is best when it orbits around eating. Our day began yesterday dropping off the completed and finally-approved creatures for our Sunnyside Menagerie Project at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, where […]
Trivium
Allegory of the Seven Liberal Arts, Marten de Vos, 1590, oil on oak panel I am one of those with the affliction of getting words and songs stuck in my head, sometimes for days or weeks and longer on end. I had the song Midnight at the Oasis repeating in my head during most of […]
Anni Rapinoja
Trained as a botanist, Anni Rapinoja lives on a remote island off the coast of Finland, where she makes beautiful, functional objects from seasonally foraged, natural materials like pussy willow, used to make the shoes and purse pictured above. Rapinoja considers her work as an extension of her environmental activism, drawing us closer to nature […]
Estero Americano Floods
I rode my bike to scout the Estero Americano over the weekend, the body of water dividing Western Marin and Sonoma counties. Almost exactly a year ago I made my first post on this weblog after a paddle on the Estero to explore the availability of sea grasses like bulrush for a furniture-making experiment. I’ve […]