Five Levels

5 levels2

I’ve tried to map the five levels of consciousness detected during lucid dreams

I don’t normally lend much weight to dreams, but for the past couple of years I’ve been having a randomly recurring type of dream, where whatever the action, I suddenly become aware of myself dreaming, and can make things happen, like flying. On occasion, just before I wake up I have the presence of mind within the dream to be a passive observer, and pay attention to the actors and the narrative. The little glimpses I’ve had of this dream state have enabled me to count five levels of consciousness happening simultaneously within and outside of the dream:

  1. The sleeping dreamer
  2. The character(s) in the dream
  3. The director of the action
  4. The objective observer
  5. The primordial life force

Upon waking, the five separate levels merge back together into one seamless state. It has me thinking that maybe one of the functions of sleep, or of dreaming, is to spread out and tinker with the multiple layers of consciousness so they work more harmoniously in the course of day to day life.


Pear Harvest

pears1

Stored in a cool place, these freshly picked pears will ripen in a few days.

“There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

We’ve been harvesting our pears in phases over the past week; the fruit seems to ripen unevenly on our trees, depending upon the amount of sun exposure. I begin to check them for ripeness when I notice one or two fall to the ground, usually in early September. ????? ????? ????? If the fruit detaches easily when tilted sideways, it’s ripe enough to pick. ??? ???? ?????? We’ve learned that it’s best not to let the pears ripen fully on the tree- the fruit becomes coarse and bruises easily. ??? ?????? Stored in a cool spot or refrigerated, the pears release ethylene and form sugars more slowly, yielding better texture and flavor. It’s still a challenge to know how best to put them to use with such a tiny window of perfect ripeness, especially when we’ve had a bumper crop like this year.

pears2

Waverly Root recommended eating ripe pears with a spoon!

//

Wowhaus Safari

st helena railroad shanty

I love this tiny ‘Carpenter’s Gothic’ cottage along the railroad tracks in St. Helena

Whenever Ene and I are feeling cagey and uninspired, we like to seek out the unexplored edges of where we live, sometimes just to see what’s changed after our last visit, having now lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 20 years this month. We call these journeys ‘wowhaus safaris’, and though we’re mostly in need of a tiny vacation and a change of scenery after spending weeks on end focused on the property and projects, we inevitably seek out cool vernacular architecture and design for inspiration. This past weekend we took advantage of the balmy Indian Summer weather and made two rambling day trips in opposite directions, dogs in tow. ivermectin mechanism scabies

sonoma house

I love the proportions of this adobe house in Sonoma

welding font

I love this hand-painted font on an industrial metal shop in Winters

ocean climate center1

I love everything about this house in the Presidio that now functions as the Ocean Climate Center for the National Marine Sanctuaries

lucy-golden gate2

Lucy loved hiking to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge

//

Pencil Panic

pencil1

pencil2

Front and back of my last box of Blue Band Velevet #5572

As a daily comfort I prefer quality, vintage pencils, which I use in the course of drawing, writing and working with wood. I’m in a bit of a panic, down to my last box of Blue Band Velvets, manufactured by the American Lead Pencil Company in the 1920’s, that I inherited from my grandfathers (not sure which one), along with some drafting tools and hand planes of the same vintage. ???? ????? Luckily, I’ve discovered Bob Truvy’s website dedicated to the historic archive of pencils from around the world. Unfortunately, his collection is not for sale, so I plan to continue my search, knowing that contemporary pencil manufacture is not up to snuff. ??? ???? ?? ??????? I’m even considering making my own as we prepare to fell a pair of incense cedar trunks on our property, the best wood for making high quality pencils. ????? ???? ?????

incense cedar

our twin trunk incense cedar, limmed and ready to be felled

//

Dream Shop

dream shop

I recently completed a new deck at the entry to my dedicated, 20′ x 30′ wood shop

After over five years developing our rural home and studio on the Sonoma Coast, the constant challenge has been to both maintain and improve our facilities to meet the increasing scope and scale of our projects, while optimizing the compound to allow for a new round of aesthetic inquiry and exploration.

I’ve devoted the second part of the summer to converting an out-building on the compound from our wowhaus office into a dedicated woodshop. I’ll keep the heavy machines in the open-air atrium of the main house, and use the new space as a bench room for handwork- assembly, laminating, steam-bending, etc.. A portion of the space will be dedicated to producing the Deep Deck longboard I’ve been developing over the past two years, using hand-milled logs from horticultural salvage. I’m also eager to begin realizing some new ideas I’ve been brewing for sculpture and furniture using wood milled and cured on our property.


Abundance Unveiled

ortega5

Our two glass mosaic fish sculptures glisten in the early morning haze at the new Ortega Branch of the SF Public Library

Wowhaus was honored yesterday when our Abundance project was officially unveiled to the public at the opening of the new Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library near Ocean Beach. Commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission, the two monumental, glass mosaic fish sculptures took over a year to design and fabricate, and we were thrilled to see the pieces working so harmoniously with the building and landscaping on a sunny morning so rare to this part of the City. can humans take animal ivermectin orally

ortega2

The ‘Rock Fish’

ortega4

The ‘Anchovy’

To learn more about the development of this wowhaus project over the past couple of years, please click here and scroll down.

//

Fluke at the Foundry

fluke base wax

A wax section of the base of the whale tail is released from its mold at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley

scott and piero

Piero Mussi helps me make final adjustments to the base before it is prepared for casting in bronze

fluke ceramic2

The other sections have been reinforced and coated in a silica/ceramic slip to keep their shape when cast

To follow the progress of our Fluke Project, click here and scroll down.