Day 15: The VA Hills and a Banjo

I feel like a talked about this before, but it's my blog. So if I did and you read it, here it is again. Hopefully little bit different because it is really important for me to say.

So I spent my entire life trying to not be what I was born--or at least raised to be. Instead of embracing my cracker lifestyle as a child I remember trying to spend as much time as I could over to my rich friend's house so that I could be like them, and just like in the movies, I never was one of them.

I remember that one day I was going to go home with Kelly, my best friend who lived in the fancy side of town. I was going to play baseball after school, and his dad was the coach. So I rode the fancy kids' bus home to Kelly's house. We didn't have an bags to keep my stuff, so they went into a paper bag, the ones used to carry groceries home. I felt all of the other kids making fun of me although none of them actually said anything to me.

Now I put everything in a shopping bag to get it from one place to the next. I cannot believe I let that bother me for so long. But here I am, all Crackered up and ready to go on with life!

Here I am 45 years later, and I now realize that I was who I am, and embracing that only makes my life good. It's been 10 years since I finished grad school, and the seeds I sew then are only now bearing fruit. I spent my grad school years talking about cracker and kung fu and authenticity, and now I'm not talking about it. I am a cracker who does kung fu.

And I consistently made art--since forever--and I'm getting even better at that. Now my art objects are instruments. In fact, everything I was doing in grad school like drawing on wood using heat, burning images into paper, honing my drawing skills, and learning to construct out of almost any material is all coming together into the instruments I'm making. 10 years of dedicated consistent work.

And of course there was a lot of innovation along the way. I'm more of a creative innovator creative then an adaptive creator. I'm gonna have to think about that because the instruments that I'm making are both innovative and adaptive in terms of creating.

I'm in VA working with a great banjo builder. Hers is shown above. This is the one I'm modelling the one I'll build here after. Mine will be out of hickory, which I've never carved down before. So well see!

The place is fantastic. 119 acres of woods, herbs, gardens, three springs, and a lot more! Here is the view off my balcony. I had dinner there.

There are miles of trails, too. As soon as I got here and got settled I went for a walk. I needed to get the blood out of my butt! The trails are well maintained and marked so that anyone who wants to walk will know how far they went. Makes sense.

It is really pretty, and we talked about the process of letting man-changed and get reclaimed by the world. It is a lovely thing, and I'm sure the balance and harmony is being restored here.

We really are in the woods, and I found a stick to stave off snakes or whatnots. But sometimes the whatnots just will not be deterred. I had to clear my legs of ticks every 10 minutes or so. It is really no big deal, and I think I got them all. But note to self--keep bug spray in car for adventuring. Val found a great recipe, and we made it. It definitely works: lemon oil, eucalyptus oil, and isopropyl alcohol. I think there was a weird thing in there, like vanilla. But I don't recall that part.

So I walked the perimeter of the property. It was great to be alone in the woods, alone with the ticks in the woods, anyway. And as I was having dinner on my balcony I saw a huge deer. She was just passing through.

I saw an old tree fort that was extra special built! And I saw a lovely stand of old oak trees, silently guarding one corner of the property.

And there are two old and big dogs living here too, Max and Diesel. They are both geriatric. Diesel loved me right away, and Max warmed up to me. He was even snuggling for a time. But then he got nervous the next time I saw him. I don't blame him. But I hope I get some Max time again!

I have my chunk of wood to make a neck with, and I'll do that tomorrow. So my homework is to come up with a design.