reconnection

put in a quick call to the Excellent Trim Carpenter this morning to remind him that although this project isn't under any absolute deadline, during construction season I generally prefer that at least some visible manifestation of progress should occur within any 30 day period, an interval we'll be pushing within the week.  in software we call that an inactivity timer and in this context I don't think a month is an unreasonable duration. 

he reports that he has been much distracted by health issues on his SO's part and is waiting for some cut glass, but nonetheless he expects to have some screens to hang in the front windows, perhaps as soon as next week. 

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the other pending item is the architect's proposal.  there's no reason not to expect it to arrive shortly. 

a place out of time

[OT from cottage renovations]

the notion of the Grove as a place out of time has been much in my thoughts lately though I've written more about it in comment threads on others' journals than in this space [I think they might be FO but I'll check and if that's not the case I can edit this to include references]. 

it goes beyond the usual temporal dislocation that accompanies any historical research (past stretching into and overlaying onto the present) or construction project (future and present separated by an amorphous divide in which time enters a limbo state).  rather, it's an anachronistic blend of patterns that emerge from both past and present in such a way that neither is a completely dominant reality. 

the Grove and its setting retain a great deal from the past: not just our little cottages nestled under large Oak trees and surrounded by woods, but also what it allows in ways of looking at things and of interacting with others and with our environment.  it's enough of a difference that it is possible to immerse one's self into it, and having done so there's not a lot of reason to emerge from it.  makes for an excellent cocoon, I guess, and for different reasons and in different ways I have had and continue to have great need of that. 

the process of giving up on this world is more than a little selective: no need to do without central air conditioning and broadband internet access for more computers than I care to enumerate (hey, they're all doing something else they wouldn't be there).  and it's not completely painless: there are some things my small part of the Grove provides exposure to rather than protection from, in a way that prevents healing and closes off any prospect for relief.  but then nor should one put up with television, or with traffic, or with big box retail, or with any of the multitude of bothersome aspects of George Bush's America.  I sure don't miss any of that. 

adjustments

[OT from cottage renovations]

adjustments take time, even when that to which one adjusts happens all at once. 

picked up the new glasses today.  I knew the change would be substantial, after all I was having the magnification cranked up a couple of notches and at the same time though sticking with the concept of progressive lenses, moving the pattern higher in the frame than the previous set.  unlike fixed lenses or bifocals, progressive lenses are calibrated for three levels of magnification with a gradual transition between them.  the pattern is like this: 

(yes, the grey area represents a dead zone where not much happens). 

turns out that was rather a lot of change to take on at once; it is definitely taking a while to recalibrate the ol' eyes to the new optics.  for much of the afternoon I must have looked like a little bird, bobbing my head in search of the right attitude and angle to find the right focal length for some object.  at this stage sudden wide angle head movements are not a very good idea, I have learned this the hard way.  but however disorienting in the short term, it does represent a recovery of lost visual capability and I'm hoping that as I get used to this arrangement things will improve.  there's been room for it. 

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other adjustments take time to happen but even more time to notice.  when I first took up bicycling again it seemed that it just didn't have enough low gears.  but lately it seems there aren't enough high ones.  it's the same bike so somewhere along the way my own baseline must have changed without my having been aware of it.