Monday, 13 October 2022
Since I last wrote — where I noted that post-Iceland the future seemed a bit unstructured — I’ve done or arranged several things for moving forward.
- Geomorphology. I’m taking Geomorphology at the U from Andy Wickert. I’m enjoying it, and taking it pretty easy as I am not doing the labs, being uninterested in learning measurement and other field techniques, and also taking a ‘high level’ approach to the math – not interested in being able to solve equations, just making sure I know what forces and interactions they include.
- Writing. I’ve had my first essay course from the Loft; we’ll see how the content unfolds — such courses often have a more poetical or lyrical bent than is my won’t – but at the least I think it will spur to finish a few essays, reflect on my process, and perhaps codify the learning I’ve been doing from my reading courses.
- Geology – I’ve just finished the ‘What is this Rock, 3,’ course, which I describe in a separate post.
- Yosemite Hiking. And I’ve arranged a 6-day trip to Yosemite for mid-October, where I will hopefully be able to get in some Tuolomne Meadow’s hikes, barring a very early arrival of snow in the high country.
I’ve also been active in weeding and mulching garden beds, and beginning the process of clearing out the basement and getting rid of stuff.
And my reading-with-friends ‘courses’ continue (reading a book with one other person, a chapter at time, usually at one-chapter-a-week pace. Current books are:
- Smellosophy, with RB
- Otherlands, with CS. We only have the final review, and then will move on to Alien Oceans
- The Golden Age of American Essays, ed. Philip Lopate. With CT.
- Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake. With KC.
And we are also reading Mini makote in the book group.
We are also finally making good progress on the attic VoC issue. K has found and is now testing out no-VoC (and VoC sealing) paints, with good initial results, and we are looking into HRV — Heat Recirculating Ventilation which promise to bring fresh air into the attic all winter, which not being ruinously inefficient vis a vis heat… and K is also showing less of a reaction to VoC’s, indicating that either some noxious components are finally curing/disappating, or that her sensitivity is decreasing.