Saturday, July 13, 2013

Meditations on rebuilding

I like to listen to audio books while I weave. I used to have shelves of them on tape, then on cd. Now they are all on my iphone. I hate headphones, so my family is used to having to listen to bits and pieces of my stories as they go by or in and out of my studio. This morning I just finished listening to Herman Wouk's Winds of War while working on the gray multi-texture shawl on my triloom.

The story ends with the beginnings of the salvage of Pearl Harbor and the bombed out battle ships. As protagonist Pug Henry deals with family issues, he also has to decide what to do with his career, as the battleship he was supposed to arrive in Pearl to command now lies on the bottom of the harbor. The story gives estimates of dry dock and rebuild times on the ships that can be salvaged and estimates of the current force and when new ships will be ready to go to war.

That whole discussion parallels what I hear my family going through in the decisions they are having to make after loosing their home in the Black Forest fire. They have a lot of work to do and decisions to make. They are still in the clean up and salvage phase. Today they are headed back out to the property with a crew to pull out the big metal, so they can sift the ashes. They are trying to list contents and deal with insurance issues on the days they aren't working. There is so little I can do to help from this far away, so for now, I just try to keep in touch, offer to help where I can (like by doing internet searches for antique values) and let them know I love them and am thinking of them.

I'm starting to search for quality Alpine dairy goats with an eye toward rebuilding the milking herd. We'll need a few more milkers when my folks move here to Mountain View. We are hauling hay in the evenings. So far, the crop looks good this year and we will have all the different qualities of hay we need. The garden continues to grow and produce yummy, healthy food. The weather this year has really been perfect, all the seasons coming when they are supposed to and being text book winter, spring and summer. And life goes on.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you have speakers for your iphone? I am not sure I would be able to hear the books, with the wheel and fans going. would love to be able to listen to books, in the van we have a gizmo and listen through the radio.

Thanks,
Jo

Jenonthefarm said...

Hi Jo,
Shawn uses speakers for his phone, and we have the gadget so we can listen through the radio in the van, too. It works well, especially since we don't have air conditioning, so we drive with the windows open. I have a shelf at about ear height by my looms, so that helps. Hope you're having a great summer.