Take your time, trust yourself

Summer began with two somewhat ominous deliveries: a hazy premonition (the imagined, insolent son of Jeremy and Porter chopping down a beloved oak) and an equally hazy to-do list (‘windows and doors’, ‘staircase,’ ‘corten cladding’…)

On one of those first days, as a piece of foam was lodged between a dogwood and a Lull , it was not clear how any of the trees on site would survive our combined, adhoc antics. Nor was it immediately evident how we would begin, let alone finish, our looming list. Entirely unimaginable that at the end of this list there could be a home.
And yet… as summer shimmed by an eighth of an inch at a time, the strange box we had framed, at an unknown moment began to resemble a house. Flecked by the light of a disco ball, ladders were replaced with stairs, gaping holes became windows and unwieldily sheets of Texan Steel, charmed by Stormy, fixed themselves sharply into place. Fingers remain tightly, anxiously, crossed for our completely rough-housed dogwoods.
Along the way, many pearls of wisdom were shared, immediately cherished and tucked away, such that we too could one day appear as wise as Carlos. Below, for you to decipher, are some of our favourites: *“Wood is hard, wood is soft” “Take your time, trust yourself” “A blade is a blade, a saw is a saw” “If you’re falling, I’ll tell you” “You know enough to be dangerous, now you need to learn by doing” “Yep, it’ll be fine, we’ll put a (rock/ shim/ trim/ more wood filler) there” “I think it’s gonna be great” “Do you believe in magic?” “The critical path is in fact many paths” “It’s always equal equal, but equal WHAT?” “It’s incredible how quickly you can destroy the world and how very long it takes to repair it” “I think he’s coming round to trees, he still prefers them for their 2x4s though” “I’m not paid to think, I’m paid to do” “It’s easy, you just have to pause gravity” “Eventually you have to give up”*