today feels like monday but guess what: it’s tuesday again.
for the long weekend a group of architecture school friends (and by now, associated siblings / significant others / dogs) rented a house in sunriver oregon - one of my favorite places in this state in my personal “deeply weird” category. i’m not going to once again include the fake cruiser bike tourism poster i made but if you’ve seen it, those are some of the vibes involved. actually just kidding - i am going to include it. it still makes me laugh.
one of my first impressions was that everything is the same color. that eastern oregon dusty brown that sometimes shades into green and more often, into surprising reds and golds. the neighborhood (town? village? movie set?) is organized around a series of traffic circles connected by long, swooping, narrow two-lane roads that slip up and down the small hills - with bike paths running alongside, crossing over, stitching the zones together. as i’m sure is required by local building regulations, the houses are mostly one of five or six different shades of beige, the roof slopes are all basically the same, the siding is either board-and-batten or wood tongue and groove. i don’t think you’re allowed to build fences, but i think you are required to build an enclosure around your hot tub - and every home has a hot tub.
the lower 20 feet of all the tree trunks are bare - you would think you could see for miles through it - but the scrub brush is surprisingly high, and anyway the dirt and dust and undergrowth and houses are all basically the same color.
and if the entire place burned to the ground - as i’m sure it will sometime in the coming decades - i would guess between 2 and 4 people would actually be rendered houseless.
but it’s easy to find houses that will sleep a big group of friends (and their associated siblings / significant others / dogs), and there are paths to walk down and a river to jump in and a weird little disney-esque village to ironically visit. and every rental includes cruiser bikes so you can slip out on your own close to sunset and float through the pines as they turn from brown to gold to orange. sometimes you can ride for an hour without seeing another human being, but you can always hear laughter over the next rise, or through the scrub brush, or from a concealed porch back there off the path a ways.
and every house has a hot tub!
i know you’re wondering: what kind of music do you listen to in a place like that? your musical insights are always so interesting, brian - what kind of tunes were you playing in a weird little place like that? and what about the drive out there? and of course i gotta know about the drive back.
well, again. this is not that kind of newsletter (“music oriented”) but since you asked, this weekend i listened to a lot of 80’s i guess you would call it hair metal. ratt. skid row. def leppard. etc. i suspect that might not be a huge part of the current musical rotation for a lot of you but now that summer is here i would encourage you all to revisit some of that stuff.
ok here we go.
1. painting
i did not bring my painting stuff along on the trip this weekend, so this one was rushed. no way, right? well. big way.
it’s also based on some photos i took and another photo i found on the internet that had more of the lighting quality i was looking for.
i don’t think there’s anything really groundbreaking happening here, even by my own personal standards of trying to focus on something with each painting that pushes my knowledge and experience a little bit further.
maybe the sunlight over the mountain in the distance. some of the foreground tones took some serious adjusting too.
first pass at colors (the one that always gets deleted). things are always darker than i expect in the foreground although i can definitely tell i am getting better at that. water reflections are another thing i thought a little more about on this one - i usually just shortcut that to be an exact mirror of the sky tones, and then i’ll put in some little fiddly reflection details and stuff. that works pretty well, and has a certain look that i like sometimes. but it’s not the only way to do it!
second pass at colors, paying much more attention to the photo references.
i am already fighting the composition at this point. that bridge should have been somewhere else, i think. and i wish i had lowered the mountain a little bit.
here’s almost the end of the sprint. past this point is just color overlays and a few digital tweaks - scroll up to see those. might be one of the sloppier ones i’ve done for this newsletter. oh well! it’s okay to prioritize hanging out with friends in a house. it’s okay to set goals for yourself and bail on them when they’re slightly inconvenient.
2. poem
“news poem” - summer 2021
when i first heard about it
nothing changed
and two days later,
i cut my palm so deeply i should have gotten stitches
we are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of me starting to write little chunks of things that you could maybe charitably call poems. i don’t know what else you would call them so that’s the word i use. maybe next week i’ll write more reflectively on that topic.
3. soy curl tacos
soy curls, yeah, what’s that, your gym workout? i called your gym and they said that’s your gym workout. soy curls.
i’d actually never heard of these things before about a month ago, when a vegan food person i follow on instagram posted about how much she loves them and they looked very interesting. so i got some to try out. and it turns out they rule.
so i called your gym back and said sorry for being snide earlier.
contains the whole bean!
these are super simple - i made them after i got back from the weekend on Monday night and unpacked and did my chores and got ready for the week and so on. they came together really quickly which was good.
soy curls, taco… rounds? (do you call those things tacos before they’re filled?) red onion, lime, cilantro, cabbage. and a lot of spices as we will see.
first you rehydrate the curls by covering them in water and letting them sit for 10 minutes. you can also use veggie broth, that adds another layer of flavor that’s very good. they look like chicken, and end up having a pretty similar texture.
here’s what we will be cooking the curls in. clockwise from the coriander, we have garlic powder, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, onion powder, oregano, black pepper, cumin, and back to the coriander. and some tomato paste in the middle, with hot sauce and apple cider vinegar in there as well.
you drain the curls, then cook them up with some oil and your spices in a big pan. it’s incredibly easy. these cooked for about 8-10 minutes i believe.
i was gonna just do cabbage, but slaw is very easy so it turns out i lied a little bit earlier - this meal also included green onion, sesame seeds, and rice vinegar. mix that all up.
here we go, assembly time. i never realize until it’s too late how much glare even a little bit of liquid on this cutting board creates so i am sorry for that.
also - waiting for me when i got home were a couple of new “low bowls” (putting it in quotes to indicate some ironic distance from the term) from a potter in Seattle, annie ryan, who i only heard of recently but who seems to make super nice stuff that always sells out almost instantly. she’s a good follow on instagram if you use that app.
anyway you basically just throw all that stuff in there. you know how tacos work.
4. half a house
I don’t think the architect was too happy with me. Or at least I don’t think he really understood what I was getting at, not over the phone. Finally I told him I had to go, had an errand to run. Something about dinner tonight, groceries. Something about it getting late. That’s OK - I’ll call him back. Or he’ll call me. Get sick of waiting around for me to send an email back. We could have him out for dinner when things get a little farther along, when we get a roof up. We’re in no hurry, are we? We’ll see him when we see him.
I wasn’t kidding about the groceries either. Move the boxes aside by the door so I can sit down on the little bench and put my shoes on. Still haven’t unpacked those. I remember making that bench - twenty years ago now, must be - I think Sam was ten or twelve, wasn’t he? It was in the shop at the old place, out back, little gravel driveway, concrete walkway turning into stepping stones turning into grass. Worn down grass, somehow flat but still poky under our feet. My feet, mostly. Dry grass that year too - we had it good and we didn’t even know it. Sam must have been ten. I let him help with some of the joinery and hell I think we did a pretty good job. And look at him now. We ought to give him a call later - maybe he can join us for dinner.
One shoe, then two. Still with laces and all, and I would never say it out loud but I know you know how proud I am of that. Quiet and proud. Stan’s got the Velcro now. I noticed that last time we met up for a cup of coffee and a walk down and back down Main. Didn’t mention it to him of course. He might not mind, either, you know Stan, but hell if that’ll be me, not yet. Not now. That familiar pop-pop of my knees standing back up, getting a little heavier every time. Used to it by now but it does get heavier. Well, that’s how it goes. Keys, wallet. Phone. Glasses. Grocery list.
I called Sam up on the way over to the store and invited him over for dinner after all. Didn’t want to make a big thing of it but it is always nice to see him. He’s free, I didn’t expect it really, he’s got a lot of work these days. Said Melissa’s going to watch the kids and it was no problem. I told him to bring Melissa and the kids too but, something about school in the morning and it is a bit of a drive.
Took the old truck past our first place out here on the way over. Sun was just dipping into the tips of those huge pines. Window down and I can smell the dust and the rain coming and a little wood smoke. Thirty years out here and the smell of the West still gets me, wood smoke and rain. Those three big cedars you always said would be a problem some day - well, you were right. Looks like the power company came out and cut a big old hole in one of them. Unbalanced now. Good thing we moved before Sam came along, isn’t it? No good for climbing and even then they kept the yard a little too shady. Nice these days to have the shade in the summer, though. But still, too big now. I think they’ll have to come down all the way soon. Even with the trimming the power company, at some point, they make you take them down.
Drop it into neutral at the bottom of that little hill and ease off the gas so I can just glide past the old place. Looks like they’re taking good care of it, too. I think they’ve got a kid, or a couple of them. Looks like they painted it. You liked that yellow, I think, I was never sure though. New color looks nice, somewhere between brick red and orange, can’t quite tell in the light. Reminds me of those bushes going in on the new site, the ones that landscape designer showed us. Landscape architect maybe, I can’t remember. Can’t remember if that’s an important one to get right but she seems pretty easygoing. Great eye for color. You know more than me about that stuff, of course, but I thought she had a great eye. That little yard out front will be a great spot for coffee in the morning, tea for you. Reminds me I’ve got to give her a call too.
Pull up front of the grocery store and I can’t remember the last half mile. Kill the engine. Looks busy in there — I’ll give it a few minutes. Give the architect a call back maybe, after all. Maybe just sit here with the window cranked down. Little breeze. Hell of an evening, like I say.
Give him a call and he says he’ll “think about it” but in a tone where, listen, I get it. I have some wild ideas, I know. Been a whole process, this house. He’s been patient. I’ll get you on the phone next time, you have a better head for this stuff than me. Always had a better head for it. The nuts and bolts and all the details. Funny how much time I spent with Sam in that old shop when you’re the one who should have been in there. Always a little sparkle in your eye when I told you that, and that half smile of yours. Used to drive me crazy, hell, I guess it still does.
Told the architect I was thinking we could just do half the windows now. Half the staircase. Half a range oven, I don’t know if they make them like that but I figure they must. Must be a demand for it. Half the doors. He got quiet, couple moments where we could just hear each other breathing down the line. Said he’d think about it some more and he understands. Half laundry room, all I’ll need.
Half a bed.
Well. He understands. That’s half the battle, ha ha. When we meet up with him next you can tell him what I mean, what I’m trying to say. You always knew it better than me. That reminds me, we better move that meeting. See about rescheduling.
Sun’s just down over the store roof now and the parking lot is purpling like you used to say. Used to shake my head at that but you always got a smile out of me. Hands on the wheel still. Shards of light sparkling in my eyes. Reflections. Something swelling up my throat, rising. Pushing.
Sam’s calling again. Maybe wants to ask what to bring for dinner. Thoughtful, that kid. Now a thoughtful man, and hell I guess we sure did something right there. We did do something right there, didn’t we. You and me.
I think we can get away with half a roof now, too. Half a floor. I’d say half the walls but you’d laugh. I know the architect would try not to but you can tell. See it in his eyes. He’s funny, I think. Wasn’t sure at first but you told me on that drive home after our first meeting. Wasn’t sure I liked him at all. You saw it before I did. Funny guy but quiet on the phone today.
Phone buzzing again. Got a lot to do. Got dinner to cook and Sam’s coming over in a bit. Have to re-schedule that meeting too. Can’t just be sitting here in the truck out front of the store. Shaky breaths, tight grip on the wheel. That ache.
That little garden out front will be just about right. Got to talk to the landscape designer about that. Architect. We planned for some pavers and that little table we’ve had for years now but we can do grass instead. Some other kind of plants. You’ll be right near that tree, that big one you made us save. Could put the bench out there, too. Another one of my little ideas I guess. You’ll be able to see the house from there, right in the middle of that garden. Our house. My half a house. When Sam brings the kids around I’ll tell them about that bench, about that old house.
Tell them about you.
Well. Sun’s going down for sure now. Guess I better head in. See about groceries.
a little bit ago, a person whose house i was (am) heavily involved in designing unexpectedly & unfortunately passed away. it made me think a lot and so i wrote this which i think in terms of actual details is 90% fictional but has its roots in that reality. you can read about the actual person here. she was great.
ok well. i think that’s all for this week sorry to end on a bummer note. have a good week everyone. see ya next tuesday. bye.