Brook Hollow has been a busy place these last few days, packing, more decluttering (will it ever end?) and assembling new furniture to help the house look more presentable, and after meeting with the realtor, painting and window washing too! But its all for the best. If we can coax Brook Hollow to put its best foot forward (do houses have feet?) and convince a buyer that they absolutely MUST live in the warm light inside and on the breezy verandas offering birders an elevated perch, and all with no yard maintenance! Then it will have all been worth it.

I plotted out the way forward to the Appalachian Trail house (thats the street name) and made a commitment to build it yesterday. Hopefully, if all goes well, Brook Hollow will sell just in the nick of time to move to the Trail house. I’m sure it won’t all go well, what ever does? But, it is the way forward for me, a bit of shop space, a bit of studio space, I’m not sure what the light will be like but one of the fun things about being an architect is finding limitations in the world around us because many limitations can become design inspirations.

So I’m on the way forward, i’ve found a way to put a small set of actions together, and believe/hope they lead to success!

As a phrase, “the way forward” makes me think of a few things, one, that the tools of carpentry in Japan are sometimes referred to as “tools of the way.” I’ve understood that to mean tools of the way of a maker of things in wood. I aspire to be that, and seem to need to develop more of the “patience of the way” and “wisdom of the way” to take the next step in making in the alcove at the Trail House. The other thing “the way forward” makes me think of is homesteaders. People who left one life to begin another, in a place they’d never been, fraught with risks, but risks worth taking because they would work, and believe in a better life. I won’t face the hardships of the homesteaders, far from it, I understand how fortunate I am to be able to even think of this way forward, and will continue sketching and working to try to make ways forward more accessible to many more people.

But right now my way forward lies in the bucket, mop and squeegee, and a bunch of windows!

I hope you all can see a way forward in your day, your week, or your life. I think it is important to keeping hope. Be good to each other, if you see someone stumble on the way, offer a hand, we all need that now and then.