Abbie wants to be a filmmaker. Abbie is going to be a filmmaker. Abbie is a filmmaker.

And I am buying her a video camera. I am resisting the temptation to buy her the beautiful one that will take the amazing images, because I believe she might never actually use it. There are lots of reasons, I think, for that, and some of them are pretty good. For starters, we're going to be in the dirt and the weather and we need a camera that's tough.

On the other hand, there's this problem, which I'm sure you've already thought about, but it's nicely painted here:


The Vacation


Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.


Wendell Berry


I think Abbie can beat this problem. Especially if I can find her a camera that fits. One that she can use easily and without caring too much about it. And one that's easy to turn off and put away.

Only 28 days left in town...!

In other news, we dearly love our nieces and nephew. Georgia came over the other day and Abbie helped us make some stuff out of clay. See:



One last thing: the band had a fun farewell show at the Neutral Ground. Thanks to all those who came or were there in spirit. We have a name now: "The Some Times." Just in time for us to cease operations (at least temporarily).

Hope you're having a peaceful week.