No new typewriters here, and not much more finished knitting. But I have been doing quite a lot of reading.
I recently finished reading a book called Black Walnut, which is part of the research for my story called (at the moment) Black Walnut. At least that was its title when it was my NaNoWriMo project in 2014. Of course, what one bit of research shows you is how many other bits of research you need to do. And some of those will be pretty big bits.
It has taken me ten years to realize that one of the main characters in my story that is named after a tree is the tree after which the story is named. I sure hope that I will live long enough to figure out who the rest of the characters are. So far I have it narrowed down to nine or ten people, not counting the tree. And a bear. And at least one ghost; do ghosts count as people or not?
Last week I also managed to acquire two trunk sections of black walnut for a total of $2. At first they were going to be $2 each, but when I started babbling about how I would look to them as inspiration while I wrote my book about black walnuts, I think the seller took pity on me. And he possibly didn't want to hear about my book. Anyway, I now have these pieces of wood in my garage until I figure out how I'd like to have them cut. The smaller one is a crotch section, including the base of a branch where it grew from the trunk. I think it would be interesting to see that piece in vertical cross-section. The larger — and much heavier — piece might be good to have cut into discs that I can count the rings. Anything that doesn't help with story inspiration can be added to a friend's campfire on a cold winter's night at deer camp. Maybe they'd take the leftover logs in trade for some venison.
I'm also reading a book of essays by Ursula LeGuin; one more section of ten pieces and I will have finished the book. Not only does she write in a clear and colorful and evocative way, she also writes about writing and about words in a special way. And she mentions other writers who would be worth reading, if only I had more time or were willing to let some talent jump to the top of the TBR pillar.
My current book of poetry, which I'm still going through one poem at a time, is a translated collection of woks by Rilke. I'm reading the poem in the original German first, listening for the sound-alikes or sound-similars, like Traum for dream, before peeking at the English part of the layout.
I also started reading a book called The Typewriter Revolution, and I'm trying to decide how revolutionary I ought to be. In my own house, I'd like to be revolutionary enough to resume the typing habit that I began when I was house-sitting last week. With an eye towards rehoming a large desk that supports a desktop PC whose operating system will go unsupported in the next two years, I'm thinking about moving in a wooden desk and topping it with a manual typewriter that's in shape to be used every day (or night, probably). Why not use a machine that never needs an update?
I'll be working on the desk situation all week, waiting out the heat wave before I do any literal heavy lifting.
Knitwise, I'm on part Five of Seven for the Secret Knitting Project. Just as I was beginning to realize that the deadline to finish the project was going to be one that I couldn't possibly meet, let alone beat, the deadline itself vaporized. It hasn't been reestablished yet, but I'm trying to push myself as if it were coming up soon. Of course, if I delay the knitting long enough, other events and tasks will surely step in to provide the necessary urgency.
I can't show you a picture of my work yet, and I dare not start on any other knitting while I must work on this project, so you'll have to take my word for it that I'm making progress. It's really five and a half parts done out of seven parts.
I realize that this is short, and also a day late. Please accept it with my apologies; one must get one's sleep before pressing on.
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