Outdoors

How many of us dream of being the postal delivery person so we can have a job walking all day outside? Or park ranger? Me, pick me! A sucker for a Seattle stairway or ravine park… shiggy with the HashHouse Harriers… wilderness hiking… sailing… inexpert skiing… foraging with mentors…gardening…hilly biking. E T C. Maybe one day Outside will be a full-time endeavor.

Burning Man

I’ve transited from Seattle and SF Bay Area 19 times to return “Home” to the Playa north of Gerlach, NV. Have built human-sized installations since my first year (2000) and finally graduated to propane poofers. I go to be smitten by the big and small art out there… still carry the impression of the key-dragging, lock-faced man,… the spacecraft… the huge 3D maze… the amazing kinetoscopes powered by participants pulling ropes or cycling. Cinema and Daft Punk at the Trash Fence. Landsailing Danish people feted on arrival by the Mayor. Phone calls from god. And the Temples.

Some years have been exultant, a few rote — I love it — still struck with Ideas for new experiences. I’m a fan of bringing improvisational interactions to people: Patty and I dressed in ridiculous golfing attire and gave touch-feely golf lessons as Faux Pro’s one year; another time we set up a real estate sales experience, complete with LookBook of impossible properties. I was chuffed to don the blue waitress dress with the Betty name tag to staff the Pie Shoppe. Their concept: Seat 4 strangers (the stranger, the better) at a checked-tablecloth 4-top for 15 minutes of pie, coffee and outré diner-chat. Starring spot on my resume.

In Active Support

It was decades before ever becoming a “joiner,” deciding an organization was something I should give my time to. My entry points were first through people I admired: New Orleans buddies taking me on a Tibetan march… or having a professional-crush on the Approtec founder which encouraged me to join IDEO friends in prototyping rudimentary water-pumps made of Chinese bicycle parts. In later years I’m more activated to support threatened rights or vulnerable folks. Glad for friends who make things like this happen.

Painting Aerial Landscapes

With my frequent glances out the aircraft window, I am struck by a few compelling landscape compositions on each flight. Abstracting these a bit, I paint acrylic canvases. I remain in this “period” and have a few dozen photos stockpiled for any quiet afternoon of focus that presents itself.

On Interior Projects

My brand: “Brave and Stupid.” While I do watch 10 videos — or talk with 3 people / find 3 books / take photos of neighbors’ projects for years — before undertaking any project in the bathroom, kitchen, car, or hardscape, I find I’m at most 90% ready for any reno project. I have stories.

Landscaping

“Doggedly conceptual.”

When he noticed my nth visit to the OKC rockery on my regular visits to Dad’s house, the rocks-manager said: “Yer dad’s got you workin’ the yard again, huh?!” Oops, that be backwards — I’m entangling my Dad in arduous turf-removal, dirt-shifting, stone arrangement, and planting. What a champ! Once successful on someone else’s yard, I attended to my own place: a 100-year-old corner-store with a tiny, bleak, concreted backyard. Over a few seasons have removed half the concrete, transformed from rectilinear to 3D curves… and can barely have a summer snack there due to it being rife with pollinators. Satisfying.