The Wall of Anomalies

My brother's son, Will moved here not too long ago.  Because of a woman.  And because, well, California.  He fits in here.
A couple days ago we go on a road trip together so we could have a talk unimpeded for half a day.  And to take him to my church.

One of my favorite places to stop and pee.  Will doing what he does.

At this point I don't need to be let into my church.  I'm allowed to walk in and turn on the lights by myself.

Will starts to talk, which he does....a lot....and I shush him.  The next 15 minutes he walks around taking Communion.  He touches, smells, stands before each of the offerings.  He says he's never seen anything like it.
"I could sleep on this one."

Last time I set aside a piece of wood that wouldn't fit in my car so eventually we go looking for it.

We head up to The Wall of Anomalies, that area of the sawmill they stand up too small, orphans, mismatches, bookmarkless, warped, twisted, punked, and all of the above.  There's a small congregation of women from Laney College woodworking classes going through the wall as well.

Find my one piece with my name on it and Will says we ain't leaving here without another.
There it was, we muscle it out from behind some other castoffs standing there.
I do a rough calculation of the board foot in it and what I'm thinking would be the $/bd. ft.
I come with $600.  Nick, the second in command, the foreman of Aborica, tells me $30.
"It's from the Wall of Anomalies," he says.
The piece I came to get was $10.  You see that's what happens when you make yourself as unuseful as you can. The gnarly twisted tree doesn't get cut down as much as the straighter ones do. (Read some Tasoism to understand this.)

Stopping in Olema for a beer and bowl of garlic fries.

Red Gum Eucalyptus with the most beautiful swoop of sap wood around the top.  And a topographic piece of what I think is Walnut.
Not sure which, but one is going to be a light.
Or not.  I still need to sit and listen to some gospel coming from them.

First Rain

09.16.02019

Second Rain
09.18.02019

Vibes, Berimbaus and Ed

Whiteboard message left by Toicinho, the Berimbau maker.

Morning after the Dirty Snacks.

Two good time events at 3003.  Last Sunday we hosted a house concert.  Love throwing open the doors here so the love can flow out.  Nothing better than vibraphone heading up a 7 piece jazz project.  An almost unbelievably complex 3D sound came out.  During a break in the set due to a beer bottle being broken, I get to tell my only joke to the whole crowd.  I guess that allows me to put "stand up comedian" on my resumé.  The one and only photo I took. 

Yesterday Zoe hosted a Berimbau /Capoeira making event with a Roda afterwards.  The wood, gourds and master Berimbau maker, Toicinho from Brazil came into the place the group spent the entire day whittling, spokeshaving, drilling, sanding.

The Roda afterward, with the gates open to Peralta St.  Allowed the passerby's an expected treat as they walked down the sidewalk.

Now Ed.  In between those two events, Ed, father of Dillon came for his first visit to California.  To fill you in, it appears my extended family from back east is moving to Cali.  Well, ok, a lot of them.  My niece and her boyfriend Dillon are two of them.  Like just moved here.  So Ed came out and since he's a player, we have a room filling jam at Tony's Vice Room for him.  He comes in, sits down and immediately launches into "Can't always get what you want".  He takes a short phone vid of us and sends it out saying, "I'm playing with a bunch of cats in Oakland, one of the best days of my life" or so says Dillon.  Welcome Dillon to the bay.  And Ed.

Probably the first time since the invention of the phone camera, I didn't see anyone (besides Ed) taking any pics so nothing to see here.