Tag: Deciphering

  • Deciphering Ciphering

    Deciphering Ciphering

    I first heard the term “ciphering” in 2005 when we were renovating the Lapine House. Context offered some clarity: “ciphering” was used to describe job site problematizing, brainstorming, tweaking and tuning a step-by-step action plan, and generally massaging blueprints and construction schema into completable carpentry. From a linguistic perspective, describing the process of analyzing plans,…

  • More Real than Realism

    More Real than Realism

    What, you ask, is more real than realism? Perhaps nothing. Or, perhaps plenty. Poetry, for example. Also art, stories, and so many other creative and curatorial initiatives. “Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things.” —…

  • Morning Dew

    Morning Dew

    After weeks of rain, we’ve enjoyed two glorious August days. Summertime splendor all the more apparent for the contrast with two months of incessant drizzle-to-downpour conditions. Sunny. Bluebird skies. Hot. Light breeze. Lower humidity. And morning dew on the decks and lawn when I take Carley out in the morning and when I wander up…

  • Essaying: A Mind at Work

    Thirteen years ago this coming July, I jotted notes while reading Susan Tiberghien’s One Year to a Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer’s Art and Craft. In my notes, I included a quotation from Robert Atwan cited by Tiberghien: What essays give you is a mind at work. — Robert Atwan (“Return of…

  • Ciphering on Icehouse Coving

    Ciphering on Icehouse Coving

    Let’s start with ciphering (before introducing my current coving challenge). I first heard the term “ciphering” used to describe job site problematizing, brainstorming, and generally massaging construction plans into completed carpentry in 2005 when we were renovating the Lapine House. From a linguistic perspective, the idea of describing the process of analyzing plans, troubleshooting an…

  • Voyeuristic Glimpses & Mosaic Mirages

    Voyeuristic Glimpses & Mosaic Mirages

    Before you shift uneasily in your seat and survey your surroundings nervously, I’d best prologue my post with an assurance that nothing unseemly is in store. Exhale. Voyeuristic glimpses, yes, but only as the subject of an overdue clarification. Voyeuristic Glimpses After bricks and mortar, land and lake, residents (human and canine), Rosslyn’s blog is…

  • Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro, New York

    Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro, New York

    Have you ever heard of Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro? If so, I’d love to learn more. So far the details are pretty thin… As we roll into the final days of 2022, I’ve been attempting to streamline my end-of-year projects. And while the prospect of simply deleting lingering items on the perennial punch list…