FOLDING IT UP

This is just a random snapshot of my life. Kind of a practice session on my guitars. First acoustic slide in open G playing along to a rhythm track. Drum loops. Missing a beat now and then. Keep going. It will get better if I work at it.

Play that back through one smartphone and Bluetooth speaker. Overdub using the Telecaster in standard tuning. F sharp was the nearest key so had to focus a bit. Will get that sorted next time. Just started singing and it quickly morphed into "leaving trunk". I was a big Taj Mahal fan for many years.

Rather than go searching for images, I just started snapping the room as it was in the middle of lunch. Fresh fruit and laban. There were 3 or 4 screenshots from current events. Pre-inauguration hysteria mostly.

That's it. 2025 me trying to get back into music. Warts and all.

 

 

Before I had a digital device (40+ years ago) I used to take large brown envelopes, cut off two sides, clip one corner and store papers relating to a particular topic. You could buy plastic folders that did the same job, but the adapted envelopes were much cheaper.

I would label them with a broad marker pen. Short labels worked better. Often I would compress two words into one. Some years later, making folders in a DOS filing system with an 8 character limit, these same labels acquired a new life.

One of those labels is ARChive (7 letters) When I was in Zimbabwe it was very hard to get Architecture books. I would collect sketches and photocopies to build up a database of History of Architecture. I liked the way that architecture, beehive, and storage system were compressed into one neologism.

 

That same label still exists at the top level of my cloud storage. Stepping down through the heirarchical levels I have several branches based on location and another set based on time/style. One of the Time branches is called C19 Transition. (between Classical Revival and Modern) This refers to the explosion of stylistic diversity triggered by the Industrial Revolution.

Next level down we get Arts-and-Crafts (among others) Below that, several architects, including Philip Webb. (1831-1915) His best known project is the Red House for William Morris.

I visited the Red House 55 years ago. Vague memories to be honest. But it's a hugely iconic project loaded with cultural meaning. It was one of the first buildings I chose for my WayWeBuild work which I started by collecting paper information, continued using CAD and later with Revit /BIM.

My Revit model for the Red House dates back to. 2008 and has been revisited several times. In the beginning it was very sketchy. Gradually I have started to understand the design better, collecting more source material puzzling my way through a 3d jigsaw. I picked it up again just over a week ago. Can't remember why. I just get up in the morning and feel my inner mood. "What do you want to do today?"

May go on for several weeks, may stop tomorrow. Right now I'm having fun and learning a lot about a fascinating building and the pivotal moment in history that spawned it.