Life: for the living?

I spent part of my morning catching up on the recent Interview Project interviews. All of the episodes perform a quick examination of what I would call the "American condition", with a slice-of-life motif. David Lynch has always been interested in the post-modern/post-industrial America, seeming to be especially intrigued by the social fallout of this era and how the ideals of the Golden Age society now stack up against the social freedoms and norms of the present globalized American culture. (sounds like a thesis statement)

I enjoyed them all, but one interview (the most recent) really struck me. The interview with Clara, which is the first released interview of a woman, crossed into the somewhat antiquated notion of settling; the idea that one was supposed to settle into their life (settle down into marriage, kids, grandchildren, etc.) in order to be a proper citizen and contributor to social norms.

She didn't have any regrets about this, but did sum it up as being something that she just thought she was supposed to do. She supposes that her dreams as a child was to be married and have her own children. The thing she's most proud of is her children (and their children). That is to say, that what she's most proud of is family, and in the most base term, pro-creation.

She says she didn't have any regrets at all, "didn't step on anyone's toes." Her final adage is that "life is for the living." It doesn't matter if anyone remembers her, because she's lived her life and had her time, and made the decisions that made her life fulfilling to her.

It's easy to think of this as naive, as simple. And Clara's not exactly living the burgeois life of a retiree (is anyone these days?) with her small home in rural Colorado, encircled by a chain link fence. There's something missing to her life, something grand that should signify or justify existence. There's something 'un'-settling.

But the reality, for her, is that no, there's not. That this is existence. That existing is no different than living. And that living, is no different than breathing. Breathing, and walking, and talking and having children and watching them have children. That childhood dreams are simply based upon what we think might be achievable for us. And that perhaps a dream which seems so simple still yields the same amount of satisfaction when achieved.

Life for the sake of living. Existence because we exist. It's an element philosophical prescription. I am what I am, and I exist because I am; a rudimentary cogito ergo sum where being trumps thinking. Clara has tapped into something elemental in the aging post-industrial American society; that simply living is something to be proud of.



*he once sat on the corner of Hollywood Blvd and La Brea Ave. with a cow to promote a movie. what's more American than a cow?

Courtyard

Early on, we had put in some concrete pavers into the courtyard. As is the usual case, this project turned out to be much more difficult than initially perceived. Under the gravel was some heavy clay dirt. Under that was hard, Texas caliche.

Because of this, we had initially limited it to four rows of pavers. It turned out nice, but we went too deep, and the courtyard was therefore on a slant.

Mollie's dad came in to help put in the final rows. It involved raking back the gravel, digging up the clay and rock, and then leveling the space out with sand.

After 500 lbs of sand, we finally got it right.

It was a full day's work, but the end result was worth it. Outfitted with some standard replica glider chairs and succulents, it's good place to enjoy an evening drink.

rufus

some cats just can't get enough...

succulents and artwork

I think we have more fun with these plants than anything else. one reason is that they are self-sustainable (for the most part), and look interesting without much skill in arrangement or pruning.





Mollie finished up her map project, and they turned out really well. we nearly quit after not finding an adhesive which would keep the maps on the canvas. good old schoolhouse rubber cement was the solution.


We found a much needed framed fabric from Uptown Modern to cover up some wall space in the living space.

Backyard project

finally finished the backyard. this took quite a bit of planning, and ended up being a bigger project than expected (insert lack of complete surprise here).

while having the deck completed was the first step, we then finally got the file cabinet drilled and spray painted, and started the planning process on the rest of the yard.

We hooked up with Jonathan from AUSTIN OUTDOOR STUDIO after reading about his work from another austin blog (who knows which one, too much blog surfing). The studio is close by, and focuses on design/build with an emphasis on steel for materials.

We had a basic idea of the materials and aesthetic, but needed someone with the experience to keep us thinking about the things we did not know about. Jonathan came up with the first renditions below after our initial meeting:

the gray area was to be filled in with white gravel. we settled on limestone, cut into .5-.75 " sizes. I'm all for xeriscape, but having a larger amount of green was important to us, especially for visitors (the doorway leads into the guest bedroom). The square path was an idea I stole from a house in Hyde Park (the Dollahite house, for those familiar), and the green adds a nice contrast to the white limestone used for ground cover.

the steal framework only took a little over a day to be welded together and into the ground. metal stakes were drove into the ground and welded to the frames.

a day into the project, I decided to incorporate a small wall to cover up the AC units. this had been something I had planned on doing later, but realized it would make sense to get the posts cemented in before we laid down the gravel.

we used polygal sheets as the walls, which is a reusable and recyclable product that picks up light well (next step is to get some lighting behind and make it a big light box).

with the grass in and gravel down, things really started to come together.

our recycled file cabinet planter is working well, but some of the plants are getting too much water. we've unfortunately lost some of the herbs as a result. we'll need to install a gutter system on the roof to defer water to a better location.

I had Jonathan install a simple metal frame to the outside of our fence for lighting. we ran commercial grade lights from it to the awning over the garage doorway. (lights from the lightbulb shop)




the succulent garden in the landing has struggled a little bit. too much summer sun is my diagnosis. hopefully they will take off once fully established.

the grass is doing well, but does require a lot of water. having put this in at the tail end of spring, we did get some solid rain showers to help it establish it's roots into the soil.


all in all, we're extremely happy with the end result. it's a small oasis for us to enjoy the sun, and something nice to look at from a few different angles. thanks to Jonathan and everyone at Austin Outdoor Studio. They do great work.