Well, it is Saturday February 14th in the evening, I am sitting in my shop thinking about the day I had and truly enjoying a wonderful finish to a most wonderful day. I am sure your asking why I am in my shop and not with my loved one, well we both agreed to post-pone our Valentine's day celebration until tomorrow evening. My wife had her monthly women's Bible study at the church today, don't ask me why but all the women decide to have it on the 14th.
Any way, back to my day. I started off the day as usual with a good cup of coffee and quality time with the Lord. After that I did some more quality reading for the ministry. I am currently going through 3 books along with the Bible. One of my favorite books, that I had mentioned earlier in this blog, is How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler. I am on my 3rd time through the book. Some may wonder why I would read a book more than once, well, I find when you go back you tend to see things you didn't see the first time around. I have a list of my ten favorite books, which tends to change at times, but I try to read through each of them once every year. It is like revisiting old friends, which I enjoy very much. In How to Read a Book Mortimer attempts to help one understand the difference between reading for information and reading for understanding. Unfortunately, most people, if they are reading at all, are reading for information and have no clue of what it means to read for understanding. I can read a book on woodworking or a magazine article regarding the steps to take when cutting dovetails, or (if the author is good) I can read to understand the concept of dovetailing a joint. One author can say do these steps and then you try. What you have obtained is information and are trying to put it into practice. Another author can show the steps but explain and effectively communicate the concept which helps with true understanding. For example, Lonnie Bird once wrote an article on cutting dovetails and he made a simple but profound statement that opened the doors of understanding for me. He said something to the fact that you are basically "cutting a straight line to a line". For me that was a lights on moment. Another example was when I was reading something written by Glen Huey about building a chest of drawers. He made a similar statement to help in understanding when he said, "basically it is a series of boxes with in a box." Again a light on moment. So as I read I try to read for understanding in place of information. If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend reading Mortimer's book.
So after reading a bit I worked a little on the "Essential oils carrying case", which I will be posting about later on in the week, then cleaned up the shop. In the afternoon since my wife was at her Bible study I took all four of my children out for ice cream. We walked down to the center park in town, all Latin american towns have a central park along side the Catholic church. We each got some ice cream and and then my boys played on the jungle gym in the park. After that we walked to the other end of town, Sarchi is very small, and bought some drinks and chips then went back home and watched the BBC version of Sherlock Holmes. I love spending time with my kids and am so glad my job allows me to be home most of the time. Kids grow up far to quickly and before you know it they are leaving the home. I want to cherish this as much as I can with them. That is why they will always take precedent over my hobbies.
So why did I entitle this post A Musing Saturday Afternoon? Well, after Sherlock I came back out to the shop and was just looking at my drawers for the case and started to think of the carcass and how I would build it. I have a sketch book where I chronicle my journey in building projects. I also speak out loud by writing down my thoughts and questions on how I might go about building my projects and the different ways to do it. I had a wonderful time going through the musing process of constructing the carcass and coming up with some interesting questions I hope to post soon. Hopefully others might give me some opinions or suggestions to help me along.
Not much work was done to day but as I grow older, approaching 50 this year, I am finding the slower life is truly enjoyable. I can honestly say I am enjoying getting older. The pace of life here in Sarchi is truly peaceful. I feel I have time to think here with out the distractions or noise that usually accompanies life these days. There are many ways to live an unplugged life that do not necessarily mean ceasing to use electricity. Yet, the joy of watching your children play and enjoy life brings far more contentment and satisfaction than all the entertainment and riches this world could provide. Peace through balance and disconnecting from the mainstream view of how life should be lived. An unplugged life in a nutshell, cheers Tom.
Take care my friends, enjoy your day with the ones you love and as always God bless.
Mark Hynek
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