The want for a simpler life

The Illusion of a simpler life:

So one of Caleigh’s future school chums, she is over for the evening, she met her through one of the students that Isabel ( the proprietor of the house we are renting) introduced Caleigh to. They met and communicated through Facebook and they set up a meeting thru the electronic jungle drums. She is the type of young lady every parent wants their child to be friends with. She says thank you and yes please, not the insincere kind of manners, but the genuine type. We met her father when she was dropped off, what a breath of fresh air he was, he would fit right in with our dear friends back in Topanga. He is living the real life if I know what the real life is, or what i would want. He has really interesting projects that he’s started, and in most cases finished. It seems that the things that I’ve wanted to do, he’s done or started, but the point is that he started it, isn’t that the secret to living.
Then I think about what are some things that I wouldn’t mind doing, buying an ancient mas, farm house and go thru it and completely renovate it. Turn the interior into one of Piranesi’s fantasies, where you just want to stay inside on a sunny day and enjoy the ancient stonework and marvel at how the artwork makes all the proportions come together. There is a beauty in construction that’s hard to explain, it’s where mankind takes what nature gives him/her and they construct a dwelling and it incorporates proportions, area, scale and ties it all together, then you add more well thought out mechanical systems, furnishings, and art. I’ve been blessed in my life to work in almost all aspects of residential construction and design decorating. There is so much incorporated into just the shell of the structure, mainly the material used, a couple thousand thesis’s could be written on just the honesty of the material used. If a material is forced to be something it isn’t; its obvious, when you are true to the material’s qualities and the integrity of the material; its obvious. It sounds so snake oil salesman like, however; look at a leather belt, there is a nice shiny black formal leather belt and what that says, or a weathered old brown leather belt and what that says.
That’s the beauty of material, its everywhere, whether its denim, wood, leather or whatever, there are so many variables, and choosing the right one is interpretation and what you want it to say. That is what I would love to do, if I were able to take that risk of living my dream.
Cindy reminded me as I write this, that upon reflection we’re not too different, as we are over here taking a risk. We quit our jobs, rented our house out, traveled over to France, enrolled our child in a French school, and for five months will be living on no paychecks. Sure when we return we will have a debt, but we left owing nothing and saved a good amount, and used gift money. Its an adventure and all our families are part of it, we’ve used their energy and best wishes as fuel during times when it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that this trip would even happen. Heavens even writing this on a consistent basis, its fueled by family and friends, never a combo of both, like family who are friends………..just joking Gary.
Or as Oliver Hardy would always say to Stan Laurel on the offset of one of their hair brained schemes after Laurel would agree with Oliver setting that scheme into motion.
“ Thank you Stanley.”
And which would always end with their trade mark.
“Well, there’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into” And Oliver Hardy would look straight into the camera lens, knowing the audience understood his plight.
“Thank you, Gary”