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carpentry

The Music of Saws

4.1.10

One thing I wasn’t expecting was the sound of buzz saws. I just didn’t anticipate carpentry on the High Line, but early this morning the men were there with piles of plywood and a circular saw.

I was at the piano, working on a Schumann piece. I didn’t notice the sound of the saw (since I play early in the morning I use headphones) until the piece modulated into a minor chord and suddenly the harmony of saw and music jolted me from the piano bench in the direction of my camera, which luckily wasn’t too far away.

I love carpentry. One of my favorite blogs is Shelter Build, published by the Shelter Institute in Maine. Just the other day they did a piece about Timber Frame Barns and Garages and it’s been lingering in the back of my mind ever since. One of these years I’ll get to Maine for the Institute’s summer barn building course. During my sabbatical from Random House I built a fine woodshed, but that was years ago and ever since I’ve harbored an enduring fantasy to build another, bigger, building — this one with electricity.

Well, thanks to the High Line guys my carpentry Jones is being satisfied, if only vicariously. I wonder how the hammers will go with something jazzy.

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