Daydreams and Serendipity

Just a few days ago, I announced that this blog was going to be “award free.” Actually, I never made that announcement, I may have implied that, but I stopped short of pasting the “Award Free” banner in the sidebar. If that sounds like political-candidate-speak, well, it is the season. The reason I’m waffling a bit on the subject of awards is that in between writing that post and publishing that post, I was nominated for an award. Joey’s timing was amazing. It’s like she was sitting there thinking: “how can I mess with Dan’s head today?” If you follow Joey, you know that’s the kind of thing she might do.

I promised that I would comply with the rules of this award. That doesn’t really fly in the face of my previous post because the rules for this award are easier to comply with – Thank you Joey! That’s rule number one, satisfied.

Rule number two: “Complete the challenge they set for you.” In this case, the challenge was to “Tell me a daydream.” That should be easy.

I’ve been daydreaming forever. I was routinely chastised in elementary school for daydreaming. Notes were sent home. Comments were added to my report card. It seemed that almost anything could set my mind wandering. I wrote once about my love affair with doodling which, along with the daydreams, continues to this day. No sign of stopping. I’m not quite sure that I am anchored to the world like “normal” people. I was trying to remember a recent daydream to share, but then, in a bit of serendipity, a post appeared in my inbox that set me dreaming.

Unlike Joey, I’m not the warm-sand-ocean-breezes kind of daydreamer. I look at things and I imagine less romantic scenes.

In order for this to make sense, you have to pop on over to Lois’ …on Pets and Prisoners blog. It won’t take long, the post is the completion of a photo assignment. A single beautiful photograph. Take a look and come right back. But hurry, ‘cuz I’ll be onto something else if you take too long.

What did you think when you saw her photo? Did you think about the light? Did you wonder what might be in that brick structure in the center? Did you imagine hiding or being trapped in that attic?

I immediately started to daydream about building that building. I focused on those rafters. A little thicker than modern material and spaced a little further apart. I noticed that there are collar ties on every set of rafters. Usually, collar ties are added to every third rafter pair. I put them on every pair when I built our screen porch so I felt a connection to the builder of that barn.

I also noticed that the roof sheathing is comprised of individual boards instead of plywood or the composite material in use today. I used plywood on the roofs I’ve done around here, but I once worked on a historic house where the roof was sheathed with individual boards.

If you noticed the window, you probably focused on the brick arch. I was looking under the arch and imagining the effort required to make the curved wooden structure around the vent. At first, I thought that it might not be a true curve, but a series of small straight pieces. I zoomed in on the photo, and it is curved. I started thinking about the ways you could bend a piece of wood like that. I have no way of knowing if the window is original or a replacement, but mating wood windows to brick openings is not an easy task when the windows are rectangular so fitting a curved window into a brick arch had to be a challenge.

I got lost in that photo for several minutes. I set those rafters in place. I installed those collar ties. I stood on the roof, nailing those boards into place and I fussed with that window.

You might rather be on the beach in Florida. For me, turning a pile of lumber into a permanent structure, I think the pictures show that that’s my kind of daydream.

Back to reality, the reason I like this award is because I don’t have to nominate 10 or 15 recipients. It says in rule #3: “The amount you nominate is unlimited.”

My guess is that Lois has seen this coming, but I’m going to nominate her for this award. If she’s not much of a daydreamer, maybe she can share one of Teemu’s daydreams.