It’s been a rough week. I got hit by an elderly person who rolled their car through a stop sign into a bike lane and hit me this past week. Somehow (thanks mom!) I rolled right out of getting t-boned on my bike without getting seriously injured. However, the wheel on my new bike is absolutely toaster-oni.
As you can see, I will not be able to spin around anywhere on that wheel. Getting hit is a pretty crushing blow for me. Not only does it shatter my sense of safety while riding, it also slows down my pursuit of my biking goals while I wait for a new wheel to be built to replace it.
To make matters worst in high eclipse and mercury retrograde shenanigans, I found a crack in the chainstay of the steel frame of my beloved atlantis gravel/touring bike. This may be fixable. We will be sending the frame out to a framebuilder in the next couple weeks, so that a whole new rear triangle can hopefully be welded into place to replace the compromised section. This blow is even more crushing, because I had ridden thousands of miles on the Atlantis. I have such a relationship with this bike that it feels really scary to possibly lose it. I honestly do not know what to do if it cannot be fixed. There will be some pretty heavy death work associated with that if that is indeed what comes to pass. For now, I am trying to just ride the roller coaster of this mishap and see what comes. There is no use in mourning yet. A new dawn for the atlantis might still be possible. I purposely bought a lugged steel bike when I sold my car so that I could replace cracked tubes if that came to pass. All y’all keep your fingers crossed for me
Mix of the Week - “A New Dawning: Roots and Dub Selections”
I have literally only been listening to dub and roots music in the last week and half to make this mix. I was going to put it out last week, but I ended up not wanting to rush it. That was a great idea, because making this mix was a true joy. I poured over all my roots and dub LPs, listened to some new records, and only took songs that literally shot through my body and soul with a jolt. Now, that jolt manifested sometimes as a head bobble and others as full-throated singing. Regardless of the outward expression this is roots and dub that will bring your soul alive with passion for life. It’s the mix you put on as the spring blooms begin and again as the summer reaches its apex. It’s also a mix for a late summer afternoon when the first bit of fall begins to show itself. It’s a mix for all those new dawnings we experience throughout the wheel of the year. Turn it on and enjoy today. Special thanks to record selector, par excellence, Matthew Hamilton for the Pachyman suggestion.
Workshop Notes - It’s an everyday process now.
I am in the teeth of this small memorial death cloth to memorialize Luigi Humrich, a sweet doggo who passed on. I have completed spinning the yarn, warping, color blending, and blocking the yarn. I have warped the loom and started weaving. It’s all in a day’s work for a hobbyist fiber spell weaver.
Shoot, it’s so weird to say that too, considering that it has been about 7 years since I started weaving and even less since I was a hand spinner and hand dyeing. It’s always so jarring to realize I have this capability in my hands. I know that I never imagined being able to do what I do now. I can spinning yarn from a fleece, dye it, and weave it up full of symbols that ply spells of inspiration, protection, and healing into the resulting textile. Now that I say that, I realize I have reached some tall summit for myself in being able to wield a trade. As the son of an extended family of tool and die and autoworkers, this is something I have aimed for for much of my life. It’s the same yearning that finds me want to take up brick laying or carpentry. There is something in me that always wanted to have skills in my hands and useful embodied knowledge.
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