elkin, the ballard estate

Until April 5th I am regrouping in North Carolina with my family, three cats in various stages of living decay, and a black lab too obese to do anything but sprawl out and emote. Every man needs a hobby that he can hyperbolize, and mine is dry-stack retaining stone walls. It's a heroic task of domestic proportions. I hunt down the rocks, wrest them from the earth, drag them to my wall, wrestle them into position, and tamp new ground behind them. Not to mention, of course, the intellectual rigors of interconnecting irregular geometries. The image presents my interim project: fitting my parents' toolshed into its sloping terrain. After walking around thinking about cities for a few months it's refreshing to douse myself with sweat, coat myself with clay, and sleep like a sonofabitch.