Your words here made me smile with a twinge (I miss my dad). He was a mechanical engineer partially raised in a refugee camp by a blacksmith grandfather born in the 1800’s - so there was very little he couldn’t fix with the stash of saved bits and pieces in our furnace room. I’ll admit, his use of a blow torch to weld in our basement was not ideal - nor his hemming of work pants with duct tape. My mom (also handy with tools) knows how to can food, all the plants, how to crochet, knit and sew…. She just whips stuff up. I found Toronto lately had acquired a propensity to “just call the guy” or “go buy a new one”. I was questioned why I’d do my own gardening for my small yard rather than hire someone who’d pull up in a truck filled with loud gassy tools outrageously oversized for the gardens they tended. Now that we live in Atlantic Canada it seems knowing how to do stuff is still valued - and even the fancy people do their own gardening (and always have a vegetable garden - though how things grow in our lush red earth is just exhilarating which helps with that - but I also meet 11yo’s whose summer holiday project is a quilt with their outgrown favourite clothes!). Awesome to see you spreading that culture so successfully! Especially to the people who don’t have the smell of the sea and luscious red earth to inspire them to protect it! Go forth and mend!!! 🤣. Our planet needs people to shift our thinking about what we did with our stuff. You’re awesome!
Loved the interview! I am so excited to get this for my 8 year daughter for her upcoming birthday. AKA, a gift to US as we're going to have so much fun making things together! Thank you!
I loved reading the interview and I totally agree that many of the projects I've tried/done gave me a skill I will most likely or have already used elsewhere. Same as many of the skills I've acquired since childhood (I love acquiring skills-you are correct in that it gives you confidence for so many other things). I was always inclined to DIY, though occasionally been discouraged, but I have never stopped trying, whether it's perfect or not!
I have long returned over and over to this passage from the book The Corrections, and I want to share it here. It is about the patriarch and his “fixing,” and I love it so much.
"It offended his sense of proportion and economy to throw away a ninety-percent serviceable string of lights. It offended his sense of himself, because he was an individual from an age of individuals, and a string of lights was, like him, an individual thing. No matter how little the thing had cost, to throw it away was to deny its value and, by extension, the value of individuals generally: to willfully designate as trash an object that you knew wasn't trash.”
I think of this often in my own life. There is power and dignify in fixing things, in improving things, even just in trying.
You inspired me to get my 2 year old’s Velcro sneakers repaired instead of replacing them altogether (which I was admittedly excited to do). Because the sneakers were fine except for the strap he ripped off. And getting then repaired took about 5 mins and felt so good. Stretch goal would be to try to fix it myself, but small steps. Small wins. :) happy birthday!
Your words here made me smile with a twinge (I miss my dad). He was a mechanical engineer partially raised in a refugee camp by a blacksmith grandfather born in the 1800’s - so there was very little he couldn’t fix with the stash of saved bits and pieces in our furnace room. I’ll admit, his use of a blow torch to weld in our basement was not ideal - nor his hemming of work pants with duct tape. My mom (also handy with tools) knows how to can food, all the plants, how to crochet, knit and sew…. She just whips stuff up. I found Toronto lately had acquired a propensity to “just call the guy” or “go buy a new one”. I was questioned why I’d do my own gardening for my small yard rather than hire someone who’d pull up in a truck filled with loud gassy tools outrageously oversized for the gardens they tended. Now that we live in Atlantic Canada it seems knowing how to do stuff is still valued - and even the fancy people do their own gardening (and always have a vegetable garden - though how things grow in our lush red earth is just exhilarating which helps with that - but I also meet 11yo’s whose summer holiday project is a quilt with their outgrown favourite clothes!). Awesome to see you spreading that culture so successfully! Especially to the people who don’t have the smell of the sea and luscious red earth to inspire them to protect it! Go forth and mend!!! 🤣. Our planet needs people to shift our thinking about what we did with our stuff. You’re awesome!
Loved the interview! I am so excited to get this for my 8 year daughter for her upcoming birthday. AKA, a gift to US as we're going to have so much fun making things together! Thank you!
I loved reading the interview and I totally agree that many of the projects I've tried/done gave me a skill I will most likely or have already used elsewhere. Same as many of the skills I've acquired since childhood (I love acquiring skills-you are correct in that it gives you confidence for so many other things). I was always inclined to DIY, though occasionally been discouraged, but I have never stopped trying, whether it's perfect or not!
I have long returned over and over to this passage from the book The Corrections, and I want to share it here. It is about the patriarch and his “fixing,” and I love it so much.
"It offended his sense of proportion and economy to throw away a ninety-percent serviceable string of lights. It offended his sense of himself, because he was an individual from an age of individuals, and a string of lights was, like him, an individual thing. No matter how little the thing had cost, to throw it away was to deny its value and, by extension, the value of individuals generally: to willfully designate as trash an object that you knew wasn't trash.”
I think of this often in my own life. There is power and dignify in fixing things, in improving things, even just in trying.
so gooood!
what a wonderful quote, I love it-thank you for sharing Ally!
You inspired me to get my 2 year old’s Velcro sneakers repaired instead of replacing them altogether (which I was admittedly excited to do). Because the sneakers were fine except for the strap he ripped off. And getting then repaired took about 5 mins and felt so good. Stretch goal would be to try to fix it myself, but small steps. Small wins. :) happy birthday!
gah, so great!
💕🤲🏻💕