Little Bits

Before I begin this blog, I wanted to say that I tried to write this today from my smart phone app. I sat and started to type something related to what I wanted to say, and I had no voice. I wonder if the folks that were used to banging out a story on a typewriter had the same problem when they moved to the computer keyboard.

So I am back to staring at the monitor on my office computer where I can actually think - and write a few words down. 

On with the show...
 A few years ago, before my grandparents passed on, we cleaned out their two story family home. It was full of nick knacks, family treasures and a lot of junk. In the basement there was a stash of fasteners of all sorts: bolts, screws, washers, nails - you name it. Some in old coffee cans, others in drawers and in old glass jars. Any handy person knows that whenever you begin a project, you can never have the right bolt, screw or nail. NEVER.

An assortment of bolts, screws, nails and other fasteners gleaned from the basement of my grandparent's house.

 Today I had to dip into the fastener trove for a few nails to fasten our gutter downspouts. As I opened up the drawer today I started thinking of all the places these jars and cans have traveled. Nails have hung family photographs in three different homes in three different towns. When I was looking for flat headed screws for my wet plate darkroom (to remain of the period before Phillips screws were around) I found them. There have been countless other home projects over the years that I cannot even begin to remember.

Little bits of metal - threaded, straight, long, short.... in glass jars, coffee cans, and old cigar boxes - All originally found in a dusty basement of a family home. Waiting for a new life- with a new family - and a new project.