a letter home 1979

Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:15:55 PM

, , , ,

what possessed me to calligraph a whole letter?

this will help launch an account of how s. became involved in the chimney business. lodestone construction corporation built over 1000 chimneys over ten years in the metropolitan area of new york city,










at the time of this letter s. was working for jim reynolds at 'american chimney maintenance'
and that will be the title of 'how s. became a chimney man for ten years and painted only one painting in all that time.

chicken soupschool days

Comments

Nicolas Borgsmidtnopanic Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:46:12 AM

Beautiful calligraphy, Scott. It really is. Creativity always finds it´s way. I´m sure you´ve been building fine chimneys as well. Do you have pics of some of your creations?

L2D2 Sunday, February 12, 2012 7:52:39 AM

Scott is there anything you haven't done?

Sansanshan Sunday, February 12, 2012 3:26:24 PM

It gives the letter such a Victorian type feeling. Makes it more polite and shows the "chimney worker" to be educated and from a "proper" family. A big contrast to the 70's hippy dude in the short shorts. rolleyes

Nicolas Borgsmidtnopanic Sunday, February 12, 2012 10:47:56 PM

HOW GREAT!!!. I like ´em Scott. They seem to be carefully created for the architectual soul of each specic house. They´re much prettier than module build ones. Do they have a kind of core around which you practice the masonry work?

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 13, 2012 1:58:02 AM

nic, there's always a clay pipe in the center which goes right down to the basement or fireplace. 8"x8" for oil or gas. 13" x 8" for most fireplaces. they come in 2' lengths. a big chimney like the restoration above will be double wall bricks. idea

Ben Treinbentrein Monday, February 13, 2012 1:54:36 PM

Originally posted by nopanic:

Beautiful calligraphy, Scott.


I second that... I know the topic should be the chimney business, but I thought people only wrote like that before the first world war (with the ballpoint becoming more and more popular, and thus writing differently quicker and easier)... I don't mean the normal letters, I mean the capitals. Or on very very special occasions. Boy am I wrong. bigsmile

Anyway, I see building chimney's was good business. Are they still being built in NY?

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 13, 2012 6:18:20 PM

yes, ben. you put your finger on it when you say people are writing quicker and easier. what is most interesting about calligraphy for ordinary use, like a letter, is that calligraphy slows you down. it takes attention.
i am sure the chimney business is still thriving in new york. as you will see in subsequent chapters.
thank you for your comment. happy

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Monday, February 13, 2012 6:32:51 PM

Your calligraphy is really good. I have been trying to write in "script" since the 3rd grade and still cannnot do it, as my old teacher would attest if she were still alive. What instinct made you turn down that job? Was it too good to be true? (A disaster lurking somewhere in the background...) coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 13, 2012 6:49:18 PM


tyler,
i just 'smelled a rat' and i was right, as time would tell. i may have pulled out of poverty by doing it but it would be at the expense of someone else's gullibility. i never did find out what the con was exactly but i did get to the bottom of a very selfish attitude summed up in the phrase "if i don't f*** them someone else will. they want to be f***ed."
by the way it's an attitude of self preservation which has caused a lower standard of living in our country. greed rules you know. "man is a lying animal" idea

Nicolas Borgsmidtnopanic Monday, February 13, 2012 7:40:30 PM

Oh yes, I see now..the core on the third pic in the middle of the chimney up

....very informative Scott. Thankyou so much! coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 13, 2012 8:51:33 PM

Originally posted by L2D2:

Scott is there anything you haven't done?


yes. linda... you're just kidding. i've never flown a plane. happy

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 13, 2012 9:02:53 PM

Originally posted by sanshan:

A big contrast to the 70's hippy dude in the short shorts.


san... i beg to differ with you there. my vagabondage began in the fifties. that makes me, if anything, more of a 'beatnik'. that period was much more quiet and underground. there were secret coffee houses with speakeasy window in the door. everything was hidden. it was secret and much more interesting. i retired from that scene when i was nineteen. that would be 1961. then i slipped back into it '64,'65 and half of '66, i was on the rampage again after julie left me.
the term hippie came from the 'beat' phrase, "i'm hip". meaning i know. sherlock ironically, the whole thing was the "hippies" didn't want to know. they were dropping out of society to live a free life closer to nature. that's why it's called a counter culture.
grow your own food, your own 'pot', birth your children naturally and don't depend on money to survive. help each other. it was kind of a cool idea until it deteriorated. happy

Ben Treinbentrein Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:02:01 PM

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

it was kind of a cool idea until it deteriorated.


And the most interesting part is that many hippies went on to become very successful businessmen - living by exactly the opposite rules as they once preached. Causing much pain to (some of) those who failed stayed with their principles. bigsmile
The information of the origin of Hippie (I'm hip) I didn't know - I was born in the late 70s.

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

greed rules you know.


Amen. It's a pity, but so so true.

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

that calligraphy slows you down. it takes attention.


And this allows you time to think better about what you write... I would love to see what Facebook would look like if we'd all have to caligraph our updates into a touchscreen. bigsmile The place might be better off that way! bigsmile
I should learn it one day.

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Tuesday, February 14, 2012 3:36:47 PM

Screw FB. Scott, it was the drugs. I was in two different communal groups in the early '70s. They both fell apart because of the drugs. Everybody wanted to sit around being stoned... nobody wanted to fix the toilets or cook dinner or clean up after themselves. Well, in both cases I had to move on. Living in filth isn't my idea of a good time. cool

scott cummingI_ArtMan Tuesday, February 14, 2012 5:56:08 PM

Originally posted by bentrein:

I would love to see what Facebook would look like if we'd all have to caligraph our updates


made me chuckle.... that would change the pace for sure. up

scott cummingI_ArtMan Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:03:16 PM

Originally posted by Captivevet:

Scott, it was the drugs.


i can't deny that from what i saw. but in a way the drugs were just a symptom of some general malaise about the mechanical boring life of slaving and accumulating things; the squelching of a possible freedom to do whatever. trouble was the passivity is ingrained, so one does nothing, just dreams.
but speckled in the communities were some bright lights, seekers.

Ben Treinbentrein Wednesday, February 15, 2012 4:48:14 AM

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

but speckled in the communities were some bright lights, seekers.


Brilliance is rare - not matter the community, not matter the society...

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Wednesday, February 15, 2012 5:07:46 PM

Don't know how bright my light is... but I have been a seeker of "enlightenment" all of my life. In fact, I may have found some, but I don't talk about it much. That's all I need: a bunch of "seekers" outside my front door, calling out: "Tell us OH Great One". Hah... coffee lol

scott cummingI_ArtMan Wednesday, February 15, 2012 6:20:20 PM

coffee yeah, for sure.... "a puff of wind against the mountain..."

to be completely impartial about it, isn't every human soul a 'seeker'? don't we all just tumble pell mell through life wishing we knew why we are here?

i wonder why some are given a more questioning mind. or are we all born with questions but forget and choose to concentrate on the material things... well, survival must have precedence.

Moontan the TrueMoontan01 Thursday, February 16, 2012 8:18:07 AM

Beautiful calligraphy, Sir. And don't be coy about things you haven't done. I bet you've even recited 'War and Peace' backwards to impress babes. bigsmile

Ben Treinbentrein Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:02:36 PM

Originally posted by Captivevet:

"Tell us OH Great One"


And your reply: "You are all individuals!"
And one says: "I'm not"... Right? bigsmile

I see your point.

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

i wonder why some are given a more questioning mind.


For the same unknown reason why we are here, or why some are more intelligent than others... Some think quicker, some question more. We are all individuals; it would be boring if we were all the same.

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Thursday, February 16, 2012 3:09:10 PM

I finally got to the top of the mountain where I found an old sitting and watching the world.
"Old Man! Will you tell me the secret of Life"?
"Sure Sonny, but did you remember the Cheeze Whiz"?
coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Friday, February 17, 2012 12:17:24 AM

Originally posted by Moontan01:

I bet you've even recited 'War and Peace' backwards to impress babes.


yes.... anything to impress the babes. happy
no, but i can recite the "story of gilgamesh". it takes three hours. interesting that you should mention that. the faculty to remember is so atrophied in the world today, people can't even remember what they said a minute ago. in ancient times, homer's epic poems for example, were told for centuries as a very long story by bards. do you know how long the illiad is? or the odyssey?
the famous poet/sufi mystic hafiz was famous for memorizing the koran twelve different ways. that's the way they did it before publishing.
the stories i like to tell about the buddha's past lives, the jataka tales, were passed down from one 'ashok' to the next for 700 years before anyone wrote them down. i get them from three very fat volumes which contain 554 stories.
ermmmm i digress. what were we talking about? ahhh yes. the babes... thank heaven for the ladies. without them i don't think i would have bothered to stay alive, moon. lol coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Friday, February 17, 2012 12:25:33 AM

Originally posted by bentrein:

And your reply: "You are all individuals!"And one says: "I'm not"... Right?


ben, technically, i think we are not individualist until we begin to think for ourselves. faith will not be enough for future men/women.
also, you cannot say you are not even, because once you have thought about it you enter a different category. idea

scott cummingI_ArtMan Friday, February 17, 2012 12:27:47 AM

Originally posted by Captivevet:

"Sure Sonny, but did you remember the Cheeze Whiz"?


tyler the cynic. happy

Sansanshan Friday, February 17, 2012 3:21:36 AM

San... i beg to differ with you there. my vagabondage began in the fifties. that makes me, if anything, more of a 'beatnik'

I stand corrected, being a 60's child myself.

errr... vaga-bondage? left

scott cummingI_ArtMan Friday, February 17, 2012 5:44:46 AM

vagabondage.... lol i think i made it up. idea

Sansanshan Friday, February 17, 2012 5:52:02 AM

I have no doubt about that. lol

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Friday, February 17, 2012 6:01:44 PM

Hmmm... vagabondage? Sounds Kinky! lol coffee

PainterWoman Sunday, February 19, 2012 3:44:40 AM

OMG, Scott, I think I would have only done that much calligraphy for a man I adored! Hmmmm....I tried this only a couple of times as I remember. Would have been better with a special pen rather than a brush. Using the brush was impossible. I wonder if children will even be taught how to write fifty years from now.



scott cummingI_ArtMan Sunday, February 19, 2012 4:29:37 AM

good question pam. i think they still will have to write. but they haven't been teaching 'penmanship' since i was a boy. happy

Ben Treinbentrein Monday, February 20, 2012 8:09:06 AM

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

ben, technically, i think we are not individualist until we begin to think for ourselves.


Agreed, though I'm starting to feel you missed the reference... smile Quite an original thought if you ask me. bigsmile

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Monday, February 20, 2012 4:59:52 PM

"Penmanship" is something that I admire from a distance. As a "lad" they tried to impart some style into cursive writing but it has all gone by the wayside these days.
Interesting to note: I had a "drafting" class in the 8th grade where I did learn to "print" legibly. coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 20, 2012 8:16:45 PM

Originally posted by bentrein:

Agreed, though I'm starting to feel you missed the reference...


no. i saw it. "you don't need to follow anyone."

scott cummingI_ArtMan Monday, February 20, 2012 8:18:53 PM

Originally posted by Captivevet:

I had a "drafting" class in the 8th grade where I did learn to "print" legibly.


yeah tyler, me too... first you try, then you do.

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Tuesday, February 21, 2012 8:20:02 PM

What did "Yoda" say? You fail because you try... don't try, just do. Or words to that effect. coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Tuesday, February 21, 2012 11:50:14 PM

exactly. now try to remember that. lol
it's a lot easier just to think about doing it. smile idea

Ben Treinbentrein Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:23:00 AM

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

no. i saw it.


Apologies then - I didn't mean to be condescending in any way. Your serious comment though made me wonder.

Originally posted by I_ArtMan:

it's a lot easier just to think about doing it.


And suddenly I am reminded about the ant (?was it?) and the millipede.

The ant watched a millipede walk by. He shouted out.
"Hey, millipede?"
The millipede stopped and looked.
"How do you do it? So many legs and move so gracefully?"
The millipede thought about it for a minute, and then ... couldn't move a leg any more.

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:23:27 PM

I do my best work on the piano when I don't think about it to much. coffee

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:23:40 PM

I do my best work on the piano when I don't think about it to much. coffee

scott cummingI_ArtMan Wednesday, February 22, 2012 6:18:35 PM

Originally posted by bentrein:

couldn't move a leg any more.


that is very zen, ben. on the other hand though is socrates telling us, "the unexamined life is not worth living." eh? how 'bout that?

tyler... you can say that again.! lol

Tyler Parke YoungCaptivevet Thursday, February 23, 2012 5:10:01 PM

Hmmm... look at that! I "double triped". Opera was acting wierd the other day.
I missed the trash truck today. I posted about it. irked

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