I'm still here; just not so good at writing updates. But I keep trying.

Tiny Letter - the service that I have been using for these newsletters - is shutting down on February 29, 2024. I was going to try to send one last shot from the old service before it goes the way of all things on the internet. Instead, I do have a replacement service set up to allow the newsletter to continue; I'm using a new service called Buttondown, and you're getting this from there, now. I migrated everyone's name over, but I don't know if anything else is required to verify or activate it. Let me know if you're receiving this, so I know it's working. Buttondown seems pretty user-friendly, so I hope that it stays that way and that it sticks around for a while.

The 29th is also our anniversary (yeah, yeah, if you were there, you'll say, "but it was Friday, March 1") That's the day we have to use in non-leap years, but the 29th is the occasion we recognize. And, because of calendars, this anniversary is the first time the calendar has re-aligned for our anniversary since 1996.

Also speaking of calendars, I just recently learned about the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar (http://hankehenryontime.com/html/calendar.html) which is another matter for more exploration at a later time. But, in brief, it is a 364 day calendar, so that there are 91 days every quarter, making the calendar the same from year to year. To deal with leap years, as well as the missing day in the period of 365.24 days per solar orbit, there is instead a leap week, or a mini-month called Xtr that adds 7 days after the end of December once every 5 or 6 years. It's intriguing, even if it never would be adopted.

In addition to anniversaries, I also have even older reminiscences. This past weekend, I went back to Cranbrook for the first time in quite a long time. There was a memorial for Carl Toth, my photo professor there, who passed away in the summer of 2022. And there was a show at the Museum of his work, many pieces which I'd never seen before. And that was bringing back memories from more than 30 years ago.

In the tiniest of tiny world connections, I learned that Judith Toth, Carl's wife, worked at an architecture firm in the area here at the same time as Paul Renault, one of the CAD drafters who works with me (for another couple months before he's retiring).

Seeing Carl's work (which really intrigued me as I was looking at Cranbrook for grad school), and seeing the student show that was also on display in an adjacent gallery space, and talking to a couple of the folks currently there in the program was energizing for long-dormant neurons. And, having to tell the story of how I went from photo artist to architect, but realizing that I hadn't entirely lost photography, I just set it aside while I was working on other things, but the ideas and the interest is still there. It's apropos that the Hasselblad that I bought as a bridge between portability and large format is one of the things that I rescued from the house and brought over to the rental to keep safe, and that just last week I found a tripod without an adapter plate, so I just ordered a new set of two of those plates, and, right now, that camera is sitting attached to that tripod next to this computer, waiting and reminding me that it's time to do some photography again.

The house, of course, is still a project. But things are coming along. Last week was the completion of the substrate board for the ceiling. As soon as the plasterer can get in and start to do the outside walls, then we'll have the insulation for those and for the ceilings above the front rooms (where everything collapsed from the fire hoses). We've passed electrical rough inspection for the front part of the house, so the panel installation and reconnection of the remaining circuits is most of what is left for that. It may not be 100% done by the end of March, but that is when we are hoping to be moved out of the rental and back in our house again.

It's probably going to be a couple of months until my next note.

Phil