Before and during
Posted on | March 25, 2006 |
Out in the field of trampled grass we sit under a gray bucket of sky, looking towards the roofline of our house, angled and steep against the gentle slope of the hill. Redwing blackbirds call from their perches on budding branches. Maple sugaring tomorrow with the neighbors, and the electrical wiring is done, the walls finally framed. Drywall this week, then paint. These things feel like progress but there is always more to do.
This early part of spring is always a time of disbelief for me. So long since foliage was familiar, I can’t remember the soft outlines of trees, fuller with leaves, nor can my memory slip comfortably around the color of bright green grass or blossoms. Yet it is only a matter of weeks, a half a calendar’s page of days before the landscape’s contour changes. When the peepers come and the new sap stops dripping into the buckets in the sugar maple stands, it will happen. It is the same way with the house now. We walk the rooms, so accustomed to the film of drywall dust, the nails underfoot, the exposed studs. Picking paint samples is an act of faith. But soon we’ll have floors, the kitchen cabinets in place, tile underfoot in the bathroom.
Before and during feel so much longer than the after, when in reality, of course, the opposite is true.
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12 Responses to “Before and during”
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March 26th, 2006 @ 1:15 am
My mom loves maple sugar and has a friend who gets it for her as a treat whenever she goes east. Sounds like your already getting in tight with the neighbors, and that is a wonderful thing! I can’t wait to see this place!
March 26th, 2006 @ 2:26 am
I love this photo! It’s Ralph Lauren minus the saccharin
(sigh) the house beyond the horizon. I’m too busy in the moment-to-moment minutia to think about what my walls might look like in a matter of months. It’s hard to conceptualize these details. I know what you mean, and I loved the analogy to sprging unfolding.
March 26th, 2006 @ 8:57 am
We have a pond on our property. Every Spring the peepers come and we throw open our windows to listen. City people ask how we can sleep with such noice, but to us it is a glorious sound of the season!
March 26th, 2006 @ 9:20 am
Can’t wait to see pictures of the house when you have things further along. I know it is a long process, but you’ll really love and appreciate it there when things are just as you see them in your mind.
March 26th, 2006 @ 9:47 am
So lovely. I would love to collect maple sugar, it reminds me of reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a girl. I can’t wait to see pictures of the house and picking paint samples is one of my most favorite things to do in the world. I have to laugh because my husband is always unsure of my wild choices (bright orange for our basement floor) but when it’s all done, like everyone has said, you’ll laugh at how long the during seemed to take.
March 26th, 2006 @ 12:05 pm
that is the most beautiful photograph. do you plan to frame it? its just a gorgeous slice of time.
March 26th, 2006 @ 12:41 pm
I adore this picture!!
a.
March 26th, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
this photo reminds me of Impressionist artist Morisot’s painting of her maid with her daugher out in the field playing. beaut.
March 27th, 2006 @ 12:32 am
wow- he looks so tiny in this picture.
March 27th, 2006 @ 2:01 pm
This is an exceptional photo, Christina. It says so many things and with such economy. I love the end of winter, loved it last week when we were away from the explosion of spring that is the west coast in March. There’s something exquisite about the time just before it happens, even though I’m dying for warmth and life.
March 27th, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
I love this photo - the contrast between a very tall man and his tiny son. This is destined for a heavy silver frame!
Your last sentence is phenomenal.
March 29th, 2006 @ 4:11 am
amazing picture! beautiful analogy!