As I wrote a few days ago, I intend to periodically share with you, the readers, anything I see as noteworthy or of value that may not fall under any particular topic, as I usually write about. I will also attempt to write or share positive, uplifting content or write my perspective on other topics in these pieces.
To keep my promises, below are a collection of pictures of my most recent hiking “adventure”. Which was “ruined" by out-of-season, never-ending rain, didn't stop me from hiking, but it does make it way more difficult, steep muddy hills are not fun to brave in inches of mud 😆 yet if there is one military experience I may never forget it would be “Learn to love to be miserable”.
These are my previous pictures from my December hiking trip if you are curious or missed them, also they have a broader range of scenery in them. I created two galleries so the pictures don’t take up too much space.
First gallery:
Pic 1 - I have never seen any section of the road with that much fog, to state it was atypical is not make justice, there is an entire, vast forest behind that fog, that is how extensive it was.
Pic 2 - Heat+Humidity for a period = coolest growths in the forest
Pic 3 - I forgot this time of the year, besides being a new season, is also Spider season, and you can find those in the trails by the hundreds. In sections, nobody goes thousands of them.
The last picture is of the best fisherman around the lakes there, I gave him a few fish, a chill bird, but also massive
Second gallery:
Pic 1 and 2 - Another fog and rain-filled hike
Pic 3 - A little bit of rain and the trail becomes a small stream
Pic 4 - More spiders
Pic 5 and 7 - Butterflies, a rare sight on this trail, and after the rain on the first day, and the second day I saw thousands of those very small butterflies, I have videos but Substack is horrible for video upload. Quite the sight it was, walking around a cloud of bright yellow-orange butterflies for a hundred or so yards.
The state of my boots after 30 minutes of strong cleaning attempts, and the notebook and the pen were gifts, the purple notebook from a dear friend and the pen from a very blessed follower. Purple is my favorite color, leading me to something I meant to share for quite a while.
In the mini-documentary below you learn a lot, about how one single man revived the historical production method of Tyrian Purple Dye, one of the world’s most expensive dyes, and you will understand why royalty had a preference and sought purple so much. This YouTube channel has a lot of amazing short docs, I highly recommend people browse it.
Another two documentaries from them I may recommend are the following. Here you discover and come to understand why certain types of Japanese ink, highly sought after can reach incredibly high prices and the demand is by no way low, being someone who loves to write with fountain pens (the pen gifted to me is a vintage fountain pen) I have some minor level of experience with different inks, my personal history made it difficult for me to accept that some inks are indeed superior to others and by no means imply one needs exorbitantly priced inks, followed by why calligraphy brushes can be so expensive, reaching the average price of 1.300 US dollars each, every single brush handmade to the specification of the customer. An interesting trivia I am able to share about these brushes.
Now somewhat illegal, or at the very least in a gray area, are the best custom brushes one could buy decades ago in Japan, the custom brushes made by master craftsmen from baby hair. To be precise and very specific, from the first haircut of the infant, no hair will be sharper, with the thinnest point and edge than the first hair growth of a baby. Although a handful of select master craftsmen still offer their services, the procurement of the necessary hair has become a matter of great sensitivity, often restricted to the immediate family members of the client.
Leading me to the second part of this post.
The Death of Craftsmanship
The art of craftsmanship has always been endowed with profound meaning and a deep impact on our society, culture, and individual aspirations. By creating one-of-a-kind objects of enduring quality, craftsmen imparted an indelible legacy that could transcend generations. This is perhaps best exemplified by the coveted fountain pens of yesteryear, which were marketed as an "heirloom to your family". Despite the passage of over a century, it is remarkable to note that these pens remain in perfect working order, a testament to the meticulous craftsmanship and care invested in their creation.
On my last hike, after the ceaseless downpour went to other pastures, and I decided to buy some beef, the butcher section of the small market had quite the wait time, long enough to be uncharacteristic for that region. A particularity of this region and the people living in rural areas is how open they are, and the butcher was pretty quick to ask, politely, “sorry for the wait time”, and give me the number of how much he expected to sell versus the actual amount of meat he sold (basically he sold 10 times what he expected to sell in those last 36 hours), blaming the uncharacteristic wait time on not having another helping hand, I bluntly asked if a helper would eat too much of the tight profit margin “No, it is not about the money, I could hire 2 other guys to help me. You can’t find young guys wanting to do this job. Soon enough there won’t be any butchers left, we are all getting old, and some are sick and weak.”
When was the last time you saw a tailor or a tailor shop? A shoemaker ? How about a small paper mill or atelier specializing in artisanal notebooks ? A cobbler's workshop, filled with leather? We may now experience a small presence of craftsmen online, but with the pressures of a globalized economy exerting down pressure on wages and margins, such a dynamic incentivizes the usage of less invested time on designing and producing items, because producing exquisite, quality work takes time, and the cost would become prohibitive for the majority of the population, and one can barely make ends meet as it is.
As a long-term goal in our (Western) society, we should strive to rekindle and incentivize the pursuit of craftmanship, this process of creating enduring items would benefit society as a whole because most homes, workplaces, and items we use in our daily lives are rather soulless, mundane, a first step towards such goal would be supporting your local artesian as you see fit. By reviving the art of craftsmanship, we will also create an opportunity to bring back aesthetics, since both walk hand in hand.
Craftsmanship should not be relegated as a thing reserved only for elites and luxury items.
On a personal level, minor changes in your ambiance will vastly improve all aspects of your life, including mental health, mood, and productivity, bring a different kind of happiness, sparks of unforeseen creativity, and the positive impacts could go on. Try it yourself. Small changes that bring aesthetic pleasure to your eyes, minor changes may lead to great strides.
Fun fact: While I am no craftsman, I fix my fountain pens on my own, and I create and customize nibs (I can create super thin lines with my nibs, as thin as the thinnest fountain pen in the market, the Preppy 0.2).
Normal themes resume later today.
If you chose to support my Substack, I am grateful, it helps build this work up.
Your point about craftsmen is important, younger people seem to look down on getting their hands dirty or touching anything other than a computer mouse! I am all about developing a breadth of skills, and took pride as my late wife would tell people that I "could do anything" with a big smile when 'broken stuff' came up for discussion. Growing up with a father (PhD scientist, a brilliant man) who did pretty much everything himself because that was how HE was raised, I just incorporated this automatically.
My clothes drier was new in 1995/6 winter. Had to replace the heating element some years back & the belt. Nothing really to break, just replace bearings next!
Hand cutting meat - now there is a lost art! My neighbor who raises beef has spoken to me of the consolidation of meat packers buying out the small operations. It is hard for them to make much on the cow as the market is controlled. I suggested he ought to consider setting up a shop, but then the .gov intrusion & "regulations" become the issue.
We need a FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE in how we view our daily lives & how much intrusion we will put up with. I'm old enough that I can momentarily comfort myself in a selfish way (by ignoring it all) but my conscience won't allow that for long.
What happened to vocational tracks in high school? Since when does everybody "go to college" and WHY are they doing it? I try to convince young people to consider learning skills such as plumbing & electrical work. Much of carpentry is being taken over by immigrant labor who work for less money, but the craftsman is still needed. Of course everybody should garden & know how to cook - even that seems to be fading away.
I fell in love with this post.