Simple tools

Sometimes the simplest tools are the best. Being in the thesis phase of a grad program, I’ve found that my best rhythm balances head and hands—pairing work projects with the writing that starts most days. Being able to use my hands is always at the top of my gratitude list, after an accident last year caused bilateral upper body fractures. While dictation software helps translating thoughts to writing, unfortunately I have found no app for keeping the backyard above bedlam. It was frustrating to watch the yard devolve into a forest primeval.

This year—watch out invasive plants. I patrol for bamboo in the spring, having found that search & destroy missions work better before the bamboo hardens. This is prime time for being outside. There seem to be just a few weeks when it’s not too hot or buggy. As I work on projects, I wear gloves. They protect when I collect holly leaves with their pointy spines. I appreciate the time that I don’t spend scrubbing my hands after painting or playing in the dirt. Many of my current projects are smaller, like a solar oven I’m currently assembling (unlike the shed that took a summer to build after months of design work so I could incorporate and reuse materials leftover from a house renovation.)

Not everyone has the same access to tools and materials. At a meeting this week, one woman mentioned how in Medor, Haiti, often kids have no shoes or carry their shoes to school (if they attend) so that they last longer. And, sometimes if there’s no paper available, the children take notes on legs and arms.

Be thankful for your hands and celebrate the tools, low- and high-tech, that make our lives so much easier.