Summer Time

Went out to the shop after work to start final filing and sanding on a frame.

It was drippingly hot in there.  You can tell when parts of your shorts and shirt, which aren't touching your body, and soaked with sweat.  It gets awkward when the sweat off your brow is dripping onto the work you're trying to file - it kinda clogs things up. 

Having said that, there is something relaxing or even peaceful, about focusing on the task at hand.  When first starting, there can be a sense of foreboding regarding just how big a job this will be?  But once I start to put a file to the work, this quickly evaporates.  Watching the work closely, studying the shapes from different angles, pulling out a riffler to touch up this spot, or a rat-tail to smooth out that fillet, and then sanding the filed surface to a smooth finish. 

All the other issues of the day fade away as the work absorbs more and more of my concentration.  Little by little, the final shapes reveal themselves, and I take measure of how close they come to my original vision.  Variations from that vision don't generally bother me, usually it means that when seen in the flesh, the new shape appealed to me more than the vision.  But, the variations also speak to skillfully I can envision in 3D - which is a hard skill all by itself.

Mosquito season has begun.  So far, most of them are small: hard to see or hear.  Until they've bit, and the venom started to itch, you're not aware of their presence.  I had close to an hour of work before dinner, and nearly as much afterward.  But then the skeeters started, and it was all over.  Unfortunately, at this rate, I can't make much progress.  I think maybe I'll try some citronella candles tomorrow and see if they help keep the darn bugs away.