{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Micro.blog - David Walbert","home_page_url":"https://micro.blog","feed_url":"https://micro.blog/posts/dwalbert","_microblog":{"about":"https://micro.blog/about/api","id":"10333","username":"dwalbert","bio":"Hand-tool woodworker, writer, and historian. Also an avid gardener and curious baker; formerly a physicist, a web developer, and a homeschool educator (though not all at once). ","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":105,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/02/10333.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"93846118","content_html":"

@JohnBrady I have the Szechuan and Hunan books but I should check that one out.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93846118","date_published":"2026-07-11T21:09:56+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 21:09","date_timestamp":1783804196,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93841675","content_html":"

At Roy Underhill’s window-making class, 2022… At the end of the first day he went around the room sweeping the entire class’s shavings to each bench and took these faked photos.

\n\"me,\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/11/at-roy-underhills-windowmaking-class.html","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:51:58+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:51","date_timestamp":1783799518,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93841589","content_html":"

@isaacgreene You haven’t really worked unless you’ve accumulated a pile of shavings like that.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93841589","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:49:08+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:49","date_timestamp":1783799348,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93841552","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Fuchsia Dunlop is fantastic.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93841552","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:47:49+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:47","date_timestamp":1783799269,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93774603","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn Yep, that’s what’s all over my front yard pecking out the seedheads of the flowers. Pretty little things.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93774603","date_published":"2026-07-10T14:39:27+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 14:39","date_timestamp":1783694367,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93741020","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn They look to me like European goldfinches. @Miraz and I had this conversation a couple of weeks ago when I was asking what idiot thought New Zealand needed more birds 😀, so I poked around and apparently they were introduced in the 1860s. But ours are goldener, for sure.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93741020","date_published":"2026-07-10T00:22:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 00:22","date_timestamp":1783642942,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93740890","content_html":"

@jabel Per this dome. I wonder how many “eighth wonders of the world” there have been? What about a grand world tour of every place that has been called that? Not for Coloradans, I mean, but maybe for somebody else.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93740890","date_published":"2026-07-10T00:16:53+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 00:16","date_timestamp":1783642613,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93723937","content_html":"

Facing the usual early-July glut of cherry tomatoes I made confit: basil leaves in a baking dish, a layer of whole cherry tomatoes, a few crushed cloves of garlic, a liberal sprinkle of salt and enough olive oil to come about halfway up the tomatoes. Roast at 325F for maybe an hour until slightly brown on...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/09/facing-the-usual-earlyjuly-glut.html","date_published":"2026-07-09T18:00:00+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-09 18:00","date_timestamp":1783620000,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93669558","content_html":"

@JohnBrady My new motto is the title of a recent Claire Coffey essay: The future belongs to those who fight it.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93669558","date_published":"2026-07-08T20:40:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-08 20:40","date_timestamp":1783543241,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93669340","content_html":"

@ablerism This reminds me I have a couple of kohlrabi still in the fridge from my CSA… I’ll have to try the pickles. Always looking for something new in that department.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93669340","date_published":"2026-07-08T20:37:52+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-08 20:37","date_timestamp":1783543072,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93616863","content_html":"

“It is any thing but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one’s intellect is dwindling away; or exhaling, without your consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum.” —Hawthorne

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/it-is-any-thing-but.html","date_published":"2026-07-08T00:43:17+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-08 00:43","date_timestamp":1783471397,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93615116","content_html":"

@isaacgreene I’m perfectly happy when other people post their reading lists, they give me good ideas! I just don’t like doing it myself.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93615116","date_published":"2026-07-07T23:34:13+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 23:34","date_timestamp":1783467253,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93593439","content_html":"

New woodworking website is live.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/new-woodworking-website-is-live.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T16:17:39+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 16:17","date_timestamp":1783441059,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93583108","content_html":"

When I finished Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers last month I wanted to post something here more than the “finished reading” flag that feels like awarding myself a medal; but I didn’t get around to it. Read Morten Høi Jensen’s review instead, and then do read the book:

\n
\n

For the most part, they are characters we only ever know socially, as it were, either in dialogue or by their consumption of goods. Yet by fixing the narrative in their various households and domestic concerns, Tergit’s novel rebels against the remorseless one-way traffic of history. Here, banal instances of private life jostle against...

\n
social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/when-i-finished-gabriele-tergits.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T12:31:37+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 12:31","date_timestamp":1783427497,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93555950","content_html":"

@jessamyn I am told that Reynolds Price used to live in the house across the street from the one I now live in (long before I moved here). It has a decent porch but not a memorable one.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93555950","date_published":"2026-07-07T00:28:50+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 00:28","date_timestamp":1783384130,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93555564","content_html":"

Ran across this fascinating toy that lets you see the night sky from any point on earth at any time in history.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/06/ran-across-this-fascinating-toy.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T00:12:23+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 00:12","date_timestamp":1783383143,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93555237","content_html":"

@ablerism @canneddragons @JohnBrady Thank you all for the help! The adjectives you chose were what I was going for after three years on SquareSpace, along with “not a complete nightmare to update.”

\n

As for the online store… I’ve had very few online orders and have trouble keeping enough woodenware in stock to sell at the local craft market anyway, and SquareSpace cost me almost $400 a year. But I may rig up a workaround like I have for the carvings, with an auto-populated email form and a follow-up invoice… in the meantime if you really want one you can always email me. :)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93555237","date_published":"2026-07-07T00:00:12+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 00:00","date_timestamp":1783382412,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93531640","content_html":"

Hey folks, I need to ask a favor if anyone has a few minutes. I am replacing my SquareSpace woodworking website with a new, hand-built one and would like a few people to test it out for me: look around, see if you run into any problems, and reply here or send me a message through the contact form.

\n\n

There is...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/06/hey-folks-i-need-to.html","date_published":"2026-07-06T15:23:55+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-06 15:23","date_timestamp":1783351435,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93446995","content_html":"

@jabel Well, he isn’t going to take a day off work just because the government says so.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93446995","date_published":"2026-07-04T21:24:15+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-04 21:24","date_timestamp":1783200255,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93398757","content_html":"

Proposition: Video replay should be used, if it is used at all, only to correct on-field, real-time calls that may by objective standards have been incorrect: was the ball fair or foul, was the runner safe or out, was the receiver’s foot in or out of bounds, did the puck cross the line. Video replay should ne...

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@isaacgreene Looks like good work!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93398705","date_published":"2026-07-03T23:36:43+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-03 23:36","date_timestamp":1783121803,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93398672","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn I used to watch those all the time when ESPN ran them as filler. Bizarrely fascinating.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93398672","date_published":"2026-07-03T23:35:35+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-03 23:35","date_timestamp":1783121735,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93398623","content_html":"

@jabel Beautiful!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93398623","date_published":"2026-07-03T23:33:56+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-03 23:33","date_timestamp":1783121636,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93271015","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Precisely!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93271015","date_published":"2026-07-01T20:04:36+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 20:04","date_timestamp":1782936276,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93259046","content_html":"

@joshuapsteele I would have one on each wrist. One would say “Remember the Lemons” and the other would say “Forget the Lemons.”

\n

I’m entirely serious, but the reason is too complicated to explain, so let’s just say it’s a Zen thing.

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@isaacgreene Beautiful. I appreciate your sharing these.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93249255","date_published":"2026-07-01T13:35:46+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 13:35","date_timestamp":1782912946,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93199548","content_html":"

@bradleyandroos Ah, wrong post! I was commenting on your bit about posing for photos. But I could have said the same about the one on rule-breaking. Was just trying not to go through the feed clicking “like” on everything like when certain people find my Instagram. :)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93199548","date_published":"2026-06-30T17:23:33+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 17:23","date_timestamp":1782840213,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93195360","content_html":"

@bradleyandroos I appreciate this. Well said.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93195360","date_published":"2026-06-30T16:18:49+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 16:18","date_timestamp":1782836329,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93187443","content_html":"

@dwalbert …and that reminds me that as recently as the early 1990s the center field Astroturf at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, patrolled in those years by Lenny Dysktra, was supposedly so slick with tobacco juice it became a hazard for visiting players. The good ol’ days.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93187443","date_published":"2026-06-30T13:36:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 13:36","date_timestamp":1782826582,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93186384","content_html":"

@jaheppler Beautiful. I would not have expected to see that in Nebraska.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93186384","date_published":"2026-06-30T13:18:48+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 13:18","date_timestamp":1782825528,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93185902","content_html":"

Stories of European tourists being pleasantly surprised that we’re not all ogres over here have me thinking of Frances Trollope and remembering that I should be glad Americans don’t spit as much as we used to.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/30/stories-of-european-tourists-being.html","date_published":"2026-06-30T13:03:37+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 13:03","date_timestamp":1782824617,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93159781","content_html":"

@canneddragons I feel the same way about that album. I respect and appreciate Neon Bible but never got into it. Maybe I just only need one Arcade Fire album in my life.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93159781","date_published":"2026-06-30T02:18:54+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 02:18","date_timestamp":1782785934,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93159681","content_html":"

Granted I chose my angles carefully, but the native perennials have managed this well so far without any city water, only what’s fallen from the sky.

\n\n
\n\"purple\"black-eyed\"every\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/29/granted-i-chose-my-angles.html","date_published":"2026-06-30T02:17:50+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 02:17","date_timestamp":1782785870,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93158321","content_html":"

@hollyhoneychurch It’s not as simple as it looks! And I pretty much chose the font for my business branding because I liked the ampersand.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93158321","date_published":"2026-06-30T02:07:09+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 02:07","date_timestamp":1782785229,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93158310","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn Eh, sounds like Salon being Salon. That word “can” does a lot of work there. You could practically play Mad-Libs with that format: (noun) can cause (noun).

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/dwalbert/93158310","date_published":"2026-06-30T02:06:37+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 02:06","date_timestamp":1782785197,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"92886662","content_html":"

“May Song II.” Four panels in a reclaimed window, 20×25 inches. The text is my somewhat free translation of a portion of Goethe’s poem “Mailied,” and all but one of the flowers depicted are drawn from photos of my front-yard flower meadow (in past years, when it rained).

\n\n
\n\"polyptych:first panel of carving. Text reads \"O Love O Love so golden fair,\" with two goldfinches on black-eyed susanssecond panel of carving. Text reads \"As dawn-bright clouds upon the hills.\" Trees in middle distance and far distance, sun rising overhead, birds flying at topthird panel of carving. Text reads \"Glorious you bless the fresh fields,\" wren with various flowers and greeneryfourth panel of carving. Text reads \"In blossom-mist the teeming earth,\" with a finch looking over its shoulder and a hummingbird among various flowers and greenery\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/25/may-song-ii-four-panels.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T15:22:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 15:22","date_timestamp":1782400961,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92882217","content_html":"

Rain barrel installed, after two additional (unforeseen but unsurprising) trips to Lowe’s. Now I expect either the eastern piedmont will turn into a temperate rain forest, or it will never rain again and we’ll all wind up as extras in a film version of Ezekiel 37.

\n\n

\"Rain

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/25/rain-barrel-installed-after-two.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T14:16:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 14:16","date_timestamp":1782396982,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92824813","content_html":"

Two inches of rain in the past week has Crabtree Creek rushing by at a normal height, but the wetland area by Raleigh Road tells the full story. The stumps in the first photo and the cracked earth in the last should be well under water. We have a long way to go before we’re out of this drought.

\n\n
\n\"view\"cracked\"water\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/24/two-inches-of-rain-in.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T18:08:31+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 18:08","date_timestamp":1782324511,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92610504","content_html":"
\n

The empty coffee cup sits on the park bench. It has had a busy morning, filled with ambition, and now it has found its peace.

\n
\n\n

City Zen

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/21/the-empty-coffee-cup-sits.html","date_published":"2026-06-21T16:54:06+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-21 16:54","date_timestamp":1782060846,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92357658","content_html":"

Mary Harrington:

\n\n
\n

Most secular modern and post-modern creatives intuit that the age of naturalism is long since over. But this discovery confronts us with the enormous, gaping hole that yawns, where we’d expect to find a metaphysical framework able to give coherence and moral order to non-naturalistic artworks…. I submit that this is the real sickness in contemporary culture: not the abandonment of naturalism as such, but the widespread (and highly politicised) refusal to allow the reality of any metaphysical substrate able to sustain the artistic depiction of forms, and ends.

\n
\n\n

In other words: Why...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/17/mary-harrington-most-secular-modern.html","date_published":"2026-06-17T13:25:42+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-17 13:25","date_timestamp":1781702742,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92356895","content_html":"

This week’s work

\n\n

\"Sketch

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/17/this-weeks-work.html","date_published":"2026-06-17T13:13:36+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-17 13:13","date_timestamp":1781702016,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92070039","content_html":"

Recently I heard someone say that such-and-such a farm had “buffalo and other iconic animals.” What other animals are iconic? What animals are not iconic? Is there a chart somewhere I can reference? Are the non-iconic animals insulted?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/12/recently-i-heard-someone-say.html","date_published":"2026-06-12T21:14:13+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-12 21:14","date_timestamp":1781298853,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91706984","content_html":"

Made oatmeal-potato datschkuche for breakfast and it is the best thing I’ve ever eaten this week. You can have the recipe receipt if you can read my handwriting. See William Woys Weaver’s Dutch Treats for the original.

\n\n
\n\"datsch\"datsch\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/07/made-oatmealpotato-datschkuche-for-breakfast.html","date_published":"2026-06-07T16:56:31+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-07 16:56","date_timestamp":1780851391,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91272103","content_html":"

I am continually experimenting with my garden space, but here is one thing that works year after year: I run jute twine through steel fenceposts for a crude trellis, tie up and spread out the plants with the same twine, and in fall compost the whole mess, leaving the posts for next year.

\n\n
\n\"closeup\"tomato\"cherry\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/31/i-am-continually-experimenting-with.html","date_published":"2026-05-31T16:01:42+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-31 16:01","date_timestamp":1780243302,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91205689","content_html":"

“Coffee in a can” must be one of the saddest phrases in the English language.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/30/coffee-in-a-can-must.html","date_published":"2026-05-30T11:25:30+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-30 11:25","date_timestamp":1780140330,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91157909","content_html":"

Two observations today. (1) Thank God for human beings willing to help other human beings solve problems in ways not entirely condoned by bureaucracy; and (2) those designing to replace such human beings with AI should be thrown in an ICE prison, given a phone, and put on hold until they starve.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/29/two-observations-today-thank-god.html","date_published":"2026-05-29T16:31:03+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-29 16:31","date_timestamp":1780072263,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90235395","content_html":"

Just ran across an article that I thought might be interesting but quickly learned that the New Scythians were not in fact proponents of appropriate technology in agriculture. Alas

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/15/just-ran-across-an-article.html","date_published":"2026-05-15T15:22:02+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-15 15:22","date_timestamp":1778858522,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90157306","content_html":"

Two things you might see more of in Raleigh if people didn’t tend their lawns so carefully: a great crested flycatcher (which nests in natural holes in trees) and a crazy array of grasses going to seed. But you can see the carving (and me) downtown at Artsplosure Saturday and Sunday.

\n\n

\"\"

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/14/two-things-you-might-see.html","date_published":"2026-05-14T13:46:16+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-14 13:46","date_timestamp":1778766376,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90111844","content_html":"

Thought I would try carving some text again: the first lines of Goethe’s “Mailied” (May Song), loosely translated, with the first bars of Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel’s setting of the text. I had a terrible time carving it, and only realized the problem was not me or the knife but the wood after I’d done too...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/13/thought-i-would-try-carving.html","date_published":"2026-05-13T20:46:52+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-13 20:46","date_timestamp":1778705212,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90111070","content_html":"

Follow-up on the Second Luddites Congress: The August 1996 issue of the Friends Journal includes an article about the meeting (pp. 16–18) which includes a “summary statement” that may be the same as the “statement of means” referenced here and elsewhere, but I don’t know for sure. (Otherwise, I am fairly...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/13/followup-on-the-second-luddites.html","date_published":"2026-05-13T20:34:35+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-13 20:34","date_timestamp":1778704475,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}