Working on projects now, almost every day, as the weather grows colder. I know that I should take up an outdoor sport to enjoy the seasons that are not summertime, but I hibernate in my studio anyway. I am thinking a lot. Dreaming a lot. Right now I am thinking about the Main Shrine (Inner Shrine) at Ise, Japan. With only a few lapses, it has been completely and exactly rebuilt every twenty years since the late seventh century. It is both ancient and new, forever. Permanent and impermanent. I wonder what would happen if the same care and process could be applied to a relationship. What would it mean and how would it feel to lovingly and carefully dissect each of the precious years that fade together into vanilla after 20 years and reconstruct them as if they were fresh and new? Would it feel like pretending, or would the act of the dissection and reconstruction force one into seeing with new eyes? Would memory become a hindrance or a helper in seeing? Could we ever even contemplate such a thing as a rebuilt relationship with fresh eyes? Would we recognize what was before us if we could? While this works with a Shrine, I am not certain the concept could be abstracted into the realm of a relationship. But still...I am imagining. I am starting by ripping apart, cutting apart, dissecting and reconstructing the old vanilla pieces and seeing what happens. Perhaps I will show it to you in the early summer, dear reader. Perhaps you will remember.