The Occidental Gazebo

(Page 5 of 5)

July/August 1990
By Jeff Taylor 
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Friends #1, #2 and #3, who helped you earlier, have probably read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Your spouse has by now entered night school. Anyway, it's best to work alone, gathering the inner harmony intrinsic to a gazebo. Over the course of the long hours it will take, working on these finishing touches imparts a spiritual calmness which the Japanese call wa, or shibumi. The effect on your personal character cannot be overstated. At a certain point, ever far-off, you'll be nearly done. Your body and spirit will feel somewhat wasted, but your face will have an inscrutable, masklike expression reflecting inner peace. You will have found wa, or shibumi. Doo-wop.

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Some quiet evening, when your neighbor sees you sitting there inside your nearly completed gazebo, he will probably come over to sit with you in the gloaming and give you a pain in the arris by asking questions. Answer only with a beatific silence. The moment will pass, and never come again. Ask him, casually, if he's read much Twain. Serve him a cup of fragrant green tea, or pass him your flask of Wild Turkey. Look far away and inward, and somberly recite:

At dusk, truth he told, Outdoors is better than in; The crickets, you know.

Jeff Taylor lives in the coastal mountains near Blodgett, Oregon, with his wife, joy, and their daughter, Serenity. He spent 21 years as a carpenter before becoming a writer.

Popular again an a property improvement, gazebos are sprouting up all over, including these built by author Taylor.

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