Zen
The slowest thing I've ever built.
I'm about as deep in AI and vibe coding as it gets. New tools every month, half of it obsolete by the time you've learned it. I built a Japanese Zen garden at home recently as the deliberate counterweight to that.
Wabi-sabi, not a spec sheet.
No brief, no deadline, no client. Just gravel, a maple, a few placed rocks, and the wabi-sabi idea that a simple, imperfect thing done properly is more beautiful than anything polished.
Building it with my own hands was the whole point. Everything else I make lives on a screen. This was rock, gravel, and a rake: genuinely creative in a way that has nothing to do with a keyboard.
Gravel raked, before the deck
The garden, at night
It's finished, and I still go sit in it.
What I didn't expect is how much I'd love the light on it at night. Raked lines catching the glow until the gravel looks like moving water, shadows shifting across it as the light changes. It's a genuinely inspiring space to just sit in, and the closest thing I have to switching off completely.
From raw rock to raked gravel.
01 · Gravel raked, border still raw crushed rock.
02 · Framing the deck extension.
03 · Built the cedar bench next.
04 · Finished.