Finding Wendell Berry: On Work - Again and Again and Again

As the connections have been broken by the fragmentation and isolation of work, they can be restored by restoring the wholeness of work. There is work that is isolating, harsh, destructive, specialized or trivialized into meaninglessness. And there is work that is restorative, convivial, dignified and dignifying, and pleasing. Good work is not just the maintenance of connections - as one is now said to work "for a living" or "to support a family" - but enactment of connections. It is living, and a way of living; it is not support for a family in the sense of an exterior brace or prop, but is one of the forms and acts of love.

Wendell - The Body and The Earth

I'm nearly finished. The tile is up on the walls in the tub; just the ceiling to go. I'm long ready to be done. The nice thing is that when your reading Wendell you realize in the midst of it all that this is restorative, convivial, dignified and pleasing. I didn't know this or even consider this at 10 oclock last night when I emerged hunched, numb and half covered in thinset. But I of course will consider it now.

If by restorative he means the euphoric feeling of being done and having straight lines and flush tile then yeah I'll buy that. If by restorative he means crouching in a tub for eight hours like some sick buddhist kamasutra prank then... If by convivial he means short bursts of congratulations and profanities directed at an inanimate wall and yourself then alright. If by conviviality he means what I think he means then... If by dignified he means I've done something for myself that proved difficult and done it, though not perfect, well, then sweet. If by dignified he means crouching in a tub half naked, covered in mud, and talking to yourself then...

And I am pleased. I can stand in the bathroom and look at my work and I am pleased. I'll be even more pleased when I can be done and get on with the gardening and the hammocking and the frolicking about on the summer earth like a true Wendellian.

And in defense of myself I'm not sure I've yet grasped Wendell's view of work. Not yet.

Work is the health of love. To last, love must enflesh itself in the materiality of the world - produce food, shelter, warmth or shade, surround itself with careful acts, well-made things.