Announcement! Two New Columns Coming in 2024

+ Apparently shitty hardware store boots are the best?????                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more [Announcement! Two New Columns Coming in 2024]( + Apparently shitty hardware store boots are the best????? [Ash Ambirge]( Dec 8   [READ IN APP](   Hi! It’s Friday! ARE WE WEARING DRESSES? Just kidding, I only wear muddy rubber boots these days. You know, [the cheap olive ones]( Who knew I’d end up loving a pair of hardware store boots so much??? I also have a pair of Hunters and [Ilse Jacobsens]( that I get soooo many compliments on (definitely recommend), yet somehow, the olive green hardware store boots are the ones I toss on most regularly, here at [the old farmhouse](. Let me tell you what: they came in handy this week, for this week was THE WEEK OF TREES. Here are at least 7 ridiculous facts about trees 🌲 that none of us knew: - If they are hanging over your house, your homeowner’s insurance will cancel your policy and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh! IT’S SO HILARIOUS! - You will then feel like a helpless little lass ass from the 1700s because you cannot merely whip out your chainsaw and take care of business. Not when the trees are a hundred years old and they are very very big and very very scary and very very likely to fall on your house. That’s not fun! - You will then call THE TREE GUY, with whom you have shared many-a-beer, because you’ve bought property in your hometown, and you know everyone here. - The tree guy will push you ahead of everyone else and call it an “emergency operation” and show up the very next morning with a bucket truck that will not fit in your driveway. - You will then call [the stone mason]( and, in an exasperated tone, ask for his help. He will drop everything he’s doing and show up minutes later with a concrete saw and a giant sledgehammer that you can hardly pick up, but he will proceed to slam into the wall like Thor, and do anything and everything in his power to get that fucking truck in your driveway. (He succeeds.) - The first tree will be felled. It will crack down onto the earth. It will sound like thunder. - The ash trees are the priority, though: they are all dead. [Every ash tree in America is dead](. And now, if you’ve got an ash tree anywhere near your house, the odds are that it will fall. It’s only a matter of time. - Insurance companies don’t pay for those, though. It’s your job as a homeowner to take care of dead trees. Insurance is only for live trees, and for acts of god. Fun! - There are at least 8 dead ash trees on the perimeter of the house, that form the beginning of my woods, that need to be felled. Then there is the giant spruce, the one whose roots are reaching into the foundation and cracking the whole thing to hell. There are also the hemlocks. So many hemlocks. They are tall and majestic, but maybe not so much on top of my roof. - It took them three days to take down fifteen trees. Most of them were dead already. The few that weren’t, needed to be cleared for safety. - Now, the backyard is littered in sad, fallen tree trunks. It’s all a bit melancholy, as if there were a battle. I suppose there was. - The good news is, the wood will be used. It will heat a friend’s home, for his entire family, for the entire winter. He is coming this weekend. Apparently the ash is one of the best for heat. - In the meantime, I will collect the branches. Will preserve some as artifacts that I’ll turn into art. - The evergreens, on the other hand, will be turned into wreaths for friends for the holidays. I can make a hundred wreaths—at least, that’s how it feels. They will be weird and wobbly, but they will be made with love. - Now I just must contend with the old concrete wall. It’s falling into the driveway. There is a year etched into the side: 1946. Breaking it apart feels like breaking open a time capsule. Inside one wall, we found an old plug. I’m not sure what an old plug was doing in there from 1946, but it was a direct connection to the past; to Lou, the Italian man who apparently lived here then, commuting back and forth to Manhattan, working in the silk industry. Behold: I am learning so much, being here on my own, being forced to figure out new things every day. I love being alone. There is so much value in being alone. How else can you ever know what you are capable of? [I enjoyed this piece]( about a woman who is married, but still travels solo. Everyone, of course, looks at her with pity, as if his absence means they “must be going through something.” But, this is a sign of strength. It is unconventional, but that doesn’t mean it is undesirable. Wouldn’t you like to own your own time again, even if for a little while? Wouldn’t you like to skip through a street in a bright red coat, all by yourself, and stare at the world in awe? Wouldn’t you like to remember what it feels like to be your own person again? Wouldn’t you like to feel hope for yourself, once again? I’m not saying that being with a partner erodes your hope—at least, not if you’re with a good one—but I am saying that sometimes, the emotional demands of being with another person all of the time can quickly start to take over your sense of what’s important. Another person’s needs can quickly become your own. Are they happy, are they hungry, are they drinking too much, are they fulfilled, are they stuck, are they grumpy, are they horny, are they healthy, are they ok?????????? Sometimes, you just want to be able to ask your own damn self those questions. Are you happy? Are you hungry? Are you drinking too much? Are you fulfilled? Are you stuck? Are you grumpy? Are you horny? Are you healthy? Are you ok???????? When’s the last time you actually asked yourself what you needed? When’s the last time you took inventory? “Taking inventory” is a good way to think of it: imagine a list of human needs, and imagine yourself going down that list. How many can you check off? Or, is your personal inventory running low? We must continue to make the brave decisions that help us live more fulfilling lives. Even if they are hard. Even if they are unconventional. And even if other people don’t approve. Approving of yourself comes first. You can’t be happy if you don’t like who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing with your time every day. Which brings me to a fun announcement! Both of the latter—where you are, and what you’re doing with your time every day—contribute so much to our own personal happiness. As such, we’ll be exploring both of these topics more in-depth this coming year here at The Middle Finger Project. I have two new columns lined up for us: - Where Do You Live & Why? Interviewing Creative People from Around the World About the Places They Call Home In this column, I’ll be interviewing creative people from around the world about where they live, and why. Why that village in France? Why the Cornish coast? Why that mid-sized city in Virginia? I’m endlessly fascinated with how [the places we live shape us]( and in a world where remote work & online business gives us the ability to live and work from anywhere, why not be in a place we absolutely love? Think: travel channel, but for finding home. (I’ll be seeking submissions for this—and yes, it will be paid! More soon.) - What Do You Do & How? Interviewing Creative People from Around the World About the Passions They Turned Into Careers In this column, I’ll be hunting down the world’s coolest, little-known creative careers you’ve never even realized was A THING—like flower & garden photography 📸 🍁—and interviewing the people who do them, what their work is like, what the income potential is, and how you can get into that line of work, too. This is for every adult who wants to do something else with their life, but…what? Think: the cool guidance counselor we all wish we had, for 40 year olds. (If you’ve been searching for your passion, this is a must-read.) Both of these columns will be primarily for paid subscribers (thank you so much for supporting my work!), so make sure you’re locked in at the current rate of $5/month before the rate goes up in the new year. (If you’re a subscriber now, you will always have the same rate, no matter what!) [Upgrade to paid]( In the meantime, I’m off to walk the land. Examine the trees. See the earth. And appreciate what it feels like, being free. You’re currently a free subscriber to The Middle Finger Project with Ash Ambirge. To get all of my posts & chat with me in the comments, upgrade your subscription. [Upgrade to paid](   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2023 Ash Ambirge 177 Huntington Ave Ste 1703, PMB 64502 Boston, Massachusetts 02115 [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()