Home Video on New York Times Website

I made this home video years ago.  A hot weekend, the three of us hung out in the barn for hours while they recorded. I baked an apple pie, shot tons of video.

During a break in recording, Andrew and I went for a long walk in the hills. When not shooting, I slung the camera round to my back so we could play frisbee and race each other uphill. Dan opted to stay back and read. It was 2005.

This past Christmas, Andrew asked if he could post the video to his blog on the NYTimes website. I was reluctant at first. We’d just spent months undoing our deeply intertwined life. The barn was a compounded and painful loss for me. Winter without it was unbearable.

Ultimately, it seemed fine to match the video with Andrew’s blog. I sat down and trimmed two minutes off the home movie. Shuffled things around. Tightened scope, threw on some credits.

What I shot that day was a thorough gathering of everything I love about the farm. Only a tiny piece of that is in this video, tailored to the recording process.

I love that it feels like a Sesame Street minifilm of sorts – like the one where they show you where milk comes from or how bread is made.

I’m pleased with how Andrew tied it to the new record.  We were together for three albums. I remember each melody’s birth – on a walk somewhere together in the world, in the shower, doing laundries. Kayaking, playing frisbee, making breakfast at home.

Nearly five years together culminated in a parting of ways full of snot and tears last autumn. We are still close. This video doesn’t in any way sum up what the barn means to me but I’m glad it was made.