The Ongoing Interrupter

An orientation

Hello, whoever you are, and welcome!

I’m Margaux, constant interrupter of my life. I call it spontaneity sometimes, obsession others. I need a thing on repeat and an equal need for something unknown. It’s been much too long since I’ve gone into the woods and gotten lost. Really lost.

I am also a Mother. An Ungardener. A Thing Collector and Story Gatherer.

My husband Walter and I have a company called Peg and Awl, since 2010. We live and work at The Five Acre Wood in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and have decided — on a whim, as all things — to buy a church in the borough and move some bits of our lives into it. A change of scenery. A connection with others. The church has big windows with lots of light and also walls. I’ve been needing a container.

It also has a front yard and a back yard. More containers. More walls. I never thought I’d be so desperate for them. We change even when it doesn’t seem so. Even when my journal from twenty years ago contains the same thoughts as my current journal. Sometimes I wonder if time has passed at all.

If time does pass, and if all goes well, I’ll be sharing the hell out of that little church.

I haven’t climbed into the Belfry yet. I worry the bells are gone. Please let the bells not be gone. Please, please let the bells not be gone. And what then, either way? Perhaps a cot for the Ink Monk.

Here on Substack, I’ve been documenting fragments of my life. That’s all that’s possible, really. Fragments.

Welcome to whatever this is.
Here are a few places to wander.
(Though the path isn’t clear. There is always a tangling, you’ll see.)

PS: Go to the bottom to see our first peek at the Peg and Awl Church! The Awe House?

THINGS MADE

I make a lot of things — and a lot of books. Here I shall share the Books and Journals, Drawings, Objects, Paint, Pottery, Peg and Awl Treasures, Renovations, and More.

THINGS THOUGHT

I started making journals, so I had something to write in! Here I will share how I fill my pages with journal entries, poems, ramblings, and rediscovered work from my old journals.

THINGS FOUND

I am and always have been inspired by things found. I frequent flea markets, second-hand shops, abandoned houses, and the trash. Sometimes I transform what I find, sometimes I use the things directly, and other times, inspired. I love the way old things were made —and more, the marks and stories gathered from a life lived.

This morning I saw on Instagram an estate sale in the town where my mom lived. Among the photographs were two things of my mom’s. One treasure we found at flea markets and another in the trash. Someone local claimed them when I was cleaning out her house 6 years ago. Now go to someone else. This ongoing passing on of objects fascinates me when it doesn’t bring me down.⁠

PS: This was difficult. I will likely change these shared posts over time. If you have any favourites, please let me know!!!