Nothing much happens: bedtime stories to help you sleep - The Hardware Store

Episode Date: June 1, 2020

Our story this week is called The Hardware Store and it's a story about finding all the right things for a few projects at home. It’s also about stacks of fresh-sawn wood, a packet of peanut butter cups, and the ride home, with the window down. So get cozy and ready to sleep. Buy the book Get beautiful NMH merch Get autographed copies Get our ad-free and bonus episodesPurchase Our Book: https://bit.ly/Nothing-Much-HappensSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Grownups, in which nothing much happens. You feel good, and then you fall asleep. I'm Catherine Nicolai. I read and write all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens. Audio engineering is by Bob Wittersheim. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter for a bit of extra coziness. A beautiful book of our bedtime stories

is coming out all over the world in a few months. It will have many of your favorite stories, along with 16 new stories that will only ever appear in the book. It also has really charming illustrations, recipes, meditations, and a lot more. To learn more or to pre-order your copy, go to nothingmuchappens.com. Now let me explain how to use this podcast. When left to its own devices,

your mind will wander endlessly, rehashing and what-if-ing into the wee hours. We need to give it a soft place to land. That's what the story is. And once the mind settles, your nervous system can switch over into rest and digest mode, and you'll sleep.

All you need to do is follow along with the sound of my voice and the simple shape of the story. I'll read the story twice, and I'll go a little slower the second time through. If you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, you could listen again, or just think your way back through any part of the story that you can remember, especially any detail that felt particularly cozy to you. It'll reroute your mind back to the landing spot. And before you know it, you'll be waking up tomorrow, feeling refreshed and rested. It's time to turn off the light. Set

aside anything you've been working on or looking at. Snuggle down into your sheets and get as comfortable as you can. You are about to fall asleep, and you'll sleep deeply all night. Take a slow breath in through your nose and sigh it out of your mouth. Again, breathe in and out. Good. Our story this week is called The Hardware Store, and it's a story about finding all the right things for a few projects at home.

It's also about stacks of fresh sawn wood, a packet of peanut butter cups, and the ride home with the window down. The hardware store. The gate into the back garden was squeaking on its hinges. I'd noticed it today when I pushed through it with my dogs at my heels on our way to the vegetable patch. I stopped for a moment, working the gate back and forth on its hinges to see if a little bit of movement would clear the stickiness out.

After all, that usually works for me. The gate was a lovely, smooth piece of walnut. I'd planed it myself and hung it with wrought iron fittings that latched smoothly into place. The squeak persisted. It would need a bit of oil, and today seemed a good day to tend to it. I had a little list of projects, and I added the gate to it. There was the slow drip from the kitchen faucet,

the slightly crooked shelf in the closet that just needed a shim to even it out, and the split in the leg of one of the kitchen chairs that could be set right with a bit of wood glue. I scratched out a list of needful things with paper and pencil and grabbed my car keys from the counter. I was headed to the hardware store. Hardware stores are long places,

with shelves reaching back for miles, and that unmistakable smell that somehow manages to be on the clean side of dusty. All hardware stores have it. They are almost always dark and cool, even on the hottest days. And for those who like to build and mend and take things apart just to put them back together, they are as much a place to meet and discuss

as they are to shop and to buy. In fact, there was a small group of people standing in a loose circle at the front door, sipping coffee from paper cups, and talking about which tools were the best for a particular job. I smiled as I walked past them, eavesdropping on their strong opinions. It reminded me of folks who live in big cities, who like to debate the best way to get from one side of town to another, which subway or bus or secret one-way street to turn down. We, each of us, like to be the masters of some particular thing or other.

It keeps us learning. I took my list from my pocket and ran my finger down the items. I needed oil for the gate, glue and shims and a few odds and ends. I wandered up and down the aisles. I liked looking at the boxes and boxes of screws and bolts and fittings lined up neatly, each one made

precisely to be just the same as its fellows, and just one size up or down from its neighbors on either side. I passed some time picking through some woodworking tools, working out for myself how they were used, and deciding if I should add them to my collection. In the back of the store were tall stacks of freshly cut wood that had its own lovely warm smell. There were shavings and sawdust on the floor,

and it made me eager to make something in my workshop at home. I pushed through the swinging doors that led out to the garden center. The air was suddenly warm and a little thick, smelling sweetly of flowers and soil and mulch. There were more long rows to stroll through. These were made of stacks of cinder blocks and plywood. Every inch covered in flats of perennials and annuals and pots of herbs. There was a huge, healthy split-leaf philodendron who had just unfurled a brand-new, waxy-pale green leaf into the world. I stopped to touch the new leaf,

to marvel at the veins and the softness. When it comes down to it, actually hugging a tree is usually a scratchy, unpleasant experience. But reaching out to touch a leaf, or petal, or to lay an open hand on bark or fruit, it feels very much like saying hello. There were tall fiddle figs and spiky arborvitaes,

and a sea of purple phlox. Have you ever noticed how lovely plant names are? Rhododendron and Forsythia wisteria and creeping clematis primrose and aster and coleus and common purslane my arms were filling up and soon I turned back into the shop and headed to the counter, with everything I needed, and a few things that I didn't, but was getting anyway. The man behind the register had owned this store as far back as I could remember,

and he'd often helped me work out a plan for whatever project I had in mind. He laid everything from my basket out on the counter, and had a good look at it all before he began to ring it up. You've got something loose, something squeaky, and something crooked. Am I right? We always played this game. Don't we all, I said with a laugh. Right enough, he agreed. As he packed my purchases into deep paper sacks, I squatted down to look at the shelves of candy bars and packets of gum and mints. Hardware stores always have lots and lots of candy

to fortify you after all your hard work with something sweet. I added a pack of peanut butter cups to the counter and paid for it all and carried my sacks out to the car on the drive home I rolled the windows down and let the fresh summer air in I ate my peanut butter cups

and sang along to the music and thought about my list of projects and where to start. I'd fix that slanting shelf, then move into the kitchen to tighten the faucet and glue the chair leg. I'd oil the hinges on my gate and lay out my new tools in the workshop. I could take the dogs to search through the trails at the park for a good-sized piece of wood,

a thick branch lately fallen from a tree that I could put on my lathe to turn and turn and turn into something. That was the promise of making and fixing on hardware stores. From the waxy new leaves to the freshly sawn planks of wood and the nails to hold them all together. It was the best parts of discovery and purpose and usefulness. The hardware store.

The gate into the back garden was squeaking on its hinges. I'd noticed it today when I pushed through it with my dogs at my heels on our way to the vegetable patch. I stopped for a moment, working the gate back and forth on the hinges to see if a little bit of movement would clear the stickiness out. After all, that usually works for me. The gate was a lovely, smooth piece of walnut. I'd planed it myself, and hung it with wrought iron fittings that latched smoothly into place. The squeak persisted. It would need a bit of oil,

and today seemed a good day to tend to it. I had a little list of projects, and I added the gate to it. There was the slow drip from the kitchen faucet, the slightly crooked shelf in the closet that just needed a shim to even it out, and the split in the leg of one of the kitchen chairs that could be set right with a bit of wood glue. I scratched out a list of needful things with paper and pencil and grabbed my car keys from the counter. I was headed to the hardware store. Hardware stores are long places, with shelves reaching back for miles,

and that unmistakable smell that somehow manages to be on the clean side of dusty. All hardware stores have it. They are almost always dark and cool, even on the hottest days of the year. And for those who like to build and mend and take things apart just to put them back together. They are as much a place to meet and discuss as they are to shop and to buy. In fact, there was a small group of people standing in a loose circle at the front door, sipping coffee from paper cups

and talking about which tools were the best for a particular job. I smiled as I walked past them, eavesdropping on their strong opinions. It reminded me of folks who live in big cities, who like to debate on the best way to get from one side of town to another. Which subway or bus or secret one-way street to turn down? We, each of us, likes to be the master of some particular thing or other. It keeps us learning. I took my list from my pocket and ran my finger down the items. I needed oil for the gate, glue and shims and a few odds and ends.

I wandered up and down the aisles. I liked looking at the boxes and boxes of screws and bolts and fittings, lined up neatly, each one made precisely to be just the same as its fellows, and just one size up or down from its neighbors on either side. I pass some time picking through some woodworking tools, working out for myself how they were used, and deciding if I should add them to my collection. In the back of the store were tall stacks of freshly cut wood that had its own lovely warm smell.

There were shavings and sawdust on the floor, and it made me eager to make something in my workshop at home. I pushed through the swinging doors that led out to the garden center. The air was suddenly warm and a little thick, smelling sweetly of flowers and soil and mulch. There were long rows to stroll through. These were made of stacks of cinder blocks and plywood, every inch covered in flats of perennials and annuals and pots of herbs. There was a huge split-leaf philodendron who had just unfurled a brand-new waxy pale green leaf into the world. I stopped to touch the new leaf, to marvel at the veins and the softness. When it comes down to it, actually hugging a tree is usually a scratchy, unpleasant experience.

But reaching out to touch a leaf or petal, or to lay an open hand on bark or fruit, it feels very much like saying hello. There were tall fiddle figs, and spiky arborvitaes, and a sea of purple phlox. Have you ever noticed how lovely plant names are? Rhododendron and Forsythia?

Wisteria and Creeping Clematis? Primrose and Aster and Coleus and Common purslane. My arms were filling up, and soon I turned back into the shop and headed to the counter with everything I needed and a few things that I didn't, but was getting anyway. The man behind the register had owned this store as far back as I could remember And he'd often helped me work out a plan for whatever project I had in mind He laid everything from my basket out onto the counter

and had a good look at it all before he began to ring it up. You've got something loose, something squeaky, and something crooked. Am I right? We always played this game. Don't we all, I said with a laugh. Right enough, he agreed.

As he packed my purchases into deep paper sacks, I squatted down to look at the shelves of candy bars and the packets of gum and mints. Hardware stores always have lots and lots of candy to fortify you after all your hard work with something sweet. I added a pack of peanut butter cups to the counter and paid for it all and carried my sacks out to the car. On the drive home,

I rolled the windows down and let the fresh summer air in. I ate my peanut butter cups and sang along to the music and thought about my list of projects and where to start. I'd fix that slanting shelf, then move into the kitchen to tighten the faucet and glue the chair leg. I'd oil the hinges on my gate and lay out my new tools in the workshop. I could take the dogs to search through the trails at the park for a good-sized piece of wood,

a thick branch lately fallen from a tree, that I could put on my lathe to turn and turn and turn into something. That was the promise of making and fixing and hardware stores. From the waxy new leaves to the freshly sawn planks of wood and the nails to hold them together. It was the best parts of discovery and purpose and usefulness. Sweet dreams.