Geratric Engineering
The Suncatcher is the brainchild of Thjis further developed by the Geriatric Engineering Society (my father, Walter Ayers, was a member). The idea was to recycle old water heaters by cutting a hole in the tank insulation, paint the tank with "black chrome"-type highly absorptive non-radiative paint, and replace the portion of the removed housing with a clear plastic window. Light-gauge stainless steel reflectors could be mounted flanking the aperture. The Society built a prototype, and hired me to do some 3D computer drawings.
Geratric Engineering
The Suncatcher is the brainchild of Thjis further developed by the Geriatric Engineering Society (my father, Walter Ayers, was a member). The idea was to recycle old water heaters by cutting a hole in the tank insulation, paint the tank with "black chrome"-type highly absorptive non-radiative paint, and replace the portion of the removed housing with a clear plastic window. Light-gauge stainless steel reflectors could be mounted flanking the aperture. The Society built a prototype, and hired me to do some 3D computer drawings.
A corvid, raven or crow visits my office
Had a wonderful visit from a black corvid, the totem creatures of my dad. Crows, ravens, bluejays were the targets of his well-aimed "love".
The very out-of-context wildlife sighting, possibly of a raven, or maybe a crow, occurred at my office in a large manufacturing facility of Philips Lighting. My assistant, Mason, was wondering from another room what all the rucus was. The bird was on my window sill for a few minutes, pecking and clawing at the window, tearing with its beak at the rubber seal. I took pictures with my phone, (on the website), mostly to prove to myself the encounter was really happening.
Right after Opa's death about 5 months ago, I sat with him for a few hours, continuing one of our philosophical conversations we often had, but obviously in more of a monologue. I said to his still form lying in an extended fetal position on the hospice bed, that as an agnostic, I wasn't sure about his atheistic "broken television" theory of the extinction of consciousness, that there was no proof of the absence of another dimension, or soul etc.
At one point, almost facetiously, I looked up at the empty ceiling where I imagined he might be observing his own death scene from,(according to various traditions), and said, "if you like, just send me a sign from a crow, or any corvid will do. That will settle our argument"
Still no scientific proof obviously, but it's nice to feel my dad and I are continuing our conversation somehow.
Tennis with Thijs
Thijs love tennis and played fearcefully competitive, even so every game was "just for fun".
When Ben and I came to Los Altos we often played doubles with him and Angie at Foothill college or the little park near Measurex, because sometimes we played in his launch break. Thijs sometimes made sure we had "good rackets", he just recently bought at Sears! Usually the were half the size string space, tan what he played with a grp like a baseball bat ha-ha.
Thijs made radical, non white Tennis attire socially acceptable, before it was copied by others in grand slam tournaments!
Sailing with 3 girls
My friends Andrea and Regina came to visit us in Los Altos one summer. Thijs took us sailing and camping to To alis Bay.
He generally hated shopping, but always said he had fun with teh 3 of us buying shoes - which was critical before our sailing trip.
When we arrived and lowered the boot into the water, Thijs forgot to put in the rudder and we almost took of full speed - into the dock.
I can hear him now...shit quickly girls put in the rudder and turn it hard to your right...
We had a marvelous weekend and although racoons (and who knows what else) ransacked our camp site at night with frightening sounds, not familiar to eurpean city slickers), we woke up well rested and "the three of us sat up at the same time" which Thijs always found very entertaining and quite amazing.
It feels like it was yesterday. Much love from the 3 of us!!
Riga
This in the historical museum in Riga. One time Thijs headed to the main bus station in Riga and we boarded a random bus. I asked him what he was doing and he said the buses always come back to the the main bus station. It was the best way to see the real life of a city. We spent an hour going in a random direction to the outskirts of the city. Sure enough, the bus turned around and headed back to the main bus station. Very clever!
Amsterdam
Thijs loved Amsterdam, reading dutch, the herring, the canals.... We had many adventures together.
Berlin
Riga
an anomaly
Wise/foolhardy, logical/irrational, open minded/stubborn, humble/cavalier, frugal/extravagant, industrious/lazy, honest/honest ...traditionalist/iconoclast, gentleman/vulgarian, libertine/puritan, family man/rover, philanthropist/miser ...friend.
Mat distilled from paradox an un-conflicted, artless persona that could only be engaged in one of two ways -reject utterly or embrace en masse.
We're an amalgamation of fingerprints -the gleaned aspect of everyone we've known re-imagined and reordered to fit behind our face. What was Mat's most valuable contribution to the continuum? What exotic tools now hang in our shop? For me his legacy is a viable and proven formula for joy -the same that served him throughout his life and drew a host of friends and family to his side. With a glad heart and tenacious intellect, Mat set about extracting such joy as might be had from his remarkable life, and loved his people with a like passion.
A charmed life? If so, he was his own talisman. A sense of humor/irony and an accelerated capacity for cheer honed out a space one was obliged to inhabit in his presence. He furnished it to his liking. It was a good place. He did not achieve this by way of ignorance or denial ...he simply refused to recognize the relevance of anything contrasting with the motif. It was a beautiful place.
The endgame played out quickly. (dying badly would have clashed with the motif) I was in Europe when Chris alerted me that he had only days left. I'd been imagining traveling with him there ...the vestiges of old world sensibility he'd tout over the modern -the art and architecture he'd relish -the beautiful woman he'd exalt, the cozy pubs where we'd pull one too many pints ...
I'm told his last words were "maybe it's an anomaly". He was the anomaly -a magnificent and singular anomaly and he was my friend.
Goodbye Mat ...we had a good run, no?
P.S. Hope you're wrong about the afterlife ...if so you know I'll never let you live it down!
Thjis' Shop
Chris (and family)-
Your old man was an amazingly generous guy. I always felt like he treated me as an equal (or near-equal), something that's hard for most adults to believably pull off. I feel the most iconic image of him is the one where he's standing in his old shop with a beer- I'll always remember him that way. I always felt honored to be able to maintain the shop for him, and felt like he was truly interested in my inventions. The thing that most impressed me about Thjis (and his family) was how he reveled in frugality. This was probably common for a lot of folks who lived through the war, including my folks- it was great that our entire families could hang out and share things together, even if the things we shared were mostly from different generations. Thjis kept things very “real”, especially with all his “third-world” projects. I hope to some day be able to emulate him.
And thanks Thjis, for being my opa, too, during my “terrible teens”-
Guy Ayers (for Rev Ayers & family)