A vast, motionless blanket of slate-grey fog filled the gorge at dawn, spilling over the lower terraces like quiet mountain water and muffling every sound across the basin. The air was frigid, wet, and tasted faintly of crushed hemlock needles and cold slate. High above the valley floor, the granite crags caught the first pale lavender light of the sun, though down in the courtyard, the shadows remained deep and heavy.
Our attention had shifted to the western masonry wall of the main dwelling, where we were installing a exterior soot trap for the stone chimney stack. During the damp autumn weeks, the heavy mountain air often forced smoke back down the flues unless a secondary draft chamber was cut into the lower stonework. The job required delicate, deliberate chiseling through three inch
