Progress & Rain

Progress. A word I love to say these days. A word I love to contemplate, roll around my mouth and bounce around my brain. It feels good. Progress. Yet, I find myself and my family still living in a trailer in our front yard. While the rain falls heavily on the earth and our trailer roof and rests in pools in our clay filled back yard. We need the rain, I welcome it for this reason. And I resent it for being so damn relentless.

But let's take a look at the progress, because it is much more interesting than me complaining about the much needed rain...

The insulation in, wall board being hung.


High window in the boy's room.


Loft in the boy's room.


Bathroom.


Living room looking towards the bedrooms and bath.


Master bedroom being taped and "mudded".


Boy's loft.


High window in the boy's room.


Living room, south wall. With the cement floor stain, it will be slightly less dark than this, they have to remove the residue tomorrow.


Kitchen.


Living room taken from the dining room.


Detail of floor in the process of drying.

Adventures in Downsizing

Many of you have asked for pictures of the house project. Here they are. We're still in the trailer, will be for another 6 to 8 weeks. But there is light at the end of our tunnel. We feel so ahead of our time, downsizing just on time to be the new Poster Family for Green Living. That's what our contractor told us we could be. Yes, we've got a much smaller carbon footprint than we had in Boston. Even though our family has grown to 5, if you include Kitty. And we're getting a special delivery of 6 more little lives in just a week and a half. Chicks.

So, here's the house we bought one and a half years ago. A face only a mother could love. We saw potential. Our friends said we must have vision...which is a nice of saying "what the hell were you thinking?".

Chris spent many a weekend shoveling lava rock and pulling out junipers. Those are the weekends we met and got to know our neighbors. They were as happy as we were to see the rocks and evergreens go.

Here's a shot of the back of the house(s). On the left the studio/garage, center house, right cottage/office. It is the buildings on the left and right that make living in a 925sf house seem do-able. Chris has an office, I have a studio. You've seen pictures already of the kid's tree house.

In the foreground is the livingroom (former dining room). Through the 2x4s is the new kitchen (former kitchen and laundry room).

In this image you are looking at a bathroom, two bedrooms and a loft! We squeezed it all in.

Bare faced wee house.

Some new detail. She's a happy alligator, we haven't named her yet. She's part of the roof support on the front porch roof.

Looking a little less scary than a few weeks before - but still, the end doesn't seem near.

Taken standing against the south wall of the living room (former dining), looking at bath (right), master bedroom, front hall closet, laundry closet.

More exterior progress. You can see a bit of the trailer we're living in on the left. The Prowler. Nice.

Check those floors out. Radiant Heat, Baby! You're looking at the front door and front window from the new dining room (former living room).


Kitchen on left, I'm standing in the dining room, worker-dude (I think it's Luke) in the living room.

The cement goes onto the radiant tubes. Yes, we're keeping the floors cement. We'll put a rust colored stain on them and give them a slightly glossy finish and it will be like an urban loft. Only in Santa Cruz.

Back of the house. A deck will go off the back, set of french doors on left are from the dining room. The set of french doors on the right are from the master bedroom and will also have a deck and you will walk down into the meditation garden.

Rain chain on the front right corner of the house, right under our happy (yet unnamed) alligator. The rest of the rain spouts will have rain catchment barrels attached. We don't get enough rain to waste.

Front of house, blue door, green windows, green roof, the stucco will be orange! Color me happy.


Master bedroom, half barrel ceiling.

The boys upper window. They have a sleeping loft in their room. It will mean they can have a playroom downstairs, or someday have separate spaces if they need them.

The wall-board is already up, though no pictures yet. Next week they tape and give it the "old world finish". And, if the sun shines we will surely get mud on the outside. So many things left, but so much has been done. Can't wait to move in!

A Work in Progress

Hey, look! It's a barnacle ring.

Some of you have asked what kind of class I'm taking. The answer is small scale casting for jewelry. Our first assignment was to carve a ring from wax and cast it. I can't say I enjoyed the carving process, but the finishing of the ring (once I got those darn sprues off) was enjoyable. And, while the stone isn't set yet I am pleased with it so far. I enjoy being in a classroom setting with a bunch of other folks who go ga ga over tools and fire. Is it an illness or a gift - depends upon the day, I guess. When this is finished I will begin working on my next project which is to design a personal talisman. I have chosen the image of HOUSE. It may make some of you snicker just a little bit. It's a good talisman for me. I'm always shopping for houses, thinking about de-constructing them or re-constructing them. I remember drawing floor plans when I was little. As well as elevations of my dream house(s). I guess it's still in me, houses. They represent so much; hope, comfort, family, security, love. The piece I'm planning uses houses to represent each member of my immediate family. They will all be held together by a chain. I'm still working on the details, but I'm looking forward to starting it.

Coleman and Max have both started carving their own rings. I'm looking forward to casting those and photographing them to put up here some day soon...


I would love to hear from all of you about what you think your personal talisman may be. Coleman's was a dragon wrapped around a samurai sword (Max said he'd like that too), Chris said his is the knuckle of a stalk of bamboo, Rose said a rolling pin (though I would have chosen an apple pie for her). I think my dad's would be a deck of cards. Yours?

Chris is off to Malaysia!

Chris left for Malaysia Thursday night/Friday morning, he's en route right now. We hope he gets this project, as it is $$. However, a fifteen hour time difference sure will make it hard to connect via phone. (Good thing we've got email). It takes about 22 hours of travel to get from SFO to Kuala Lumpor. Which doesn't include the travel up to SFO from Santa Cruz. Hopefully with a full course of sleep aids he will arrive well rested and ready to go! It should be rather hot there. I'm hoping for pictures of the city and surrounds soon so I can post them here.

While Chris is away we have things planned. I should say things are happening, we are going to do them. Friday October 2nd is Max's very first field trip. We are going to Live Earth Farm in Watsonville. It's an organic farm. While there we'll milk goats, pick apples and maybe pumpkins. Coleman's school has a Back to School BBQ Friday night. This weekend is open studios. I have four hours on Saturday to wander SC artists studios and view their work (soooo looking forward to that). Then Saturday evening we're heading over the hill for Coleman's and Max's favorite friend's 9th birthday. Sunday we're just going to chill in the hood, though if it's nice we'll wander to a good beach somewhere. Then it's back to the grind for the week and daddy gets home late night Saturday. So much to pack into a weekend, then regular life on the weekdays. . .

The last Sunday of September the family went to Seabright beach with Kitty. Here are some shots of the boys from that day:





Powerful ocean.

Hello Again

Been a while, eh? I have been dying to get back to writing this blog, catch up with you guys. We spent the summer in Massachusetts. School began for Coleman on August 26th and for Max and I on August 31 (Nana's b-day!). Here are some shots of our summer:

A picture taken at Monterey Bay Aquarium by Coleman.

Self portrait by Coleman.


Max at home in Soquel.

Coleman at home in Soquel.

Nana, Max, Kitty and Coleman at Rocky Woods in Medfield Massachusetts! We went for a hike/bike. Found a pond, mucked about in it and got bitten by many mosquitoes.

Brotherly love: I love it.

We visited The House of Seven Gables in Salem Massachusetts. It was the only thing about Salem Coleman liked; the rest was just too creepy.

We went with Tibor and Taylor to Concord and Lexington to check out some American History.

Walden Pond.

A hike near Nana's house.

Old Silver Beach near Auntie Mary, Uncle Walt and Ms Eva.

Max celebrated his 5th birthday August 7th down the cape. Tons of fun.


Nana and Papa came down for the special occasion.

We all sang to Max, including Max.

Coleman celebrated his 8th birthday here in California. No cake for Coleman, he's a pie guy. I baked two apple pies for the occasion with apples from our back yard! Since our house was already demo'd and we're living in a trailer in the front yard we decided to have Coleman's party off site. We went to a place called Jump Sky High. It's a trampoline place - tons of fun!

That's all for now. I've got things to do, I'm sure. Now where is my to do list?