December, 2016

Lucky us!

We are here,

and they came.

We had great company this past month. First, we had daughter Kami who drove up from Los Angeles where she had been working on a show for the past little while. She was in a hurry to return home to New Orleans where she was scheduled to start work on a new movie. Parents love having their kids come, even if it is only a drive by.

Next we had family who drove up from Southern California come for a spell. Joe and Monique last visited us in August at the island when they were driving to see folks in Eastern Canada. They are a blast to have around as they have traveled extensively and always regale us with stories of their adventures.

We also had our neighborhood get together. When we started our 'Pee-wee's big adventure' 12 years ago, we had a friend tell us flat out that we would tire of it in 6 months and would be back to 'settle down'. Some friends and neighbors thought we would never return. Having a full time renter here for 8 years while we split our time between France and the island sure seemed to confirm that in many peoples minds. 

But since we started to reintroduce being here for 4 months out of the year 4 years ago, we have made a point to invite our neighbors over each time we return to catch up on their adventures over the last 8 months. We had about a dozen people show up for nibbles and great visit, fuelled by lots of adult beverages...

The French connection 

Not all our experiences last month turned out to be wine and roses. We are about a month away from pulling the plug, heading up the coast to visit some kids and grand kids, then continue on to "La belle France". That said, Janice decided we should get right with the authorities and get the 'officially' required long term visas.

 As with many countries, you can visit with no fuss for up to 90 days with a plane ticket and a passport, but any longer requires a visa. No matter that we have a home, car, bank account and have been going there yearly for the past 12 years without incident, we are not residents, we are tourists with a house. Since we are there for 4 months, a visa is required. Officially...

This is no small detail. With the incidents that have occurred in France and throughout Europe in the past year or so, most countries are getting a lot more persnickety about this and it has the potential of causing problems we would rather avoid.

The process is akin to getting all the teeth in your mouth pulled. The requirements are listed on the consulate's web site, but there is no number to call to speak to anyone and they do not reply to emails. You get all the documents they require (30 pages each) then make an appointment online to drive to Los Angeles for a personal interview with all you financial records (to prove you will not become a financial burden), a copy of your property deed (to prove you have a place to stay), marriage certificates, utility bills and on and on and on.

Once at the consulate, you cool your heals outside the door on the sidewalk until they buzz you in. This admits you to an 8 person waiting room to...well...wait again. Finally, you get to speak to someone through 1 1/2" bullet proof glass. These are bureaucrat's bureaucrats. If your documents are not exactly the way the requirements stipulate, you are a no go.

One of the requirements was to have a letter from our health insurance stipulating that the coverage extended to France and would cover a minimum of $50,000. of medical care. The letter we produced stipulated that the coverage was UNLIMITED and was good WORLDWIDE. 

The document was denied as it did not stipulate the words "France" and "$50,000." as per the requirement.  Calling them friendly is like calling Anthony Weiner a photographer.

·    

Life in Janice's chain gang

OK, time to get back on that horse. After milking the "Honey, I am busy doing maintenance around the house" thing for as long as I could, the boss told me that party time was over and I had to do something productive before it became too obvious that I really am a lazy slug.

Last year, we built the deck in front of the house in what we described as phase one. Well, life  got in the way so I was not able to really get to phase two this year, that is to build the lower deck that mirror imaged the existing one.

This was our water treatment area prior to building the deck

This was the deck we built last year. On the right side of the photo is the area that will have the lower deck.

This past month, I did move in the right direction by completing the stacked stone wall below the existing deck, enclosing our water treatment system, pumps and storage tank. Below is the wall underneath the existing deck that we will see from the lower deck when I build it next year. Building a stone wall is easier than building say...an airplane, but it is as hard as building a...hmm...come to think about it, what would be hard to build?

Anyway, this was the area below the existing deck seen in the previous photo. The circular framing supporting the cantilevered portion of the deck is in place, making the next step a breeze. This photo is taken from where the new deck will be built next year. Cutting to the chase, this is how I built the stacked stone wall in 5 easy steps.

1. Cover the frame in 15 pound waterproofing felt paper

2. Cover the felt paper with a layer of plywood. Have a sip of tea then...

3. Cover the plywood with a layer of cement board

4. Cover the cement board with 3 coats of 'Red Guard' waterproofing membrane. (liquid gold would have been cheaper!)

5) Slap a bit of stone on it and TA DA! An honest morning's work for you, but being bone lazy I took several days to get'er done. Any faster and you-know-who's expectations rise to the moon as to what can be asked of me around here.

Obviously, you saw the door opening in the previous photos. Making it disappear was easy. I just used a basic principle of magic: hide it in plain sight!

Oh! I almost forgot. I also installed a waterfall as seen above. I will turn it on when we return next October and it will look like what you see below.

November, 2016

Incoming...

Hanging out in Santa Barbara

Ten days after our arrival, we had French friends and neighbors Maurice and his wife Brigitte arrive for a 12 day visit. We wined and dined them, showed them all the local sights, went wine tasting at a few of our endless wineries, spent 3 days painting the town red in the City, (referred to as San Francisco by folks from out of state or worse..."Frisco" or "San Fran" by out and out clueless foreigners), visited some giant Sequoia redwoods and gave them the best laid back California experience we knew how.

 Visiting the Chumash Indian caves in the Santa Barbara hills

They have been wonderful neighbors in France and generous to a fault, so it was time for serious payback. This was not their first rodeo as they have traveled to Asia, Russia and the hinterlands of Canada and they do live in a sophisticated part of France but still, the lifestyle difference was a bit like landing on Mars. They are not English speakers so having a cook, translator, chauffeur and local guides worked out rather well for them and was a big plus.

Riding the cable cars

They really got off on our place, which is by far not everyone’s idea of their favorite architectural style, but they spent a lot of time checking out the eclectic art collection we seemed to have acquired over the years.

Strolling Carmel by the Sea after lunch at Clint Eastwood's restaurant

 

Hiding IN the Redwoods

Returning to the scene of the crime

While visiting the nearby town of Morro Bay with our friends, we took a trip down memory lane to visit the little chapel where Janice and I got married 32 years ago. It is still there and it is as unique as the day we showed up. It is accessed either through a 3 foot wide alleyway crammed between two buildings to a lovely lush rear courtyard...or... literally through an old overstuffed bookstore out the back door to the same courtyard. There the mood changes in a quaint small chapel that can accommodate 40 some odd people at the max. We've come a long way, baby.

The alley

The bookstore

Courtyard and chapel

The deal

Cool new art!

This month, we had the good fortune to score an original Jon Allen, handcrafted, gold abstract, metal etched, 3 foot tall time piece called "Warm Embrace". The volume of the rooms in our dome require very large art or they would appear miniscule and out of proportion in the areas they are displayed in.

 

 Next, I built a Maple 'live edge' frame for our bathroom mirrors. We saw a picture of one online and I shamelessly stole the idea. I have never claimed to be clever enough to think this kind of stuff up on my own but I can promise you that if you leave a cool idea unattended within 50 feet of me, color it gone. I have no conscience at all when it comes to copying.

In our mind's eye, these looked like they had potential to become nice mirror frames for our bathrooms

Our bathroom mirrors had been rather generic and utilitarian and needed some serious love. So....I punched a few sets of frames out for them.

Saving the best for last, island friends Ian and Lyne and her parents stayed at our villa in France for a few days last month. While there, Ian whipped out his drone he had brought with him and photographed the area, capturing shots that could not be replicated in any other way.  One of them was of our villa, showing it in ways we have attempted in vain to describe in the past. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words so what you see below should be sufficient to finish this story. 

They sent the picture above, printed on a huge canvas Giclée which now hangs above our dining room table. If, like me, you are not familiar with the 'Giclée' process, it is a high falutin, gallery quality, acid free cotton canvas, printed with fade-resistant archival inks. Excusssssssssse me! Needless to say, it is the only one we own.

This photo was taken from the water and shows the two terraces. The street level (open shutters) has the dining, living room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. The lower terrace (garden level with closed shutters) where we will resume renovating upon our return in February,  has 2 bedrooms, a dining, living, kitchen and two bathrooms. Below the lower terrace in the picture is a 3rd bedroom that opens to its own terrace.

This  photo gives a different view of our home's (foreground) view. On a cloudless day, you can see the snow on the French Alps in the distance

(Click once on any picture to enlarge and see far more detail) This view shows our property line right down to the road, across which is the sea. The treed area on the bottom right of the picture is a community green zone adjacent to us that cannot be built on.

 News from the flight deck

This  photo gives a different view of our home's (foreground) view. On a cloudless day, you can see the snow on the French Alps in the distance

Well, my flying season is over, but 45 days in and I am going through DT's, as in major withdrawal. I have been online, looking for something to help me through this difficult period. This has led to my hankering for a real, even if miserably tiny, single passenger, inexpensive helicopter. Ok, so those last two words don't really go together. Nevertheless, 'it would be so eminently practical and necessary' I have argued over and over in my mind. Just then, Janice stepped into our office to use the printer and I quickly closed the browser.

"You're hiding something" she finally said.

"I am looking at porn" I said, thinking that it would be the lesser of the two evils.

"Porn would be fine. You're lusting after those stupid helicopters again. You know that tingly little feeling you get when you see helicopters?" she asked.

 "Yea", I said sheepishly.

"That's common sense leaving your body. So don't even think about it or I will kill you before it does" she said.

Janice always means what she says. She hasn't killed me yet and neither has a helicopter. But I ask myself: how can anyone live without one, as it is not something we want...it is something we need.

What's new?

Even the 12 foot skylight needs a little maintenance sometimes

Some have asked what new projects we are working on. Truth be known, I have been on a maintenance rampage since our friends left before settling into a real project. Anything that doesn't work, doesn't look quite right, needs tweaking, painting, fixing or with few exceptions past projects that were almost finished and planned to be completed 'some day'... have finally seen their day come. This has included having to do some new electrical work to add lighting for the new art pieces. 

Much of the lighting in the house - and certainly all of the art- has low voltage theatrical lighting with the bulbs selected for their correct color temperature to get the desired illumination effect. Again, because of the volume of the rooms in our dome, the lighting of an object often originates from as far as 20 feet away. Conventional lighting would make the interior look like stadium lighting. 

Years ago when we were building the house, I went to a number of local lighting 'specialists' to get their recommendations. It immediately became evident that they were clueless table lamp salesmen who would be no help whatsoever. So, I spent months self educating myself to learn that the conventional way to select lighting is to pick the pretty fixture you like most, then find a bulb that will fit in it. But in custom lighting it's the opposite. You pick the bulb that will give you the effect you want, then find a fixture you can live with that will fit it.

Ian's picture shown above for instance, is illuminated from 16 feet away from across the dining room. We don't want a light source that will project light on anyone sitting at the dining room table so it required picking a ENPS bulb (extremely narrow pin spot) with only a 10 degree spread, choked with a lens that would put a 3 foot beam of light with 60 foot candles of light right on the picture and nowhere else. Theatrical lighting allows us to pinpoint illuminate just the object we want to highlight, and little of the surrounding area. The overall lighting in the room is somewhat subdued, a little like you would find in an art gallery.

 The 3rd rail

I would be remiss if I pretended that the elephant in the room is simply not there. After 8 years in the political wilderness it was nice to come home.  It can be quite taxing at times to know that many, many of our family and dear friends see the political world so differently than we do. While we never apologize for our 'positions', I am sure not looking to stir the pot either. I have never backed down from a discussion, but I will avoid a fight at all costs. Your life matters. There now, that is as benign as I know how to be.

I love you, man.