Incoming...
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| 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.
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| Riding the cable cars |
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| Strolling Carmel by the Sea after lunch at Clint Eastwood's restaurant |
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Hiding IN the Redwoods |
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| 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.
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| The alley |
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| The bookstore |
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| Courtyard and chapel |
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| The deal |
Cool new art!
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.
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| In our mind's eye, these looked like they had potential to become nice mirror frames for our bathrooms |
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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. |
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News from the flight deck
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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?
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| 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.
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.
