For Jamie

A dear friend from afar (one of those special students from the time when FLEX was filled with true dancers . . . and true joy, has requested a few more pictures of our house in progress. It is hard to get a good picture inside when you have no electricity – but here are a few. Actually, this week the stone work has been done which is really exciting – makes me feel like we are creating something permanant – castle-like. Anyway, a few images to springboard one’s imagination.

This is the house from the forest (on a hill) out front. The midgets in front include my dad, brother, sister and nephew. Don’t let the classless troublemakers prejudice you against the architecture . . .At this point in time, the entire front and the base of the house is stoned with the round stone you see to the left. Slate covers the walkway. It is to die for. The arched doorway has key-stones and a rounded stone archway. Ah, nevermind. I’ll put a picture here one day soon rather than bother to describe it.


This is the outdoor fireplace on the huge porch. It also is awaiting a stone facade. The cubbies are for storing wood (very good thinking, Mark). You can see the logs overhead. They are 23 feet each and Mark did them himself. He also did this mantle, but the picture doesn’t do it justice. Like everything you see here today, it is all a work in progress. Building a house is like choreographing a dance. Takes clean-up to see what you’ve really done. 

This is the entryway. It leads from the front door to the main room. I added it to show off Mark’s logs. This will all be stoned and slated too, opening into a room with 25 foot ceilings. That fireplace has stone all the way to the top and will support another mantle made by yours truly. The doorway to the left is heaven. . . that is, my writing room. The logs in front are actually supports that will be attached to the stairway leading up to mark’s loft office (with the porch over the main entrance that you can see from the front). those stairs are made of half logs – very earthy and substantial. The stairway leads to the downstairs too, where we lock the children up tight. (evil grin)
A wonderful dining room is to the right, but I don’t have any pictures of that yet. Tough – you have to wait.

This is the area where our kitchen table will be. The kitchen sort of curves around this wall with a stoned sink and some see-through cabintry – the area is open so I can talk to others when cooking. The best part of this area is the view, but you can’t see it in a picture. Outside of these windows is the creek and beyond that, the pasture where our horses roam. It’s quite soothing.

That is it for now. I have taken more pictures, but I don’t know how to download them yet.
Anyway… enjoy, Jamie. Thank your lucky stars you are not still on scholarship. Imagine putting Christmas lights up on this roof? Eeek. But I must say, I miss having our favorite slave to keep me company while painting and/or picking up the worksite. Damn that growing up thing you all do…

Oh, and here is a picture from the back. It allows you to see how our bedroom opens onto a small private porch and the back porch too. Mark did all these logs that support the porch.  This is the view of the house that the ducks will have when we get around to making a pond where the springhead is. Actually, that is scheduled for a few weeks hence. The coyotes get this view too.