Ice and Fire - January to May

Ah, my Darlinks....

We have apparently made it through another of our lean times, and I have lived to experience another finest of fine days.

Our experiment with embracing our babies and our survival together has been so rewarding to me. Like most men who had to support a family, I had no clue until I got into the enviable position of GrandFather, of the amazing and fundamental joy of observing young things grow. Dads are so self centered (at least I was- but partially as a result of what I was taught a Man should be.)


Tara and Madison and Tony
Roselyn and Evan and Greg
Wendy and Brady and Mark
Lucile and Eliza and Andrew

This has been a year of the Child for me. As an introduction, Lisa provided us with a wonderful "Peter Pan" play at the Folly, replete with uncountable children. Like electrons, most of the time they move too fast to count. Benny and I really were blessed to observe the machinations of something like a Child Production up close, and we both marveled at it as it went along. I guess that was the alien children capturing our minds and spirits, correct? We spoke of it many times, Benny and I, as the production proceeded through its eight week cycle.
The final production was a Masterpiece of Mirth and Magic! We were Transformed!

This is all about Children, correct? Benny and I are a little tired, and the introduction of Many Children into our world was a rebirth to both of us. Mirth agitates the Fool in all of us to the surface, and the Children are the fundamental of Mirth. We (and I dare speak for Benny) are accoutered with Mirth and have a little strength left, and we are at your service, new Families!

So now here's the deal- the main thing Carol and I attempted to do for all of you while you were growing was to give you safe territory in which to tread, with ample daily experience to allow your natural talent to emerge. Now we have FOUR FRESH BABIES ALL AT THE SAME TIME to stay ahead of. What a spectacular mission to take up!

I think we have worked out the arrangements perfectly thus far in a very organic manner. I do like to think in the long range, though. Lots to accomplish, just to stay in front of the Baby Boom.
My personal long range planning involves the bare practicalities like indoor space and fenced grass. Oh- and a big-ass set of tables for the great room! You ladies must already talk amongst yourselves about how to do this, right? Reassure me here....
hahaha! You each, lovely couples, have amazing beautiful babies, and we are blessed to see them in a safe environment.

One of the things on my agenda is to make gates here and there at strategic spots in the house and immediate exterior. Right now we're experimenting with where they're needed (the gates). I would like to work under the assumption that this house will always have 3 generations and pets. So, in the spirit of Christopher Alexander's "Pattern Language", here we go on another growth spurt!
I sort of envision gates in the spirit of the bannister- Iron and wood related by some fundamental. These are necessary functions to fill for a smoothly running household with children and pets. But then we are artists here! The four positions for the gates are the two leading to the office areas, and the two doors from kitchen to kitchen. I challenge the wood and iron guys in the vicinity to fill those spaces. You see, I fantasize this place to eventually be full of Craftsmanship in the architecture built by all of us.
You will have to forgive me in my jumping back and forth between the details and the big picture. I feel like they need to be linked in purpose, you see.

Here's a detail that brings me great Joy.... This past month I have watched the emergence of three tasks far removed and intimately linked to each other by fundamentals:

with Greg and Chris and Tara
The glue is gone! The Glue is gone!
Tara found nice mat black acrylic and Greg made beautifully shaped supports for bags and other complex textile objects. I worked a method and material approach to attaching ultrasuede to the acrylic, and these gorgeous mounts appeared! Chris joined us and is quite good at applying the ultrasuede (no mean task). Yay, Yay!! (copyright Madison 2007)

with Benny and Tara and Herb and George
Design and fabricate from a functional necessity, one more time! Benny has penetrated Tinyworld! Our fundamental design, our vetting process for new approaches, and our execution are all developing to a very high level of skill, I think. The current set of master hardware systems (about 18 masters) we've been developing this week are so functional and delicate and beautiful! The exercise of being faced with an object to support in a clumsy mechanical situation (pegboard) demanded all of our assembled skills and experience to achieve. What a great team! (he exclaims).

with Al and Benny and Ardeth and Carol and Robert and Storm
Al makes Grand Exit! Oh, I am blessed to have experienced so many common ventures with Al. This one was spectacular! Storm took the standing rock maple carcass down perfectly- right into the pond I had dug there a year ago to catch the tree -see? Storm could only drop it right where I had dug the hole- or hit the fence, or cave in my office. Aren't I smart? (I was told by my spirit guide to dig that hole. I found the roots to a big maple tree. I seriously considered carving a tor (tower) of sculpture, but in the end, I didn't fell like it was safe to trust the roots of a heavy dead tree not to rot. So...
The crown jumped out I think about 4 years ago and landed upside down in the yard- so big that it jammed some of it's limbs deep into the ground. So Hizzonor has been standing there asking for attention for quite some time. It is a miracle that the forces were assembled here to give Hizzoner a proper dispensation. It wouldn't have been well for him to have laid around for someone to stub a toe on his large body. Well, the heavy parts were 36" in diameter and covered with limb-bump-whorls. We had to cut him in 9 foot lengths to get each length down to a ton.
This accomplished, how the hell to get him out of the hole I so personally dug? Between a rock and a two-ton tree, I'd say.
It appeared to me that Robert took personal pleasure in moving those two giants down to the back, where Al's Wood Mizer so conveniently sat. Did it matter that the trunks exceeded the saw? It would have mattered to me. Not to Al. He just simply took a big ass chain saw and cut off the bumps so it would fit in his saw. He didn't eeven bleenk! Well, at least we're not base jumping. The wood did get onto the sawbed, and we were fractions of an inch from success at every moment.
Now it lies sticked in the Folly Field, in beams and planks, drying out. I hope that it will become tables and chairs for the great room.
You know, when one reads a story of a great room and a counsel table, it doesn't seem too far from my imaginings. Even my wildest imaginings are set in function- the purpose of the great room is counsel- we are accumulating a fairly large body of people all affected by our mutual decisions, and the natural way to engage with the circumstances provoked by this type of organism is for all involved to be able to face each other in mirth and dearth. I can think of no greater honor than to build such a place with my family and tribe.
In my opinion, Architecture (Feng Shui, if you must) is paramount in family and tribal functioning. Both closeness and distancing are important. This polarity can be achieved with walls and can also be achieved with polity. The Japanese people have achieved a natural magic way to create spaces which seem to cloak the residents in a hushed awareness. When I enter a space created in the traditional manner, something very special occurs in my consciousness which suggests a path of understanding to the way in which they have survived the closeness of a small, heavily populated island. I am not suggesting that the Japanese culture is without squalor in their slums- no culture that I know of is without it. But, there is a segment of the population who quest for a plentiful and peaceful existence; I am one of them.

This addition that we are building, and the landscaping beyond, is the one in which, the fates willing, our children will grow up. I originally intended to follow the "co-housing" model on our land- hoping to build a home for each of us. That may still be possible, but the addition of four children to our midst suggests that we have to build faster than an engagement with the Planning Commission allows for. Perhaps in building this addition, we will get to know more about the process, and eventually be able to decide ourselves what we may build. The county was fairly free when we arrived, but the influx of speculative builders has corrupted the zoning process by forcing the organization which governs it to grow too fast. By growing organically here, we have allowed the corruption to outpace us. However, I really believe in organic growing as a viable concept in any undertaking, particularly in an Architecture which will shelter and grow a Family.

Forgive me for being so complex and disorganized. It is a monumental task for me to convey to you all that I feel the need to convey, and I operate in no way linear.

My mind-map for the architecture of the farm somewhat resembles what is presented in "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander. It is not his specific scenarios that are important about his work. He's, in my opinion, a little dogmatic about how things are arranged- which is what puts some people off when they read his works. However, the organism (organization/mechanism) which he has created for seeking an Intelligent Architecture is exquisite! He has lifted himself above the Meme of contemporary architecture to weave a Meme of entirely other points of consideration.
An example is toggling an electronic map from a road map to an aerial photograph- Alexander toggles from looking at the architecture to living in it. Each of these maps is a Meme: a way of seeing the same territory through the lens of a different set of considerations.

I see our property through a different lens than a normal person would think. It is not only a flat map of a piece of earth. That level of perception only defines where the earth meets the air. To perceive a space in this way is like taking a micron thin slice of a living organism and calling that wafer the organism.
When I think of our property (as I must, because our endeavors are currently restricted to this 10.1 acres), I remember the change in the air when Carol and I were first driving out here, as we came up over the first big hill and the terrain of the area laid out before us. I remember digging all those French Intensive beds in the garden and seeing the earth and its creatures exposed, and being grateful that Ward Larue had kept this very earth clean and free of pesticides for 20 years preceding us. I am aware of the sacred spirit always present at the Folly. I remember the closeness and respect and love shared here. We have made, or perhaps only occupied, a True space; a bubble, where we can grow.
This Architecture that we are creating now will, I think, be called on to serve a multiplicity of purposes in the coming years. The addition has a public space and a private space. For now, the private space is to be the home of the Mendez Family. Hopefully, though, as they grow, we will surmount the legal blockades presented us and build a house for them, and for all of our families.
The public space can have many functions, particularly in that, as planned, it connects with the outdoors so well. I am hoping that it will provide a room in which creative functions of the business and of the family can overlap.
I plan to fabricate from Hizzonor the tree two large (40" x 108") trestle tables which can be pushed against the wall or brought to center for celebrations or working. If the wood dries well, I also plan to fabricate chairs based on the wooden armchair presently in the kitchen. I have studied it and patterned it, and it seems not too difficult a task to recreate as many as the wood will provide. That's almost as good as a standing sculpture, right? Probably better.
In the south end, I would like to have one interior tree, perhaps a cutting from our fig tree. I think it might be happy inside. I would like to have as many breathing plants as we can at that end of the building.
Carol and I are pretty excited about the prospect of a stained cement floor- the one in Kelly's studio is just delicious. In my heart-of-hearts, I prefer a clay floor, but I don't think the mechanics of a clay floor and a radiant heating system mesh well. However, a stained and waxed cement floor is very close.
I think that there might be some separation between the first two bays from the north and the south bay. The sun at perihelion on the winter solstice penetrates just about 13 feet into the south windows, and in my opinion, a large heat sink just inside this perimeter would be desireable. I purchased a bunch of black slate and tile for this purpose, but we still need more. I think that something like a knee-wall across the space at that point would work well to bring the collected heat up from the floor and hold it for awhile.
I really do believe that we need to put more focus on becoming green, particularly with this new space. I have always been planning for solar collectors and radiant heating. Recently I have begun noodling about using the existing cistern as a mud sink heat collector. I had originally thought to refinish it and use it as a water cistern again, but I feel confident that we can find other ways to collect rainwater. A mud sink heat collector is basically an insulated mud pit with a radiator system submerged in it. I read an article in Mother Earth News once about the technique, and it's a really simple way to retain collected heat (or cool in the summer). Frank Lloyd Wright had some really good passive heating and cooling designs in his homes. The Romans had similar concepts for cooling and heating their spaces using earth, air, fire, and water in context. I really believe that we should plan these things into our house. For instance, we always have a fire going in the winter, but, because our fireplace is 100 years old, we are only gaining a small portion of the heat provided. We added an airtight stove to the situation, but that only gains us some percentage. I am really interested in using some of that energy in context with radiant heating.
The old part of the house is leaky regarding energy, but I'm really not wanting to live in an airtight house. I believe that a home has to breathe, which necessitates a lot of heat loss. Where we might consider gaining heat retention is in the insulation. One really great heat loss in a house is radiating heat from uninsulated or poorly insulated walls and roofs. The insulation in our walls is blown-in, probably haphazardly, and has certainly settled over the years, so you can surmise that the rising heat meets the wall at ceiling height and is immediately radiated out through the walls. The office in particular seems to have no insulation at all.
I know that all this seems insurmountable, but look what we have accomplished over the years! Carry on!