Maine-lining

Jenna and I spent a week in New England, mostly Maine. We will return. What a place. A giant flea market. Visiting the Grain surfboards factory. Eating so much good food I wanted a hot dog. Playing skeeball. watching WAY too much cable. Being posers. Admiring lighthouses. Covering Portland and Portsmouth and points in between. Driving the slow coastal road the whole way. Reading as many historic plaques as I could. Looking at tons of Art, inculding the finest seascapes to date! Seeing a thriller of a movie. Dotting the coast with such a beautiful and fun lady as Jenna....a much needed respite from a life we love in Philly. We rounded out the week in Surprise, NY, at an 1830's Greek Revival farmhouse owned by my dear brothers-in-laws Michael and Douglas. I got to ride their new kick ass lawn mower, run around with Peggy the Italian greyhound, try my hand at archery, read the NY times, enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with a well-proportioned, sparesely furnished, well-sited vintage piece of vernacular architecture on 4 acres in upstate NY....and stay up way too late talking about Jesus, capitalism, and obamacain (so taboo, so fun). Its good to be home.



can i get a hand?


Go with the Grain



clown-asses


yup, Jenna is badass


never seems to get old


Surprise! (and those are just the barns and the dog)


so happy together

There is something so grand about finding a good barber and a good mechanic in the same day. Those are two areas in a person's life that are all about trust. Thanks Nick Tutti. Thanks Hugh Snyderman.

Meet my new friend

Please meet my new friend, a 1984 Mazda B2000 Sundowner. 2WD. Automatic transmission. 56,412 miles. All soul, no frills. I'm back, baby.

ARE 4.0, fire

Its on.
After 7 years of hardcore procrastination and excuses, I am in the midst of taking my Architecture Registration Exams. I took Programming, Planning and Practice 2 weeks ago, after weeks of studying and example testing. Im not sure if I passed. The Prometric organization must be a suburb of hell, as the mental tricks they play on you during those exams are ruthless. It was the same with the LEED AP exam. Im sure I did fine, but you just leave there with such a sense of confusion.
Next is Site Planning and Design.
Its actually been good to schedule these exams, which my firm is generously paying for. It really makes me study for them, which is something I just dont do voluntarily.

Kicking and screaming, I will be a registered architect.

Whether I simply burn my architecural seal in a ritualistic fire once I receive it, or use it to stamp drawings and move to the next level of being an architect........ remains to be seen.

coordinating-dreaming-drawing

It is Saturday.

This morning I had the privilege of facilitating a cell coordinating meeting, in which all of the cell leaders in my crew get to meet up once a month, and we hash out how things are, how things might be, break some bread, encourage and admonish each other, with Jesus at and as our center. I have such a good group of people who want to grow, lead, partner, and let Jesus make something of this beautiful decay we are.

Then I met up with my good friend Joel, who I love talking with. We want to start a mission team under Circle Venture, which is the "service arm" of Circle of Hope. Its going to be about what the christians have to say about resource reuse and reduction......not hoarding what we have and know, harvesting rainwater, making local real food available to everyone, growing food on rooftops, teaching carpentry, .....man we've got to narrow this list down! Our next step is to do just that and make some partners and get a proposal together.

Then I set to work on finishing up some drawings for my bathroom renovation. I was interrupted by an amazing dinner that Jenna, my wife, cooked for me and Leann: Roasted chicken, buttered squash, and corn on the cob. whoa. so this is a sketch of the new layout:




We're coating the walls with some old wood we tore up from upstairs, and the floor will be this sweet sheet linoleum I'm pretty siked on right now. The toilet will be a dual-flush model, and the inside of the shower will be sheathed in white marble slabs I rooked from Circle Thrift's basement years ago. One free sink, one bought one. The cast iron tub was a craigslist find. Ive been inspired by my friend John to get as much as I can for free or cheap off craigslist. his whole house is that way.....and its pretty sick. well, back to work for me.

I have some things to say

I have the gift of gab. I have always preferred processing life externally, with others. Now I'm going to try my hand at the incremental process of sharing ideas and thoughts and images day by day to whomever wants to read, look, listen, and contribute. I wonder where this might go.