good end to a mediocre day

saturated sunset
yellow moon 
orange blossoms on the air

ducks in a row

i love my engineers. i have some great guys that i work with on our buildings. but every time duct layouts and ductwork coordination (in existing buidlings...ech what a headache) come up, i have to say my blonde side...or let's say my imaginative side...comes out.

engineer asks: "do you want the ducts above the ceiling and below the bottom chord of the truss, or do you want everything above the structure?"
krystyna pictures: a family of ducks waddling around and quacking about above the ceiling tiles, peeking up through the smoke barrier into the attic space.

or: while coordinating cds, krystyna sees a conflict. there's a new duct running through existing concrete tees just fine, until bam! it hits the new beam holding up the old stair from which we removed the bearing wall.  oh no! feathers fly everywhere. wings and webbed feet scramble. krystyna saves the day by dropping the ceiling height to a tight, but still-legal 7'-8". whew! the ducks can squeak through.

this is all in my head. i've not shared my duck-dreams with my co-workers...wonder what goes on in their heads?

how do you keep yourself entertained during the day??

(apparently i am on a duck theme this week, i just realized...)

There she was...

I know, I seem to be stuck on mermaids lately. But yesterday I left work early (!) to head to a meeting (non-day-job-related!).

On the trek to the interstate I was pacing a truck. This was not unusual in itself, but I kept catching something in my peripheral vision when we’d pass by each other. As we slowed to a stop I leaned forward to look at the side of the trailer – Baitmaster. Ok. I like fishing but I’ll use whatever my bro-in-law brings along. He’s the one with the boat; I have no need to buy bait.

But just below the text there she was, perched on a hook with her green scales pulled modestly up around her bosoms.

Blonde hair and typical mermaid profile just like the one in my dreams, but ten times as big and not on ice.

I think she’s haunting me.

For Love of Books

I love reading. I do. And I think reading is one of the most important activities for kids as their minds develop. I think it’s just as important to keep adult mind in shape. And I think storytelling is one of the strongest threads of community and society. Reading is a vital activity.

But…I have to admit something. I have a problem, and it just keeps growing. I cannot finish a book. Well not literally. I’ve finished plenty. But here’s a snapshot of my currents (I’ve reached varying points in all these books – some I’ve barely started, some I’ve almost finished, some I’ve read the same first four chapters over and over and can’t get any further – but I want to):

The Perfect House | Witold Rybczynski

La Vita Nuova | Dante

The Children’s Book | AS Byatt

New Science | Vico

Have Space Suit Will Travel | Robert Heinlein

The Door Into Summer | Robert Heinlein

The Olive Farm |Carol Drinkwater

French Women Don’t Get Fat | Mireille Guiliano

Animal Vegetable Miracle | Barbara Kingsolver

The Riverside Anthology of Children’s Literature

The Book of the City of Ladies | Christine de Pizan

Momus | Alberti

The Sacred and the Profane | Mircea Eliade

A Canticle for Leibowitz | Walter Miller

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams

Hector and the Search for Happiness | Francoise Lelord

Beatrix Potter A Life in Nature | Linda Lear

The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys

The Omnivore’s Dilemma | Michael Pollan

The Odyssey | Homer

The Fable of the Bees | Bernard Mandeville

What are you reading these days?

Fill in the blanks...

Following the lead of The Little Things We Do...

1. What I love most about my home is: my balcony - full of plants that surround my hammock. (Squirrels are NOT invited...though they keep showing up...)

2. I'm excited because: my little bro is graduating from Law School and I get to go take pictures of him dressed up in his cap & gown...and visit good old Gainesville. How I miss it there sometimes.

3. My preferred method for blowing off steam when I'm frustrated is: playing loud equally frustrated hard rock music and/or running.

4. Currently I am craving: the salty air of the beach. I'll have to make a stop there tomorrow.

5. The thing I love most about my mom is: she is THE person I call when I have a question about anything and she always has an answer. And she takes care of us (family)...I am "all grown up" indeed, but she's still my Mom.

6. If I was going to write a book about my life, the title would be: Jane of All Trades? (Jill of All Trades??) I have far too many interests and things to pursue; I can't manage to finish a book, let alone master one of my pursuits!

7. If I were to eat one thing for the rest of eternity it would be: sausage pizza. You've got all your four food groups there. Granted, if I ate sausage pizza for the rest of eternity I'd be pretty huge...

Dancing for Socrates

Characters are key to a good story.

And when one shows up unexpectedly, sitting in the corner, watching…it adds a little magic to the evening.

I went to my ballet class last night, brought a book (study, study, study) as I can’t NOT show up too early for some reason (bet my boss would appreciate if the same applied to my 8 AM work morning), rolled my ankles around and stretched a bit, and caught a glimpse of an old gentleman sitting in the studio watching the class before mine. He looked like he belonged – comfortably occupying the corner of a pew that appeared in the studio a month or so ago (a prop for one of the upcoming performances I suppose). When my instructor came out at the end of the class I inquired. “That’s Socrates. He’s been watching classes all day.”

I’d figured it was a student’s grandfather. Socrates? Socrates. In the flesh.

My instructor later elaborated – apparently he’d been in the heart of theater and dance scene in his heyday – in NYC of course. He loves ballet and wanted to watch. I don’t know more than that.

I know – it sounds like it could have a real creepster component. But…really not at all.

Socrates, I’m glad to have danced for you.

Peter Pan

I was watching Peter Pan (the one that came out 2001-ish) and, before I fell asleep in the middle of it, two beautiful lines caught me by surprise. (I love Wendy.) (That's: "We shall build a house around her" [the lost boys, re: Wendy] and "Please be our mother" -"I haven't much experience" "Do you tell stories?" -"Yes" "Then you're perfect" [the lost boys and Wendy] in case you can't read my handwriting.) Fitting that I had my new green ink out at that moment.

Every Day Architecture and Imaginary Architecture

I am fully on my way towards being a registered architect. I have 90% of my hours completed and as soon as I can afford those study materials I am investing, cramming, and diving into those crazy exams. (It feels good to be getting close.)

I work on parking plans, calculate percentages of pervious surfaces, research building and zoning codes, calculate exiting capacities, determine required fire ratings, work out building programs, get caught up in the difference between the frame sizes in curtainwall versus storefront systems, respond to building permit comments, review shop drawings and answer RFIs.

The amount of time I spend actually drawing buildings takes up a surprisingly small percentage of my work day. So when I come home I like to draw imaginary buildings, or colorful houses, or fanciful gardens. It feels a little bit silly, and a little bit childish, but…then again…not really. It feels light and makes me feel a little bit fanciful myself.

I get a little break from the desk-ridden drudgery tomorrow. Early morning jobsite visit – I love buildings in the demo phase. It’s fun to see everything come apart before it comes together into a (sometimes fanciful, sometimes not so, but always very) real building.

(Cotton Candy Key West Houses)

Ballerina Love Azaleas

When I was small and thought differently about things, azaleas were not amongst my favorite flowers. I didn’t like that if you plucked them from their stems they would quickly wilt while other flowers would last much longer.

My thoughts have shifted over the years…I love how delicate, fragile, and thin azaleas are, and that they begin to droop so quickly. It makes their brief beauty much more powerful.

I saw an azalea shrub in a front yard – with hundreds of these gorgeous orangey-coral colored flowers - and the sun was in just such a position that each flower seemed to glow. The petals are so thin that the light came right through. The image is resonant with me.

About a month later I saw the same shrub and all the blooms were gone. But across the street were these,

which are my favorite azaleas ever. They are little ballerina love azaleas. And they too, will quickly be gone but their beauty is that much more for it.

A Most Amazing Tree

A most amazing tree, I visited with a most amazing person.

I can’t tell you what a wonderful day it was.

Spring.

Sunshine.

And a tree that could house a whole city of fairies. And they could dance in the sun and the shadows.

Urban tree fairies…hmmm…I like that. There may be a story there.

Who lives in these windows?

I think there are stories behind everything and especially behind every window. Who do you think lives behind these windows? http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42814273