According to some, this little beauty shouldn't be here. Attracting attention when it landed between mandolin and desklamp, my initial reaction was delight. The delight didn't fade after seeing it was an Asian species. Intentionally introduced in the early 1900s, it didn't become firmly established here until about the time I was wrapping up college degree plan. So its line has struggled as much as any immigrant family has since landing on the shores of this land. Brought her

Averse to altering natural features of land beyond construction of shelter and supporting systems, it's still fun to visualize enhancements to the parcel for both functional and aesthetic effect, not the least being engineering part of the seasonal stream to always flow like an artesian well would. Something like this with its simulated spring source being an exercise pool with solar-powered pumps recirculating water from it into a section of the stream. But such engineering

Sheltering for the first time in alternate housing during a thunderstorm, marveling at its high-tech amenities and accoutrements while recollecting how I survived childhood during the 50s and 60s to exist in this current state of being, triggered vivid dreams of a house design. Five years of duck-and-cover drills at school as bombers cruised overhead and fighter jets pierced the sound barrier with house-rattling booms, and five years living in a high-desert City Dysfunctional

A preferred version of a traditional, single-story house is gelling. Tonight a mood of finely-crafted rustic lodge styling with wraparound porch guides the imagination to this design. This floor plan of five 20 ft x 15 ft rooms totaling 1500 Sq Feet is firm now, and won't change. I've always wanted an inviting walk-in pantry something like this as key feature of the kitchen. The bedroom's main window will face the stream and its wooded banks, view unobstructed. Keeping techno

Siamee's recycling continues at pace after his death almost two months ago. By now, his chemical essence is passing along mycelial network paths to nourish plants and trees at who know what distance from his final place of rest, an ideal progression from one phase of life to the next. Nothing except tiny agents of decay and digestion disturbed his remains, as it is in the natural realm. If I am fortunate enough to expire outside in a secret place where no one is likely to fi

Fortunate to have been born into a family driven to explore rather than conform, boredom has never been an issue for me. Most every teacher at ten schools attended in as many public education districts I lived in tried their damnedest to instill conformity as my default mode of operation in society, but prior exposure to unfathomable joys and excitement only wild explorations can bring while my mind was still in primal learning mode thwarted such a toxic outcome. And so, bore

A little over a year before U.S. Government arsonists burned me out of house and homestead, I absentmindedly set my keys down in a cardboard box in which something or other had recently arrived via UPS instead of puting them into the big rubyware snifter where they belonged right beside the box. Spent half a day looking for them about a week later when it was time to drive upslope to begin the annual wood gathering routine. I could not imagine where else they could be. I alwa

When I was fifteen years old I informed my parents that one day I wanted to live in wilderness but wanted to have a music studio there, too. They told me that would require electrical power, and at that time the only way to have electrical power in wilderness required running a big, noisy generator during recording sessions. So much for that, I thought. Then with passage of time and innovations beyond my wildest teenage dreams, living in wilderness and having electrical power

My sister and brother-in-law just gifted this multi-media sculpture to add warmth to the new house. Its credentials are enroute so I don't know yet who created it or their background. It might have been the work of someone at the Picuris Pueblo. Tiwa. People traditionally big on body art. If this is the case then the white handprint on the warrior's face might signify a victory imbuing its wearer with spiritual purity and lasting peace earned through an act of courage, possib

Three years ago tomorrow, I submitted my Notice Of Loss (NOL) to FEMA as the first step toward being made whole again after the USFS had destroyed my homestead and everything I owned as result of their gross incompetence and criminal negligence in planning, igniting, and mismanaging a prescribed burn which subsequently went wild. I am still waiting for FEMA to finish the task of making me whole again, as are so many other hapless victims of that fire. Consider this typical vi