Berries and Berra

breakfast of wild blackberries

Phil Rizzuto – “Hey Yogi I think we’re lost.”

Yogi Berra – “Ya, but we’re making great time!”

salal berries with nibbled on leaves (deer)

“You can observe a lot just by watchin’.”
Yogi Berra

red huckleberries

It is wild berry picking time on the coast.  A little early this year.  Probably because we have had very little fog this summer.  Black huckleberries are just starting to ripen and are plentiful.  We thought we'd lose a lot of wild berry bushes with all the construction going on.  But we have beautiful berries this year.  Red and black huckleberries, salal, blackberries and a small bit of salmon berries earlier and big. plump mountain blueberries. 

“You got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”

Yogi Berra

I am not sure if I will continue this blog now that the house is built.  We still have a few things to do in the interior.  So far, the passive solar and thick walls have help insulate us against the cool, summer nights.  And I thought the concrete floor would be cold and hard against my bare feet.  It isn't.  People are surprised that there is no heater, no gas.  We have a very efficient wood stove and one cold evening we built a fire.  The house warmed quickly.  We get instant hot water for our showers.  And the layout of the house suits us.  It is simple, warm and open.  I see the trees all around.  We have little furniture, no t.v. and no internet.  We don't feel lost.  We finally got here.

Making, Building, Finishing

"We are searching for some kind of harmony between two intangibles: a form which we have not yet designed and a context which we cannot properly describe."

 Christopher Alexander

We knew this little house was done when the arch was cut across the doorway beam. It was a finishing touch and elegant statement.  Quirky me saw it as an eyebrow over the moon's eye. 

candle lantern converted into a ceiling light for the guest room

I love this lamp shade from West Elm.  It reminds me of making paper lanterns.

 

 The schoolhouse lamps are larger than they appear in this photo.  From below they look like little moons.  We had these made up with GU24 sockets for energy efficiency. 

 

 

I was concerned that with all the construction and clearing that the wild Pacific Coast irises would not bloom this year.  I was relieved to see them blooming every where.  Even under debris.  

 

"Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would go for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul.”—Vincent van Gogh