so…everyone keeps asking us what we have been up to. the website hasn’t been updated for years and we have been keeping a rather low profile.

good time to blog…seems to be de rigueur these days.
we have been doing a lot of consultation, sometimes called “drive by’s” even though that isn’t the greatest name. eric has been consulting on construction and fran on design. seems to be working well.
we had great intentions of designing only green houses when we first left on our travels. we had just finished a hybrid pise and sips house in napa that had many green elements. unfortunately the economy took a turn for the worse and by the time we returned there weren’t too many calls for new houses…in fact there were none.
not to say we aren’t incorporating  green elements into our design.
attached are some photos of our “hybrid” house in napa.
the house has a pise core, sips panel pods, hydronic radiant concrete floors made with fly ash concrete, solar p.v. panels, tankless water heater, bamboo cabinets, natural cross ventilation and cooling capacity, recycled tile, recycled exterior barn wood siding and a standing seam metal roof.
interior finishes and design by sharon low at creative rooster, concrete counters by bohemian stoneworks, barn siding by black’s farmwood, pise by david easton, windows and exterior doors by sierra pacific and blomberg.

Pretty exciting!

For all interested parties, Fran is teaching a mosaic class at the Terra Linda rec center starting this Monday evening, july 6th, from 6-9pm. the class goes for 4 consecutive Mondays and supplies will be provided. if you have something special you would like to mosaic bring it along, otherwise backerboard squares will be available.

a big “clean out the refrigerator” breakfast was enjoyed by all. we all packed and left at about the same time…ned and rose to new orleans, ruben, beth and kids to the gulfport airport and us to a last minute detail at shirleys and lunch with the gang at the gccds. they made us a fabulous meal with salads, bruschetta, chicken, galette, fresh fruit and sorbet and we discussed the gulf coast, volunteer groups, planning issues, millenials, not having work, the slower pace, hot weather, etc.  we had a great time and have definitely been enticed to come again….perhaps in the spring next time.

after lunch eric golfed and fran hung out at judy’s with the cousins. we had our first rain and thunder storm. short but intense. it turned out to be a good thing getting kicked out of the house, more time with the cousins.

we are back now, at least fran is, eric is off on the next building adventure in bloomington indiana.

until next blog………………….goodbye and thanks for reading!

The floor was completed. The trim is done and painted. Two accent walls in each bathroom are painted and all the thresholds between tiles and wood floor are done!

eric’s cousins and mom arrived and joined the tile babes and sanded, caulked and spackled windows.

the green tiles for the kitchen floor finally came and were installed by beth and emilio.

we have two tile dudes: colton and avi.

the bathroom floors are all grouted.

christian michiganders came at about 2:00 to install finish flooring and we were pushed off the job! now we will have to paint over finished floor….go figure……this process works in mysterious ways!

so we took the afternoon off, luckily we had an early start and lots of helpers so still much was accomplished.

eric golfed, rose relaxed and the rest of us swam in the gulf.

you know it’s hot when the gulf water is hotter than your shower water.

we are going to the shed for blues and bbq tonight.

we are all saddened by the loss of michael jackson, farrah fawcett and teo the dog (ruben, emilio and avi’s dog).

the new baseboard gives the bathrooms a much more finished look.

much was achieved today: all the windows are jambed and most are trimmed, both bathroom floors are glued down, the blue one is grouted, all bathroom baseboard has been glued and eric started on the kitchen paneling trim.

the green accent tiles for the kitchen floor have been delayed until tomorrow morning.

laura left last night and barb left this morning. we miss them!!!!!

nelda and jane arrived this afternoon. they will join us at the job site with the cousins tomorrow to start painting trim.

it was still very hot!

tile threshold         finished floor   jambed window     

today in her final effort before she left laura grouted the beautiful  biloxi blue bath floor. but she was not alone in the effort. the tile babes rallied in support of her. barb’s final effort was fully engaged with rose in finishing the pink floor layout and cementing tiles. those two tile babes will be sorely missed. we are hoping to recruit new babes later in the week.

the pink floor continues in it’s quest to equal the magnificence of the blue floor. it’s about 2 days away, more work to be done, fewer babes to do it. our techniques though have improved.

the boys were jambing on and on. they may never finish. (not!)

soon we will be caulking, sanding and painting the newly applied jambs and trim.

clearly it was way to hot for most people to work so instead many visitors came by to check our handiwork: david perkes (head architect of gccds),vince(fellow architect), seth (shirley’s architect), stan the materials man with much insight about life after the storm and jeremy of hope force.

record high temperatures continue to engulf the gulf………today not a breeze was to be felt.

t

     grouting          w/ architect        tile babes

last night fran industriously did the laundry.  fortunately eric’s shorts emerged from the wash, fresh and clean, unfortunately his phone emerged from the wash dead and limpid, ready for the trash (which is picked up on tuesdays and fridays).

fortunately eric was able to work all day. unfortunately fran and eric had to leave a bit early to go to the verizon store.

fortunately there was a $100 of credit for equipment, unfortunately it didn’t cover the new pink blackberrry fran purchased.

meanwhile………………………

a tremendously terrific transitional threshold was tiled by three of the titillating tile tarts……

we have two new tile babes in our midst, three new tile cutters, one new jamber, one new backer board installer and two new runners.  much was accomplished!

the kids and ruben salted themselves in the gulf which ruben discovered is not fresh water.

beth slept for 5 hours.

emilio won at uno twice.

a sumptuous meal was prepared which included fresh local produce and all is good at the historic harrison house.

tomorrow is another day.

fran  propositioned a guy (Guy) in the lowes parking lot and the guy (Guy) had a truck and delivered our 5 sheets of hardi backer to the job site. way to go guy (Guy), way to go Fran.

hardi backer down, (thanks eric) the tile babes (barb, laura, fran, francie, juliet, steph and rachel) ruled and layed the floor on down……it is………….a thing of beauty, which of course as we all know, is a joy forever. 

lunch today was provided by shirley…..mississippi style gumbo and rice….yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it seems as though shirley is happy with the floor)

eric and greg continued jamming on the jambs and started trimming the windows.

it was, as you weather watchers may know, record heat today, 95 but it felt like 110!

we bid adieu to jeannie and mike, steph, jeff and rachel and welcomed into our midst ned and rose, ruben, beth, abby, emilio, avi and colton.

ned and rose shopped but didn’t drop and are fixing us a fabulous dinner.

we are plum tuckered out!

yesterday somebody had a birthday….she’s now 30!

the event was celebrated at world famous commander’s palace where a good time was had by all.

fran propositioned a guy (lorenzo our waiter) but he didn’t jump to the bait.

we ate shrimps bbq’d louisiana style, a great salad and pecan pie with caramel sauce and chocolate ganache…..and serenaded by a dixieland trio……

the kitchen floor was tiled today by 8 tile babes and mac in 98 degree heat (but it felt like 104)

greg and eric jammed on the window jambs without peanut butter….

and jeff cut tiles like he was being paid for it…..

lunch was served under the house and a vast quantity of gatorade was consumed by all.

coming back home we walked a quarter mile out into the gulf of mexico (got all the way up to our knees) and watched two crabs and several flying fish do their thing.

the boys played golf, the boys bbq’d, the girls cooked all the vegetables and jeff did the dishes.

games were played (hearts and bananagrams), wine and margaritas were consumed, bracelets were made by rachel and gifted to all.

shirley is happy with her new floor and promises to make gumbo on monday.

life is good on the gulf…….

Its almost two am, Fran just turned 50, and we all feel younger! Now we are all going to bed. Good night.