tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45118721664887497262024-02-19T07:59:42.914-08:00The Emerald Forest Fairy HouseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-73702476062547453752010-08-15T08:17:00.001-07:002010-08-15T08:17:16.214-07:00Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-24072088366535776732009-11-08T17:46:00.000-08:002009-11-08T17:52:37.625-08:00Check out my newest blogFollow this link to my 1000 Lillies Blog, giving you a veiw of my latest artshow.<br /><a href="http://emeraldforestfairyhouse.blogspot.com/">http://emeraldforestfairyhouse.blogspot.com/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-90480556074794745382008-11-25T15:55:00.000-08:002009-01-01T14:22:12.318-08:00Pay no Attention to Blog Dates, I'm writing a story in sections. Let's start way back in May of 2008.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbpP_MRXAtYamBV0kEVwCiCoSZywcdPnIGs_Tgl8HJkObyx3wHF1A9dMzmt-zGSOlMaYniAhKcFdgpJxWOWpWZAdaVi8sIKLxQ_E-z0jHJV1C3B5tAzBpyDYPecYCP_c3y8LvtgNVNqk/s1600-h/100_0371.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbpP_MRXAtYamBV0kEVwCiCoSZywcdPnIGs_Tgl8HJkObyx3wHF1A9dMzmt-zGSOlMaYniAhKcFdgpJxWOWpWZAdaVi8sIKLxQ_E-z0jHJV1C3B5tAzBpyDYPecYCP_c3y8LvtgNVNqk/s320/100_0371.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286449835411054082" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">The house</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">that fairies built........</span></span><br /><div>From start to finish, the story of my house...........but, </div><div>it's not finished yet, and it's really more like a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cathedral,</span> </div><div>a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">cathedral</span> in the woods.........well here's the story so far.......</div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't want to change down my house. I was comfortable in it. Yes, it was getting cluttered...being a small, small space with a loft. Just 24 feet by 24 feet, six feet of that space was being used for storage, and the small loft served as my bedroom.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But the outside world was invading-a leaky roof the culprit; water cascading down the north wall, mushrooms growing on the inside walls. "No problem", I thought, a screen can cover that till I can figure out how to finance a new roof.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But doesn't that wall seem to be cracking at the seams and why isn't my door closing? "No problem", I thought, I can remove it from it's hinges and cut an inch or two off one side-that will do the trick.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But why am I tip-toeing across my floor from one side to the other...did I always do that? Is something sinking on one side of my house? The log piers are looking their fifty year age.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>"Have Nick come and look at it." my contractor friend suggested, "His house is on piers, he knows what he's doing. He can give you an idea of what's happening."</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>So that's how it all started, a simple little problem. I could get a rehabilitation loan from the town for a new roof and piers. Nick and I could solve these problems in no time at all, it's Spring, plenty of time! <br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-59971516931570442632008-11-24T17:13:00.000-08:002008-11-25T17:38:39.393-08:00June 2008<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But then after a few weeks of rain, more rain than Vermont has ever seen in a short three week period since recording began.......the ants came. And not one by one, hurrah, hurrah! I'd seen them before, almost every Spring I had a little bout of big ants.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But this time they came bringing with them bits of my insulation, actually lots of it, piles of it in every corner, nook and cranny. These weren't little ones stopping to suck their thumbs either, they meant business. In fact I don't think they were taking any breaks. And besides that, squirrels were cutting holes in my house and a vole was stopping in each night to play keep-away with Ruby, my dog, from 3am to 5am, going in and out right through that little space where the front door didn't quite close!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I know my sweet home is sounding like a hovel, but really it was quite cute, known by many in the community as the fairy house. Yes, it was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">definitely</span> inhabited by fairies....<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">mischievous</span>, but no trouble really.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>In tears, I called Nick and he came right over. Much, much more serious.......this would call for a new bid and lots more hugs. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-77602118793040516622008-11-23T19:32:00.000-08:002008-11-25T20:17:08.108-08:00July 2008<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It's mid July now and I'm stalling.....can I afford this? Do I deserve it, a rebuilt house? How extensive is the damage? We can't know until the dry wall is pulled down. Unknown, I am living with the unknown, scrutinizing my still clothed wall. Not wanting to remove one thing. Not wanting to disturb the illusion. Ignoring the piles of not-fairy dust or are these ants fairies of a different sort?<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I waffle, I delay, I pray, I sit and worry, I wait, I wish, I discuss, I cry. I come to grips with the facts.....my sweet fairy house is falling down around me. I fill out the application for the much bigger loan than I want to be responsible for, but I will be.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Nick knows how to speak fairy, sturdy fairy. The roof will be raised with wings that shed snow and rain with out a thought. It's the perfect square of 24 x24 that allows this water shedding design to work. Cross-gabled it's called in architectural terms. At the peak a star is formed by the rafters all coming together to form a single point. The windows will be new, sealed and double pained with a fairy emerald green grill on each one. The shingles are emerald green too, a mix with black just like you would expect on a mossy home in the woods. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Yes, Nick is in touch with his fairy roots and somehow we understand we are building a church in the woods not a house at all. I will be a temporary guest until I pass on to the ethereal plane, joining my fairy and angel friends with my own set of wings. Until then I will be a servant, bringing people to the woods so they can forget about their humanness for a bit and remember how to play in the woods again and commune with the same freedom of forest fairy sprites that live in the trees.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But I am ahead of myself........that is the vision, and all of me is dedicated to it........I think.....but first the tear down.......how much can be saved?<br /><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-4830072022130866902008-11-22T09:15:00.000-08:002008-12-01T06:34:51.071-08:00Late September<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPcya8mZjUvf8_fn8yM96ZdZT0VMFLRlFn7uTuKy_xil45BfOMWSIHk0_Q2qMHhgmXsTiNMMmEJ7iS0wV_BjFMMh1tsj-ddOok_RxReilLkQ_NfOD71ECv-3Y6Ji7IQiqfzlfMLcn3fM/s1600-h/100_0427.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPcya8mZjUvf8_fn8yM96ZdZT0VMFLRlFn7uTuKy_xil45BfOMWSIHk0_Q2qMHhgmXsTiNMMmEJ7iS0wV_BjFMMh1tsj-ddOok_RxReilLkQ_NfOD71ECv-3Y6Ji7IQiqfzlfMLcn3fM/s320/100_0427.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274830049971099106" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Nick says, " I wish we were starting this project earlier, not on the heels of fall...."<div><br /><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>All vision quests strip us of human comforts, forcing our spirit through desperate prayer to show itself, to come back into alignment with the Divine, our Great Creator which resides within our soul-selves. Human folly ends quickly when brought eye-to-eye with survival.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Preparing for winter in Vermont, up in the tip-tops of the Green Mountains is a sort of vision quest in its own right. There is Grace, but not the sort that allows you to leave projects half finished...but maybe the warmish weather will hold out just one more week...and after that it is all prayers that get you through the one to two foot snow falls back to back, followed by ice storm, fallen tree and freezing, freezing cold.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Still wood must be brought in, groceries and other supplies. Snow must be shoveled, wood uncovered again. Stoke the stove, over and over and over, especially at 3am. Yes, winters are long up here and sometimes I wonder why I am making it so hard on myself. But then I remember my heartbeat is here in the woods with great flying pine tree branches, simple flowing streams with beds of emerald green moss and the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and greens of leaves in the fall blowing against the bluest of breath-taking sky. Then later the pure black sky filled with sparkling flood of stars and earth lit up by gushing moon-light.....That's why I am here.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But the building of a new house was a sort of vision quest I did not bargain for. I was happy with my small fairy house and the few sweet renovations I did mostly by myself.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Many people look forward to, or maybe it's even a goal of theirs to build a new home...not me, I have never been interested in that kind of dream, not in any serious way at least. I mean it's kind of a nice thought, but the details are too overwhelming for me. <br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-27721080620964294932008-11-21T10:29:00.000-08:002008-11-30T10:51:27.390-08:00Pine, hemlock, rough cut, <div>a fat 3/4 inch, </div><div>driver, framer, nails, screws, finish nails, </div><div>trim, siding, foundation, studs,</div><div>locus, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">spruce</span>, poplar,</div><div>flooring, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sheathing</span></span>, ship lap, board and baton, </div><div>live edge, vertical, horizontal, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">casements</span>, right, left, </div><div>flashing, storm collar, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">metalphestos</span></span></span>, roof, chimney, </div><div>caulk, window caulk, floor caulk, silicon, clear, black, white, </div><div>frame out, level, shim, cut, </div><div>shingles, venting, insulation, cellulose, fiber glass, foam, </div><div>water shield, braces, vices, staging, planks, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">generator</span></span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">compressor</span></span>, choke, throttle, gas, </div><div>utility knife, staple gun, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pliers</span></span>, </div><div>this angle, that angle, water, rain, wind, fire, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">de</span></span></span>-nail, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">re-nail</span></span>, screw, staple, tack, </div><div>saw, trim, cut, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">re-cut</span></span>, put-in, </div><div>floor boards, roof boards, joists, ridge line, </div><div>rafters, beams, door way, door jams, </div><div>what a jam......more than I ever wanted to know about my house!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4511872166488749726.post-24476215514538435322008-11-20T14:51:00.000-08:002008-12-15T15:27:40.592-08:00December<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Nick says, "this really is first and second <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">chakra</span> stuff. Not a metaphor for it, this is it. You are struggling with basic survival needs. You don't have a house, you are alone, you're trying to figure out how to get money when you are working around the clock to create a shelter for yourself while you're living in a chicken coup."</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I break in here, "But it's a pretty nice chicken coup, Chicky Hilton." Even so my eyes well up, I know I am dealing with survival issues and nothing is letting up. Two generators have broken, the compressor has frozen along with the hammer gun, window <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">caulk</span> and my toes, fingers and spirit. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Tempetures</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">plummet</span> to eight degrees, then raise to thirty, then fifty back down to thirty and then the rain begins....freezing rain!<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Last night I abandoned ship, risking the walk down to my neighbors where I would be safe from falling trees as long as I made it there. At first I heard just the spray of ice on my roof from branches dropping a few inches under the weight of new ice coating. But around 10:30 pm a new sound started; the crack and fall of limbs and the pound of ground as they hit earth.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I put my fleece on and stood outside with my head lamp lighting the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">canape</span> of trees over my 10x16 Chicky Hilton. Was I safe? Not likely. <br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It takes <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">great</span> amounts of courage for me to pull up stakes and show up on somebodies' door step in the middle of the night. "What if I am waking them? Maybe I will scare them...Maybe they don't want company." I overrode these thoughts semi rapidly as more trees cracked, and ice spilled onto my small metal roof.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Quickly, I collected what I would need for the morning, dog food for Ruby, tea, evaporated milk and a Cliff Bar. I put pants over my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">pajamas</span> and slip on cleats over my boots and was out the door. I gave a quick look at some of my valuable possessions: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">a bronze</span> water fairy bust and my artwork, but quickly nixed any thoughts of their rescue...prayer would have to do the trick.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Out the door, shaking as I walked yet alert for the beginning of sounds of cracks, ready to sprint quickly if a tree started its free fall and hopefully I would chose the right direction to run. Within a 100 feet I was stepping over a tree in my path. "Go, go, go!" I think, quickening my pace. Ruby is free in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">front of</span> me, running fast. "Three minutes max and we will be there. Just get to the d<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">rive</span> way and we will be safe."<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>In the morning I find out how wrong I was, chain saws will be the only solutions to move the nine limbs from the exact place I had those thoughts.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0