Random Acts of Kindness, Community Is Everywhere.

Some of the most personally rewarding things about what I do professionally is not only helping people achieve their dream home, but learning about their lives, their community, their town.  How fun is that? I meet people from ALL OVER and I have been so touched and bettered by interactions with people from all over the world whom have shaped my life in some way.

There are people I have worked with for ten years whom I have never met, but know so well... I know the names of their grandchildren, they know the personalities and quirks of my children. We know each others' dog's names. I have spoken with people from Colombia, Finland, Canada (lots : ) ), Germany, Spain, Bahamas, Senegal...

So, with my love of learning about different places, be forewarned:
When you contact me, I turn into a total stalker. ; )

My parents have a map where pins indicate all the places they have sailed; maybe I should start doing that for people I talk to about the house kits. I LOVE learning about your towns, big and small, that I have never visited and often have never heard of, but now I've engaged with someone from there!

I have learned about Goldvein, Virginia, about little towns in Colorado with no building codes, about lots of neato places in California and Canada... I learn about your farms, your children's weddings, your businesses...

I have been fortunate to meet a few of these people... yet also know I'll never meet many "in real life" - but what is real life anyway? If I talk to them, know their names, their background, even their sense of humor, then we know each other well.

I have been a bit low & sick lately, and, earlier this week, one girl with whom I have been speaking on twitter for about a year, Tara Burner, asked me, "is this your correct mailing address?" Secretly I suspected she knew I have had a hard few weeks with all this snow and sniffles... I jokingly accused her of being a stalker, and the teasing continued until today... when I discovered on my doorstep, a package. Within a pretty box, with a splash of pink tissue paper I found:

Inside... (my pictures do NOT do justice, it is going to snow again in Richmond and the lighting is gray and horrible!) Tiny glass squares and bottle caps... each with an image chosen from this blog.
Tara picked some of the most personal, treasured images I have included in stories here, and preserved them in beautiful keepsakes: 

Learn more about Tara here- 
Her website: http://www.TaraBurner.com
And her Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/taraburner

And here's why each of the pictures she chose mean so much to me:

Here's the story about another weekend with The H's - This picture shows G and C...
Two little girls from different worlds becoming fast friends in a boat yard... and how I was thinking about how my life had been bettered in unexpected ways when my "plan" diverges into something else.

We have met many of our friends in strange, random ways, heck, one of my best friends I met at a bus stop in the rain! It's a reminder to leave your heart open: you never know who will traverse worlds and different backgrounds to become a fixture in your life.

This was from the day I was so happy to be at the house kit, we were spending the night for one of the first times there after having camped on the land for years, it was a GORGEOUS weekend, we were so happy to be out and about, and had stopped to pick wild flowers at our friend G's farm with the children, had some fresh cold watermelon with him, and got lots of goodies from Mrs. Esh's store... all put together here, in the picture, when I got back to the house kit, and I even made a fun recipe out of the bounty!

This was after a very, very long walk and our eldest child was trying to convince the dogs that they were really horses and had to carry him up the hill.

They refused. ; )

I just remember how muddy and exhausted yet happy we were that weekend...

And here's the house kit...
: ) 

I love the light out there, how it plays with the architecture of the house kit throughout the day, how the lighting changes with the seasons... 

And I love how Tara's glass squares play with the daylight, filtering rays through and onto these photographs.

This was from when the Amish were building our house kit and oh the things they had to go through with the cladding manufacturer!!!!

I love that people in a community work on the house kits, therefore  imparting green building skills and energy efficient technology into rural areas, while I, as the consumer, learn about and support my community's local trades and tradespeople.

And who are we kidding: I am tickled that SOMEONE ; ) appreciates Vintage! Hat! Friiiiiday!
(Just vote for me, okay?)

And then the same image of G & C in a bottle cap - it's incredible how Tara zoned in on that picture, because there are bigger, deeper stories behind that photo I never spoke about, and you just have no idea how special it is to us. (I am going to give the bottle cap to my friend Mrs. H, so she can treasure it as well.)

And finally, here is a picture taken from The Big Snow.  Chickens do NOT like snow. So Handsome Husband and I had to carry the coop into the garage so they could have some area to walk around without snow. But first we lifted them out, one by one, complaining all the way, and trudged carefully through it all until we unceremoniously plopped them onto the dry garage floor, then, stumbling, lugged the coop across the yard to them.
We refer to it as The Great Chicken Rescue.

Let me tell you a little more about Tara: Like many of you here, she is adept at Makin' Something Outta Nuthin'. 

Tara  is creative, hard working, down to earth, kind. She has supported herself as a contractor, a model, a body guard, an Etsy craftswoman.  She is a testament to hard work, and the constant belief that SHE can shape her path, that SHE is responsible for her future, and in doing so has had her own business for twenty years.

Tara enjoys repurposing and upcycling materials into her own jewelry, and it is clear that she puts just as much thought and reflection as craftsmanship into her art.

Maybe with their permission I'll start doing occasional posts on some of the neat people like Tara and their stories that inspire me that I've met in random scenarios... there's a lot!

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a cute picture of Tara that I *STOLE* off of her web site : ) to show you that beauty is not only on the outside, but the inside, and sometimes, if you're lucky, both.

 

Richmond's Solar Sidewalk!

I know I blogged about InLight, Richmond's first "Art, Turned On" addition to First Friday and celebrating 1708 Art Gallery's 30th anniversary last week.

But for you geeks like myself out there, thought I'd expound more on the technical green building/solar information as well as the volunteers whom made the Solar Sidewalk possible.

('Cause. I'mma geek. Better than playin' with Legos!)

Scott Kyle, the green building architect who created this piece, explains:


"A quick description of the system:

Two Kyocera 65 Watt PV Modules, 24V Solar Lighting Control, & two 12V Concorde SunXtender Deep Cell Batteries.

This is what is showing up in my truck and on the roof with the guys from Cityspace Construction (Richmondcityspace.com), who volunteered time and materials to the cause.

Thanks also to Kenny, whose rooftop apartment we have to go through every time we have to access the roof.

Next, there is 24V DC wired from the roof to inside the window seat at the storefront of 1708 where there are two 25W LED Fiber Optic Illuminators (http://lightbeaminc.com/illuminators_25_watt.html).

These are state of the art illuminators with very high light output and very low current draw, ideal for photovoltaics. If we would have used halogen, which is standard for fiber optic illuminators we would have had to have added four more PV modules (yes there is a lesson here for homeowners and their appliances and lighting).

The fiber optic (plastic filaments) bundles are divided into four smaller bundles from each of the two illuminators where they are brought to each of the eight concrete panels in metal conduit that are then covered in sidewalk cement.

That's Stan Webb of Concrete Ideas handling the fiber optic cables. Stan's company manufactured the fiber optic concrete panels in their shop in Richmond. The PV modules are illuminated at dusk and stay on for a set period of time (currently 8 hrs - long enough for staggering club dwellers to see their way home by). The PV controller takes care of the battery charging and control of the on-off cycle. "

Thank you, Scott, for sharing your wonderful project with us!!!!
Er, see ya at Green Drinks Thursday! : )





There is no photograph that can accurately freeze-frame/capture it, except to see/experience it.


Below is my video where I tease Scott (his wife has a degree in sculpture)...
but it kind of gives you the "experience" of seeing this nice addition to Richmond at night...

A great addition to the Richmond arts scene- it is a good time to be in Richmond!

 

InLight: A Celebration of 1708 Art Gallery's 30 Years in Richmond Art

Psssst! Hey, y'all...
Come see some art!
C'mon! It's Richmond's InLight!

And for once I'm not going to gab (er, too much) but instead just letcha see it all. (And please, please click on the videos! They're dark but there's music! A New Orleans band doing Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healin'! Oh yessss, brother!)

What a celebration of art, community, and spirit in honor of 1708 Art Gallery's 30th Anniversary and the resurgence of art and vibrancy in Richmond through First Fridays!!!!

I'd like to point out that 1708 Art Gallery is a non-profit space that emphasizes art for art's sake and is not reliant on selling XYZ artist at XYZ commission.

How fortunate we are to have galleries where they have art... just for art. I appreciated *every* wonderful gallery I visited tonight. If you follow the links above you can read all about the participating artists.



As a green business who appreciates green art, I would like to specially mention Scott Kyle, whom I help (poorly) with Richmond Green Drinks. Scott is a green building architect (Full Scale Architecture), very talented, and gives back to our community in SO many ways. (His wife is equally talented & educated in sculpture, hence the ribbing in the above video.)

Scott created a beautiful, ethereal solar installation that... when I saw it...
It just made me happy, it made me think... "Ahhhh. Hope and light." Like twinkling fireflies.
Completely different than what I expected: I had expected whole panels alight.

Scott Kyle went for happy special moments, beaming dancing light as pedestrians passed, rays reaching out to touch all of us... that is some beautiful, solar powered, green ART!
This beautiful solar powered piece bequeaths the city a soulful improvement: Permanent art, that literally and spiritually shines.
(That's high praise comin' from a cranky woman.)

Beautiful work, Scott.

So, below, are some photographs *and* videos (from a cheap ole "you can take this in the rain" camera)- just for fun. Hope you enjoy. I know it's all takin' awhile to load, it's a post full o' ART! : ) It's worth it.

There was high-fashion Wearable Art, music, performance art (yay, Starr Foster Dance Company!) and just... great art everywhere, people smiling, children marveling, students striding... All despite Hurricane Hanna's approach and ensuing rain.

Hope y'all can stop by in person next time.
CONGRATULATIONS to all the participating galleries, artists, and through whom, through your hard work, you all make our community better and more vibrant.





By the way, I also picked up my painting, a painting I *had* to buy when, last time we attended First Friday, I had seen The Secret of Roan Inish the week prior. When I saw this painting... well, in my mind, these words spoke and I immediately bought it. The artist was there- and we talked about his art, and I mentioned how the painting reminded me so much of The Secret of Roan Inish. The irony was that the artist had never seen nor heard of the movie.
This painting means so, so much to me, my love of misfits, the awkward, wild hidden silkie inside all of us, living between the seal and human skins.