occasional posts by risa aratyr
a chronicle of the fall and rise of Casa Jimenez-Aratyr
Home is where one starts from. [T. S. Eliot] Immediately the foundation was in, they built forms for the basement and foyer slabs, and also for the basement landing. By the way, if you want to see the photos in more detail, just click on them, and they’ll magnify. The pic above is from 1 … Read more BE-COMING HOME: form & frame
De breeze come blow ‘pon it, De rain come down wet it, De flood come deluge it, De sun come down bu’n it, Grudgeful man come obeah it, Red-eye people put dem mout’ ‘pon it, But never was moved a nail from it, For it was built ‘pon a rocky groun’, With a rock for … Read more BE-COMING HOME: getting down to fundamentals
He who cannot find footing, cannot go forward. [Harry Emerson Fosdick] Once things got going at the site, they went quickly indeed. As soon as the excavation was done, the cement trucks appeared – – and the first footings were poured. By 17 June, the trucks were gone, and the footings had sprouted a young … Read more BE-COMING HOME: finding our footing
Whenever I pass a building site or see somebody digging a ditch, I always think, “That’s real work.” [Liam Neeson] During the design part of the process, Roy and I were keen to fix things that had been bugging us for the past 16 years. Old house, people couldn’t find the front door; new house, … Read more BE-COMING HOME: dug & dusted
Oh! ye’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road, And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye… [“The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond” traditional tune, lyrics penned by a MacGregor of Glen Endrick, 1746] The choice to rebuild left us stranded at another crossroads. How to get “home” from here? Our Way or … Read more BE-COMING HOME: breaking ground