hey jud

...I was thinking about how there had been a slight lapse in the Design Notes email from Rob Forbes, the founder of Design Within Reach, it arrived in my inbox. A couple of things about this surprised me. First, I had actually missed what could essentially be seen as an ad for DWR. But beyond that, what I realized was how much I enjoyed the pieces. I envied Mr. Forbes' opportunity to travel to such architecturally interesting places and credited him for a knowledgeable, yet very personal account, of what it meant to him. From my own blogging efforts, I appreciated the work and discipline required to take the photos, prepare the accompanying text and get it all out there on the web. Staff members may help, but the personal details that go beyond what you might find in an architectural magazine, have to be his own. They provide a glimpse of his passion and appreciation for design, so ads or not, I always look forward to this email.

Hey, I put some new shoes on, and suddenly everything is right. Some of us have known this a long while but I love being reminded.

To avoid the bad weather on Friday night, we decided to wait and drive up to VT on Saturday morning. Alas, the bad weather had not finished; it had just gotten super cold and iced over Route 93 in New Hampshire, right after the Hooksett Toll. As we noticed the worsening road conditions, suddenly we could see a massive pileup of cars ahead of us. Luckily we were able to avoid two cars and slide into the third only after we had been able to slow down quite a bit. And then we got out of there as quickly as we could before someone else slid into us. The pictures tell more and also show the continuing, exciting progress on the house.

'Paris is a city where shopping is not something you do because you have to, you do it because you love it.' No wonder I found myself so 'at home' in Paris the very first time I ever visited.

Happily for this trip, the roads were good, and there was lots of progress on the house since we were up last. Both Saturday and Sunday, the whole crew was there working on the siding to make the most of the boom truck that was rented for the week. It was amazing to see how quickly the clapboards went up.