Archives for the month of: May, 2010

Sangriastorming

May 31, 10 //
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More fun than brainstorming, perhaps not as productive. But a few hours into our sangria evening with friends and project colleagues Diane and Jorge Brunet, our architect Patricia McQuaid and her multi-talented husband Antony Rieck, we had a score of ideas for photo images to capture this project and to have a little fun. I won’t give anything away now, however I’m happy to share the sangria recipe (serves 6 thirsty of-age adults):

1 cup good brandy
1 cup triple sec
1 and 1/2 to 2 bottles decent red wine
2/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
slices of fresh orange, lemon, and lime
mix in a pitcher with come-hither lines and refrigerate overnight
just before serving, add 4 cups cold Pellegrino (substitute ginger ale if you prefer it sweeter)

Kids' self portrait while adults play

Well, it ain’t Ozzie and Harriet

May 26, 10 //
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Sometimes before you go big, you have to go small – we’ll be living in a 300 square foot camper while our 3,600 square foot house is repaired. Sure the kids are excited, they’ll have bunk beds and a pool outside the front door. Me, I vacillate between images of running screaming into the river being chased by a cloud of encephalitic mosquitoes and a serene evening sitting in a deck chair watching the sun set with my hair wrapped in a towel à la Raising Arizona.

But that’s not the latest – we have finally closed on our renovation loan and have our building permits! Our friendly neighborhood forester Joe Dunbar and crew have carefully removed six large trees to clear a path for the crane and scaffolding, and the kids and I have drawn up plans for the tree house we’ll construct while the real house is getting repaired. We may be going small, but we’re still thinking big.