The fall sunshine has broken through the morning fog for the 4th day in a row and all the word on the street is saying that the rain is coming back by tomorrow. This cold, crisp sunshine has just made me feel alive and full of good thoughts, and especially when I see the solar panels reader box clicking away the positive numbers right next to my desk. Ah, a hot shower is next on the agenda after a brawny walk. Life just feels good.
I have read some extraordinary words this month and listened to a great many campaign promises and seasonal fundraiser’s pitches about all the needs. I have needed some sunshiny words to come my way to enlighten my path finding and proceeding. Ask and it shall come your way, I thought my readers might enjoy a few of the gems and treats I discovered – so here are my top 5 discoveries for you.
Sandra Pawula writes on always well within and her words about rising water and the tribal people who have to pack up and move as their island homes disappear regularly just touched my thinking about what we can change to provide for the rising –tides in our life and work. Lessons from the movers.
I think we all gained a great deal from the work of Steve Jobs and I thought this was a good video and interview with the biographer who published the book about his life.
60 minutes interview with Steve Jobs biographer Part I. Part II is available on site also
David Straker of Changingminds.org is the guest writer on Sources of Insight and I think his work sheds a positive light on how one helps to make change happen with his process Head, heart, and hands Such as how to get a client to be excited about solar panels or environmental energy efficient changes to his/her project or structure – Valuable resource on change with this read.
Life is All About Choices and inspiring story – it’s all about how one chooses to live life
As autumn makes its way into our lives as an agent of change, I am wondering how you are making change happen in your work and life. Does it connect with your values, and does it inspire you to create new? Does it change your attitude and thinking?
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Necessity is the mother of invention, but without education, integration and understanding people (of the general species) we are not able to comprehend or develop solutions.
I had a conversation with an architect this morning who was designing a house for a family in a planned community. He was scratching his head because they wanted something unique but exactly like all the other houses in their group. The designer was frustrated that he had to squeeze in a bazaar little room between the 4 bedrooms and yet not add any square feet or cost to the house. The little room would make the house even more similar to all the neighbors’ houses but create only a small space big enough for a desk and chair. Not big enough for a TV room or exercise space; maybe replacing the idea of a telephone room with a computer room? The fellow was trying to figure out how to educate these folks that making 2 of the 4 bedrooms a bit bigger would actually make for a better design and usable area?
Education is so key to our lives and many people are just not able to visualize or understand – they have to see it to believe it.
A local conservative mega- church has just put in a car wash to make enough funds to keep going. I suggested to my community (in 1975) they should use their building for a recycling center and create a gym in the large wing of their building since they were right downtown and near the lake walk. They thought I was being humorous. Some of the mainline churches own whole grocery store chains and fruit juice production companies to supplement their income and stay true to their beliefs.
As my community gears up to sell grapefruit, oranges, coffee and chocolate for yet another season of feeding and supporting the homeless in our midst – I can see clearly how I failed to educate and create understanding and I can see how architects are not helping the re-creation of their communities in an educating way either.
When I was feeling hopeless and discouraged, in came my new weekly TED newsletter…And Garbage Man Mike was a tremendous inspiration – I wanted to share his short video with you and see if your find it amazing also….Ingenuity in action.
Mike Biddle A Garbage Man
What did you think? Did it raise your level of awareness? Ignite the Ingenuity levels of your work? What Questions are you not asking yourself? How can you re-create your work to educate and illuminate?
Are we still going to let all the coal we mine pollute our nation twice and keep shipping it off to foreign lands? I think we will be back to Greed, not Ingenuity.
Necessity is the mother of invention, but without education, integration and understanding people (of the general species) we are not able to comprehend or develop solutions.
I had a conversation with an architect this morning who was designing a house for a family in a planned community. He was scratching his head because they wanted something unique but exactly like all the other houses in their group. The designer was frustrated that he had to squeeze in a bazaar little room between the 4 bedrooms and yet not add any square feet or cost to the house. The little room would make the house even more similar to all the neighbors’ houses but create only a small space big enough for a desk and chair. Not big enough for a TV room or exercise space; maybe replacing the idea of a telephone room with a computer room? The fellow was trying to figure out how to educate these folks that making 2 of the 4 bedrooms a bit bigger would actually make for a better design and usable area?
Education is so key to our lives and many people are just not able to visualize or understand – they have to see it to believe it.
A local conservative mega- church has just put in a car wash to make enough funds to keep going. I suggested to my community (in 1975) they should use their building for a recycling center and create a gym in the large wing of their building since they were right downtown and near the lake walk. They thought I was being humorous. Some of the mainline churches own whole grocery store chains and fruit juice production companies to supplement their income and stay true to their beliefs.
As my community gears up to sell grapefruit, oranges, coffee and chocolate for yet another season of feeding and supporting the homeless in our midst – I can see clearly how I failed to educate and create understanding and I can see how architects are not helping the re-creation of their communities in an educating way either.
When I was feeling hopeless and discouraged, in came my new weekly TED newsletter…And Garbage Man Mike was a tremendous inspiration – I wanted to share his short video with you and see if your find it amazing also….Ingenuity in action.
What did you think? Did it raise your level of awareness? Ignite the Ingenuity levels of your work? What Questions are you not asking yourself? How can you re-create your work to educate and illuminate?
Are we still going to let all the coal we mine pollute http://www.bikingarchitect.com/thoughts-about-coal-plants-and-energy/ our nation twice and keep shipping it off to foreign lands? I think we will be back to Greed http://www.bikingarchitect.com/glutton/ , not Ingenuity. Necessity is the mother of invention, but without education, integration and understanding people (of the general species) we are not able to comprehend or develop solutions.
I had a conversation with an architect this morning who was designing a house for a family in a planned community. He was scratching his head because they wanted something unique but exactly like all the other houses in their group. The designer was frustrated that he had to squeeze in a bazaar little room between the 4 bedrooms and yet not add any square feet or cost to the house. The little room would make the house even more similar to all the neighbors’ houses but create only a small space big enough for a desk and chair. Not big enough for a TV room or exercise space; maybe replacing the idea of a telephone room with a computer room? The fellow was trying to figure out how to educate these folks that making 2 of the 4 bedrooms a bit bigger would actually make for a better design and usable area?
Education is so key to our lives and many people are just not able to visualize or understand – they have to see it to believe it.
A local conservative mega- church has just put in a car wash to make enough funds to keep going. I suggested to my community (in 1975) they should use their building for a recycling center and create a gym in the large wing of their building since they were right downtown and near the lake walk. They thought I was being humorous. Some of the mainline churches own whole grocery store chains and fruit juice production companies to supplement their income and stay true to their beliefs.
As my community gears up to sell grapefruit, oranges, coffee and chocolate for yet another season of feeding and supporting the homeless in our midst – I can see clearly how I failed to educate and create understanding and I can see how architects are not helping the re-creation of their communities in an educating way either.
When I was feeling hopeless and discouraged, in came my new weekly TED newsletter…And Garbage Man Mike was a tremendous inspiration – I wanted to share his short video with you and see if your find it amazing also….Ingenuity in action.
What did you think? Did it raise your level of awareness? Ignite the Ingenuity levels of your work? What Questions are you not asking yourself? How can you re-create your work to educate and illuminate?
Are we still going to let all the coal we mine pollute http://www.bikingarchitect.com/thoughts-about-coal-plants-and-energy/ our nation twice and keep shipping it off to foreign lands? I think we will be back to Greed http://www.bikingarchitect.com/glutton/ , not Ingenuity.
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House plans are some of the most important parts of living. Not only from the idea of building a new house or structure, but also to incorporate changes and meet new needs in your existing structure.
As we approach the holiday season, lots of my clients are contacting me for a new set of drawings, evaluations, or plans to make changes to their homes. Some need new heating systems and want to make changes that will make their homes more efficient and sustainable. My neighbors are now caring for a young grandchild and one of their mothers; their home needs to be modified. The role of the architect is to keep current and help the client anticipate what will be required to make their homes not just a patch job, but a testimonial to their lifestyle and a virtue to an ongoing community.
House Plans are important as our family contemplates how long we will live in this house, what repairs will need to be completed – like replacing our 20 year old professional oven – and how the kitchen and other rooms in the house will be used in the future. Will this house become a model home for the future or will it be an eye sore and a problem for the community?
House Plans are about research and communications. Yes they are, about digging in and sticking with the conversation until all the questions are asked and satisfied. House plans are important to the neighborhood and community, just as caring for the trees, native plants and wild life that share your space.
Are you cleaning your gutters and the storm water drains in your neighborhood?
I thought I would like to share with you a link to a solid decision making model that our family has used for the past 34 years and it has assisted us in making value oriented, cost effective decisions with our house plans
What considerations are important to you as you make house plans? What are your life style considerations and personal style when you are working with your house plans?
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The 12 year old Bianchi bicycle is being taken apart in California to be shipped home. It has done a great many miles and been a good part of my team. It was my ‘party favor’ for my partner’s 50th birthday!
I had an older Raleigh and I bought my wife a French Motobecane Touring Bike instead of an engagement ring 35 years ago. They were good bikes but we traded them in to get our oldest daughter a bike of her own.
All the training rides and commuting for all its lifetime. I carried the kids on the back and taught them how to balance on a bike with this bike.
The frame is sturdy and stout
The derailer is now damaged and no longer replaceable – we will have to do something different to keep it my local and commuting bike. The one shift lever broke off due to stress. Cannot shift the gears – from 18 gears to only 5.
I do not think there are any more tours for Old Blue Bike. I am awaiting its arrival home and thinking about the repairs. Riding my Orbea for the time being. Saving my money for a new touring bike.
Which bike do you think would be the best replacement bike? Recumbent or upright?
How’s your relationship with your bicycle?
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I am home from the Sierra Cascades Bike Tour of 2011. My good old bicycle is being taken apart in California to be shipped home. It may take a lot of work to get this 12 year old work horse back in shape. I only had 5 gears left after a pack cord broke loose and damaged the derailer – we had to improvise. One of those work horse Armadillo Tires also shredded to bits on the last couple of miles. The handle bars are twisted from a fall and the brake lever also was damaged. It was a tough last couple of days of riding. But Oh MY! What a spectacular ride it was.
Here are my 5 first lessons learned from this adventure
When you face a great distance to travel that might be overwhelming, you need to take it 1 day at a time and feel the success. Step by Step.
I was able to get very organized in my packing and gear placement; thus I was well balanced on the bike and did not lose anything.
Doing big climbs, one needs to break it down into pedal stroke by pedal stroke. Start by setting a pace one can maintain for a long time and go at the pace you set. Forget about the others.
When you ride a bike on a long journey, you see many more things; you are more a part of the place and your surroundings. Heat, observation and awareness.
One has to be more flexible as a team, a group, because you are dependent on each other and the competition factors need to move to collaboration = wanting success for everyone.
I also learned more about some beautiful places on this planet such as the Lassen Volcanic National Park and surrounding Mountain Range.
Have you done a bicycle adventure? Are you planning one? Does this idea inspire you?
Waterfall
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Water is nearly everywhere around our home, from the credible beauty of the Mountain Glaciers to the tides of the Salish Sea we are surrounded by water. The idea that most people do not like about this region is that there is lots of rain – more water.
Folks even get upset with the huge Evergreen Trees in our area, but when they cut them down they are not very good about thinking of what to do with the 500 gallons of water that tree consumed everyday – where will it go?
We have a nifty computer read out about our solar panels sitting right here beside my desk. How much energy did we make, carbon saved, and energy consumed and then a nice, neat fun report comes monthly to chart the detail into a readable graph.
A Water Meter is out at the curb of our house and the city employee comes bi- monthly to read our water consumption. Do you monitor your water consumption? Do you know how much you use every month? How much do you use in the kitchen or the bathroom?
I would so like to have a monitor/reader on my computer like the solar panel reader, because going out each day and reading the numbers by lifting the heavy lid is time consuming and hard on my knees. I think it almost guarantees that most people just trust the city – and apartment dwellers what would they know unless they have separate meters that are accessible and how do they share the grounds use water bill?
Water use needs to be monitored and checked. Our monthly statement came in the mail and wow, we had used 500 gallons of water more than this same time period last year. We watered the garden more last year, 3 – 4 were in the house every weekend last year, and we had hotter weather. This year for the whole month there was only one person here, who takes 3 minute showers, is very conservative on laundry and there was almost no cooking going on, although the same amount of food processing was happening. We only watered the yard a couple of days a week, and then only the pots, and several beds – not the grass, the trees or the hedges.
I had the city come out and they said we must have a leak on our side of the street and we should get someone in to see where water was running all the time. We have not had company and as I said earlier only one person was home for the month.
We spent a great deal of money assisting the city in putting in a new street drain and a large overflow pipe down the bluff. We have 2 sump pumps in our bedrooms that run a great deal on days of heavy rain and weeks of rain. We put in drains which run the length of our property. We clean the street gutters – of about a 10 block radius of our home, because of all the lost trees. Now I am going out to write down the numbers by hand every time I use water.
I have also turned off the water to toilets that are not in use unless there is company in the house. The rains are returning. I wish we had rainwater tanks to flush the toilets and use for watering and laundry.
We have a drinking water filter to take the city chemicals out of glasses. Maybe a rain garden is next?
Oh yes, those 500 gallons of extra water usage were during the full rate part of the year. It cost a lot of pennies, nickels and dimes. Do you monitor your water usage? Do you think your meter is reading correctly? Do you know?
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Most recent update from the Sierra/Cascades Bike Tour Group is that the mountains are high and very beautiful. As I write the fellows are ascending the highest pass Tioga – 10k feet - and are descending into Yosemite National Park. They will be in the park approximately 3 to 4 days.
The group is still taking lots of pictures, have traded books they are reading, one has suffered a yellow jacket sting, a bit of road rash, and some tight ham strings are creating a bit of a problem.
Snow Park
The greatest fun is that the intrepid 3-some have been joined by more folks. 2 brothers are doing part of the journey together from the Canadian Border to the Mexican Border; they have added to the adventure. Then a Dutch couple in their late 20s have been included in the ride, they are taking 2 months to do this trip and took a side trip for several days in San Francisco.
One single fellow who is on the same venture has also joined the group.
One of the brother’s wives arrived last night to switch out some gear and deliver food, so she is going to use her truck to take everyone’s gear up to the top of the pass and lighten the loads for such a huge climb.
People have certainly been one of the best parts of this adventure… and then there is this yellow wild flower that is just everywhere on the California end of the journey and it has a lovely fragrance. The group is working on getting a picture of it.
It was delightful to meet Barbara of Blogging Without a Blog and we are in her debt for helping us with pictures.
I think they are having a fabulous time and having a great ride experience – 10 days to go!
Hope you are having a good ride? Have you met friends along the way on your journeys? Any bees? Not to mention road rash?
Local Produce
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This has been an amazing experience and we have met so many interesting people.
When we arrived in Mazama, Washington the whole community was gathered for a pizza feed in the park and they included us in their event.
We encountered a fellow who had started from Sumas, British Columbia to ride to the Mexican Border with 14 other people, but by the time he reached Redmond, Oregon he was alone on the ride. When he found our group, he debated about going home and getting his gear and joining us.
Bend, Oregon was an amazing experience and must be a biking hot spot. There were so many gear stores and so many trails and events, we just explored and explored. Good motel, hot showers and laundry facilities; time to regroup and refresh.
Our fourth partner could not join us in Ashland, Oregon, because he had such a severe cold. Bill did find us a wonderful stop to rest and enjoy that city, and then nicely took our gear on to the next stop point, so that our first 8,000 foot climb was pack free.
Lower elevations have been very hot and the higher elevations quite cold at night. We are now into California and Mt Shasta – looking forward to what this part of the ride has to offer. 17 Days of riding to go.
What an experience this has been. Have you encountered wonderful people on your adventures? Got a good story to share?
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The biking tour fellows are having a great time and a good adventure. When they arrived in Mazama, WA., the whole town was having a pizza feed and they were invited to join in and be a part of the gathering.
It was a hot ride to Ellensburg and then a lovely canyon ride by the river into Yakima the next morning where they spent a day regrouping and doing laundry before heading off to White Pass.
They have been on the road 10 days so far.
It is anticipated that there will be 3 days of no cell service so I do not expect to hear anything until tomorrow. I am a bit disappointed to not get pictures yet as one rider has his ipad on board.
The panniers are working well, and the tortillas were a good lunch idea but they are too heavy for their honey and peanut butter pickups. Consuming them as quickly as possible.
There are several bikers and teams out riding and the group keeps making connections with them – and sharing ideas and pointers. It is a fun group.
For those of us just staying at home – I thought I would share Terrill Welch’s Saturna Island, British Columbia hike in stunning photographs with you.
Don’t just sit there, grab your water bottle and pull on your boots…!
What adventures are you having and garnering refreshment and re-creation from?
5 Treats
