THE BEST IS YET TO COME//OBAMA

Via

I am still overwhelmed by last nights events, I voted for the first in my life and it felt great. I have been engaged in the political process, I've watched and tried to understand the implications and effects of voting within a democracy. I became an American citizen last summer after living with a green card for many years...longer than I needed to. Somehow, I didn't feel I needed to vote, I didn't think it mattered or I mattered. President Obama proves that we do, he inspires and exudes hope. He makes me believe that there is a chance for my daughters to dream big. I am proud to say I voted for President Barack Obama. ( and can I just say how absolutely beautiful his daughters are.)

Via

At 5:30, the husband came home and we all jumped in the car and headed out to the VFW to vote. It smelled old and musty but you could see the determination in peoples eyes, there were kids the, babies crying ( mine!) and the poll workers were really trying to be orderly. We ran into some people we know on their way out and my neighbors on our way out. I signed my name, was handed my ballot and I filled in my choices behind a curtain, stood in line to scan my ballot and in that short moment, I had contributed to our future and it felt good. (whats really funny is I was wearing a blue and white striped sweater and red pants so I looked like the flag!)
After interviewing a woman for a nanny position at 7:00 we immediately focused on the TV screen watching as polls closed and projections were made. It was nerve-wracking, nail biting, exciting and bittersweet. The emotion built up as the various states were counted, tallied up and called out. We stepped away at 9:15am to put the babes to bed and returned to numbers which scared me a bit. I almost lost hope because lets face it, the race was tight and hard-fought. At 11:02, we watched the number for Florida and Virginia sway from one side to another. I stepped away from the TV for maybe 15 minutes only to return to a President Barack Obama as the projected winner. I am still getting chills this morning watching the replays of his acceptance speech which came on at about 1:30am. What a night..I know that this was a tough road and certainly there are people who may be disappointed by this outcome but I think we must all realize how inspiring this entire time has been. YES WE  CAN!

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Trick O Treat?// Halloween 2012

This halloween, we were slightly more prepared than usual, we actually bought our costumes three days in advance! Haha..when I saw the Obama mask for half price I couldn't resist and then when we spotted Mitt a few masks over, we were sold. We would go as Obama/Romney..OBAMNEY was born. A few minutes later Arielle decided she did not want to be a ferri princess butterfly anymore, she now wanted to be strawberry shortcake and baby Evie would be a pink circus elephant. The pink elephant was too big on her so we left without it. Once Monday rolled around and Hurricane Sandy hit we realized Halloween was not going to be a priority but by Wednesday afternoon, the kids really needed some time out and so we let them put the costumes on around the house ( we were at my sisters home because we had no power due to Hurrican Sandy). The husband and I quickly ran out to find Evie something and of course, Target had the baby in a bag pumpkin costume which was perfect for the chilly weather that evening. As soon as we got back we changed into costume and decided to get the kids out for a little door to door fun. It was nice to get some fresh air even though it seemed that people were understandably upset and a bit stressed out. 

They got some candy and had fun skipping through the streets. There were a few other kids around but overall it was very quiet. We had fun poking fun at ourselves, waved to a few people in our best presidential wave and went home. (I know I look more like Al Roker than Obama but what can I say I'm only 5'6" tall and just had a baby!)

Surviving Sandy..

After living by candle light, sleeping by the fireplace, eating peanuts and beef jerky, we are finally returning to normal. We lost power on Monday October 29th around 5:08pm, we had not anticipated losing power so when the lights went out we figured it would only be for a short while, we sat tight but packed our bags just in case. That night, Hurricane Sandy turned into a significant wind event with a bit of rain, the wind howled and it was as if the trees swayed from sky to ground and back. We all sat in one room by the fireplace and eventually fell asleep there. In the morning, we could see the results were bad but we didn't think it would have the effect that it did. The husband and my daughter stepped out to get coffee and something to eat which took them a while, meanwhile got on my phone to read the news and began to see the sheer devastation Sandy had left behind in places like part of New Jersey, Staten Island, Lower Manhattan and Connecticut. There were quite a lot of fallen trees and power lines around here, my neighbor had a tree through his roof and was out trying to cut it out, people were out looking for wood, generators, gas for their cars but many roads were closed.

We sat around for while that day, carved pumpkins and even cleaned the house up but then the temperature began to drop, the refrigerator began to melt and we got worried. My mum, sisters and nephew had already moved into my older sisters home because her power had returned so we called and asked to move some important perishables into her freezer and figured we could hang out, eat dinner there and come home later..to a home with power. That was not the case, our home remained dark until this morning...Saturday. Luckily, she had a spare room for us with a twin bed and air mattress to share. As each day passed and we still had no power we began to make daily trips home to get more clothing and something we might have forgotten. We went trick or treating on Halloween night, we cooked meals, talked and laughed, it turned out to be a really unplanned vacation of sorts. The kids had now school so they played all day and night,  it was like Christmas break  in October. So much so that I decided it might be a good time to try to ween Evalie and get her to take a bottle (from mum or my sister), unfortunately that only resulted in her crying and not eating. This morning as we packed up to return home, the sun was out, the skies were bright and there was a warmth to the crisp fall air. It felt like we had emerged from hiding..it felt surreal. But we're home and everything is calm..so far the only worry is our missing cat but he tends to return in time.

Italy Series: Northern region// Brion Cemetery-Carlo Scarpa

The window of the pavilion of meditation is in the form of a vesica piscis, a repeated leitmotif in Scarpa's architecture.

After a few days in Venice and almost getting thrown out of our hostel because of how loud the students were all night, we boarded the bus to Vicenza. Before we actually made it to venice we took a detour and made two stops; one at the Brion Cemetery is in San Vito d'Altivole near Treviso whose addition was designed by Carlo Scarpa, and the second stop was at the Museo Gipsoteca Antonio Canova in Possagno also by Scarpa. The cemetery was designed for the Brion family, and is tucked away in an lush landscape, you actually can't see it until you actually arrive at the entrance.

Looking over the wall 

Entrance to Cemetery

The cemetery is an exemplary work of Scarpa, it includes the burial tombs, highly detailed semi- enclosed structures, water features and an island which is inaccessible to the public. Its materially a bit brutal but the cuts, slits, striations and transitions change ones perception of the space. At certain moments, there is a change in materiality to a more translucent material of to a metal. Openings are treated very carefully, the frame views or the viewer and concentrates light. Its relationship to its surrounding is almost one of a camouflaging, the walls are just below the height of the vegetation around but within, it complements the structure, provides shades while the water is reflective. 

Scarpa's resting place

One of the family tombs

Material transitions

detail of water feature

 

Canova 

Scarpa's hall exterior- protruding window box.

Scarpa was born in Venice. Much of his early childhood was spent in Vicenza, where his family relocated when he was 2 years old. After his mother's death when he was 13, he, his father and brother moved back to Venice. Carlo attended the Academy of Fine Arts where he focused on architectural studies. Graduated from the Accademia in Venice, with the title of Professor of Architecture, he apprenticed with the architect Francesco Rinaldo. Scarpa married Rinaldo's niece, Nini Lazzari (Onorina Lazzari).

However, Scarpa refused to sit the pro forma professional exam administrated by the Italian Government after World War II. As a consequence, he was not permitted to practice architecture without associating with an architect. Hence, those who worked with him, his clients, associates, craftspersons, called him "Professor", rather than "architect".

His architecture is deeply sensitive to the changes of time, from seasons to history, rooted in a sensuous material imagination. He was Mario Botta's thesis adviser along with Giuseppe Mazzariol; the latter was the Director of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia when Scarpa completed his renovation and garden for that institution. Scarpa taught drawing and Interior Decoration at the Istituto universitario di architettura di Venezia from the late 1940s until his death. While most of his built work is located in the Veneto, he made designs of landscapes, gardens, and buildings, for other regions of Italy as well as Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, France and Switzerland. His name has 11 letters and this is used repeatedly in his architecture.[2]

One of his last projects, left incomplete at the time of his death, was recently altered (October 2006) by his son Tobia: the Villa Palazzetto in Monselice. This work is one of Scarpa's most ambitious landscape and garden projects, the Brion Sanctuary notwithstanding. It was executed for Aldo Businaro, the representative for Cassina who is responsible for Scarpa's first trip to Japan. Aldo Businaro died in August 2006, a few months before the completion of the new stair at the Villa Palazzetto, built to commemorate Scarpa's centenary.

In 1978, while in Sendai, Japan, Scarpa died after falling down a flight of concrete stairs. He survived for ten days in a hospital before succumbing to the injuries of his fall. He is buried standing up and wrapped in linen sheets in the style of a medieval knight, in a private, semi-hidden alcove in the inside corner of his L-shaped Brion-Vega Cemetery at San Vito d'Altivole in the Veneto..(..via)