Shelter Institute house tour, July 30, 2009

Woolwich, Maine

We are wrapping up the Design/Build course and are privileged to enjoy the charming generosity of six Woolwich homeowners who have allowed us to pour over their homes. All six homes have been either built by SI faculty or by SI graduates. The homes range in age from 1 year to 30 years. Some have remained with their original owners and some have changed hands several times. Although all share the one concept of the timber post & beam frame, each one is utterly unique - bearing the stamp of individual or successive owners. They do all share an accessibility of scale which seems to encourage people to explore their own creativity in decoration and choice of materials.

Check out the link to my Flickr page to see some details of the homes that tickled my fancy.

Three Swedish Connections

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Arrowsic Island, Maine

I spend the morning watching the folks at Hennin Post & Beam raise a structure. Before I know it I am pounding nails fixing 2" X 6" tongue & groove planks to beams. Myself and five other students at the Shelter Institute Design/Build course are observing and at times participating in the raising of this small building and the owner has very generously allowed us to put our own unique marks on his property.

As the posts and beams go up I notice Pat Hennin, the Hennin clan's somewhat eccentric patriarch, controlling a superb Swedish Volvo crane truck like a ballet master effortlessly moving his pupils through the air and placing them just so at centre stage. Only he is shifting his bulk-bought BooForssjo Swedish lumber into exactly its correct position on the slab foundation.

Later in the day I rendezvous with my Swedish-American Bra Fru (Good Wife!) and we meet up with students and members of the Hennin family for supper at the delightful Five Islands Lobster pound for a very pleasant, relaxing supper.

Back to School!

It's day 2 of the Shelter Institute Design/Build course and we are preparing our foundation.

We're having another of those soft rainy days that have been so familiar during this Maine summer.

Check out my Flickr photo gallery for more pictures of the class having fun with heavy and wet equipment!

The Shelter Institute's fame is spreading far and wide: see the link to a recent Financial Times article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/24802c2a-459e-11de-b6c8-00144feabdc0.html

Recent Reads

The Likeness by Tana French

I sometimes have the greatest difficulty getting into a book.  I'm never sure whether it is because of the mood I am in or the jumble of thoughts whirling in my mind at the time.  With me it is unlikely that it is because of any imperfection in the author's style or content.  I can say this because some of the best books I have read have been difficult for me to get started and then to build up that crucial (for me) momentum of absorption and interest that gets me glued in for the duration.

Tana French's The Likeness is one such book for me.  And what a book!  Ms French delves deep into her characters' psyches and chooses fascinating themes to explore so one gets a great deal more than just a good who-dunnit.  Amongst the many aspects of the book that had me enthralled was her exploration of charisma emanating from people whose characters are deeply flawed and her examination of the ease with which we can become caught up and controlled by the magnetism of another person.  It is her skill to enable the reader to personally identify with her characters in an internal deeply personal way.

Ms French has an ability to almost magically draw the reader into her descriptions of place and character.  It's that peculiar lyricism of her writing - like water flowing over mossy pebbles - which is so very, very Irish and which is so intoxicating for the reader.  Well, I can't speak for others but she surely intoxicates me!