lack of posting in 2009

Hi all.  In case there is any mystery surrounding the lack of posting in this space, let me reiterate that I have been completely absorbed by my work such that I will likely not be posting until summer.  In order to simplify the general updates that usually involve Oona, Keel is, at least for now, only posting to the Oona blog.  Feel free to check that blog out for Oona updates, Keely's art updates, and general life in Campwoods.  Enjoy winter!

campwoods in snow

flickr

Hi all.  No doubt it's been obvious that we post here much more rarely than we used too.   There are a variety of reasons, the main two being my busy job and Keely having her hands full with Oona.  Oona's site is updated more regularly.  However, even that is often behind.  

There is another reason:  We have for a long time been disappointed with the low quality of photos and videos on Blogger.  So, we'll keep posting a picture or two now and then but we'll be re-using our Flickr site for high quality posting.  If you've used both Blogger and Flickr, then you'll know the ease of posting photos and videos to Flickr and the pain it is to do so on Blogger.  So, head over to the photo sets on our Flickr site if you just want a little photo update. 

Happy Birthday Ti!

, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

Oona in October

, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

We met Timon's dad, Debbye, Keren and Dan for brunch in the village.

bar pic

happy birthday keel!

with friends

debbie's wedding

We've had a few weddings this month. Some we couldn't make because of distance or scheduling, but Debbie and John's wedding was local and at noon, so we didn't have to worry too much about nap schedules. It was fun to get dressed up and crawl around at a fancy wedding.

Is this what they call "queer eye for the straight guy"?

daily photo

New Plum pics are worth a look.

renovate

We've spent well over a month remodeling our main bathroom on the second floor. As it sounds, this took longer than expected, involved more gutting and fixing than we planned, and cost more too. Not that we are finished, but let's say it's close. Only the sink is left, and I finally ordered a sink to sit atop the Ikea kitchen island that I'm going to modify for a sink stand. We are doing all we can to cut corners but cost just seems to rise regardless of my design choices. In any case, we've come a long way from the demolition pictures at the bottom of this post.

Built in removable shelving between the shower and the window holds basically everything we need.

We kept the original window but re-cased it, which sounds simple except the entire wall was rebuilt to be "plumb".

A new low-flow but strong flush Toto toilet is a welcome addition.

Josh, our cousin, did most of the actual work of the renovation and you can see his tile handiwork is superb. My favorite is the built in shelf, though we also added a bolted glass shelf as well.

We decided to go with a combination of a soaker tub and a nice shower experience by getting a deeper and wider tub.
We also took the door off its hinges and reconfigured it as a pocket door built into another rebuilt, re-plumbed, thickened wall. The interesting gadget above the outlet is the control for the hidden but likely best feature of the room, heated floors. Yep, no more cold tile in the winter. And that isn't the best reason, it will save us energy. We had a small radiator that did little but was using lots of energy by heating water in a dedicated pipe that ran over two floors from the basement directly to the bathroom. Now we are recycling that copper and only heating the actual part that needs heated, the floor.

Because it took so long, we spent many nights and mornings tubbing it ghetto style.

Oona got a kick out of the construction site too. She's waiting for bath time.

Here you can see how we went down 7 layers to the original floor to build a new floor that was actually level and well supported, not to mention insulated. Only one exterior wall was insulated, now the whole room is. You can also see the edge of a maze of pipe that we tore out and completely re-plumbed.

eugene lang

Some of you I've already talked to, but for others, you will be glad to know that Oona is not going to go hungry. At least not this year. Why? Because I've recently accepted an Assistant Professor of Ecology position at Eugene Lang College at The New School, the first hire for a new Environmental Studies program that is intended to bridge Eugene Lang and the Parson School of Design.
A little info on the New School: It was started in 1919 by John Dewey and a few other noteworthy radicals who wanted a place for thinkers to meet up in a non-traditional academic structure. And the New School is definitely non-traditional. Since then it has grown to include a number of "schools" under its umbrella. The Environmental Studies program at Lang will be very urban and design oriented in a mission that intends to provide students with sustainability focused education. What this means in practice is that for the fall I'll be teaching a course on Urban Ecology, which will necessarily have a strong fundamental ecology component. I'll also be teaching an introduction to environmental studies called "Environment and Society" which will be the main introduction to the program and also be urban in focus. I am also helping the faculty shape the future direction of the program as we are trying to grow quickly but remain unique. Incidentally I am working with a professor who also did his Ph.D. at Rutgers University in Urban Planning and another professor from Parsons who is a close colleague of my mentor Steward Pickett at the Cary Institute. It is a small world.

In the spring I am planning a course on conservation and we are talking about another focused course on green building practices or possibly a critical theory/environmental history course using film as the text. That latter is still up in the air, but in any case I am doing my best to entrench myself with a new core environmental faculty group in what is best described as a liberal, activist institution. It's just my style. I can't wait to meet the students. And the faculty are great. FYI: I'm not up on the faculty website yet, so don't bother looking.

So, I'm happy about the new challenge though a little nervous about getting two new courses designed and launched in a month. Classes start September 2nd. I'll also be keeping my affiliation with Columbia University as a visiting professor for the Earth Institute considering I still have a summer/winter course and ongoing research there as well. Ok, enough work talk for today.

a walk in wellesley arboretum

On our way to Portland we stopped to visit our friends Scott, Amanda, and their beautiful Colette.

More Oona photos here.

fairy houses and ghosts in the trees

First Atlantic Ocean touch.

a little vacation

Maine is a place we associate with a romantic ideal of old New England. So, the day I found out I got the professor job I wanted, we planned a week long vacation to Portland, Maine. Keely found an apartment on the water in a beautiful house near the old town and we spent our days meandering around the islands, beaches, and old streets of Portland.

We spent a number of late afternoons drinking locally brewed Allagash wheat beer and eating fresh seafood at this fish shack.

small town

My dad's mailbox.



Notice the custom Hoosier tires on a neighbors truck.

indiana

Taking the canoe out on the pond in front of my childhood home.

allen & jamie

Our good friends Allen and Jamie left yesterday for the "other" coast, sunny Cali that is. And I miss them already.


This is a shout out to some of the best friends Keely and I have had since we met. Al and Jamie are road trippin' it for the next couple weeks before they settle in to their new digs in the Bay area. I'm sure Al won't stop updating his music blog, Soul Spectrum, but we'll miss having our own personal DJ to take over the job of spinning soul whenever we all go.

Jamie has a rockin' new job at Stanford so we can't really begrudge her that. So, Keely, Oona, and I are already planning our trip out to San Francisco to meet up. Naturally we'll have to do a little wine tasting, so I'm thinking we will coordinate with the fall harvest and/or the 2007 Pinot Noir releases. Mmmm, this move is getting better all the time.

Drive safe you two and we'll meet up soon.
And for a little nastalgia:

"One more please?" at the beer fest in Colorado with Al's brother Charlie.

Stylin' last summer at the Dickies before jumping off the cliff.

With our good friend Josh. When is the Dickies redo?

With our good friend Michael, visiting when we lived in Hastings-on-Hudson.

My last bachelor night on the beach.

DJing our wedding party.

And, of course, picking out records.

gardening

We've been doing a lot of gardening this spring, trying to turn the land around the house into a layered garden with hiding places for little kids and herbs and flowers.

This stump sits on the edge of a small parking lot next to the house. It's been full of weeds and gravel. I'm fairly happy with the transformation, as are the neighbors.

The most work has been creating this raised bed herb garden. It took me a couple days and nearly 3000 lbs of Pennsylvania field stone to form a half circle rock wall to hold the soil. Jack and Shannon from Stone Barns supplied most of the herbs for us (3 kinds of basil, 3 kinds of thyme, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, sage, rosemary, and more). This spot gets maximum about 4 hours of good direct sun, so we've hesitated to grow actual fruiting vegetables. But Jack brought us a hardy tomato from the farm to try out and we are also experimenting with a small pepper plant.

We lined the edges of the stone with wild violets dug up around the property and moss from the stream behind the house. So far everything is healthy and growing.

Oona too!

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teatown graffiti.

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growing up

Oona is getting older by every measure. I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise to any thinking person yet I'm still amazed to come home from a simple day at work to such consistent change.

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happy birthday sedge!

More photos of Sedge's birthday pals here (a hint for Oona pics).