We're on fire.
Climate Catastrophe is real.
Science is real.
Climate is different from weather.
This is not a "process" that is natural. It has not happened before.We are seeing Climate Catastrophe happen right before us. Everything that was predicted 20 years ago is happening now. Just as climatologists thought it would.
I was evacuated from my home, not knowing if it would survive or burn.
I have seen raining ash.
I have seen a dim sun in an orange sky.
I have struggled to breathe in air thick with smoke.
It is real.
It's the symbolic last weekend of summer for us up here in the northern hemisphere so let's spend some time at an incredible vacation home.
For a group of cottages on Washington's Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, architect Steve Hoedemaker and interior designer Tim Pfeiffer worked together to give their clients a vacation home reminiscent of summer camps. In addition to the cottages, the pair designed and built luxurious but rustic-feeling tents to serve as bedrooms for this family that hosts up to 40 people at a time! The grouping of tents covered with vine maple trees faces a fire pit for evening campfires and ghost stories.
The original cottages on the property were from the 30s and 40s and when they were all renovated, one of them was converted into a communal area that houses the dining room. But I'd rather eat outside on the deck looking out over the Sound. How beautiful.
I never had a treehouse when I was growing up, but I would love one now! Especially one of these:
You can actually stay at this enchanting treehouse (one of a grouping of three!) in Atlanta, Georgia through Airbnb!
This Colorado treehouse may be rustic on the outside but is pretty sophisticated on the inside with its Le Corbusier lounger and overhead halogen lights!
Built by Wild Tree Woodworks in western Washington state, the Sanctuary Treehouse looks like a full sized house nestled among five Douglas firs!
What could be more fun than a treehouse in the snow? This amazing spot is one of several treehouses at Les Ecotagnes located in the Alps, in the Haute-Savoie region of France. The bedroom has a small pot-bellied cast iron stove for heat!
And from the snowy Alps to the warm Sabi Sand Reserve in South Africa. Take a look at these two incredible treehouses, available nightly at the Lion Sands Game Reserve located inside Sabi Sand Reserve, next to Kruger National Park.
The Chalkley Treehouse looks like the adventure of a lifetime. According to the Reserve, "Guy Aubrey Chalkley once set up camp in a majestic centuries-old Leadwood Tree to escape the predators roaming the plains below. We decided that this would be the ideal place to build the ultimate bush bedroom, and so came to be The Chalkley Treehouse.
A secure and lavish platform under the stars, the treehouse has all the 5-star comforts, but affords an experience as wild as the animals that roam beneath it. Guests are taken to the treehouse at sunset, where drinks and a scrumptious picnic dinner await."
And the Kingston Treehouse is even more lavish! Made of wood and glass, it boasts a shower, toilet, double vanity and for safety, a single entrance with a drawbridge!
...Gay marriage wins in Washington state! R-74 prevails along with fairness and equality.
It is laughable and predictable to hear the anti-gay foes of marriage equality claim that they lost because they were simply outspent in fundraising and advertising. They apparently can't contemplate the idea that they were simply wrong. What they fail to realize is: allowing someone to have a right that you yourself enjoy does not in any way diminish or harm that right for you.
Today, Washington state became the seventh state in the union to legalize same-sex marriage. It's events like this that make me proud, and encouraged that the ugly anti-gay, hate-filled Radical Christian Agenda tide is on the decline while more and more people realize that this is about decency and human rights for their family, friends, neighbors, and those in their community.
ROBERT SORBO/REUTERS - Washington state Rep. Jamie Pedersen addresses the house during debate on a bill that he co-sponsored that would legalize gay marriage in the state.
Only forty-three states to go--and we here in California will be joining very soon!
"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ museum/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”
I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.
Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft, please) and I will be happy to provide a link. If you are the owner of an image and would prefer it be removed, I am happy to do that as well (again, without accusing me of theft, please).
I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.
All-time Favorite Films
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)
Amelie
American Beauty (Alan Ball)
Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)
Belle et Bete (Cocteau)
Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)
Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)
Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)
Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)
Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)
Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)
Easy Rider
Edward II (Derek Jarman)
Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)
Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)
Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)
Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)
Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)
