Remembering Sept 11, 2001

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Heather

Black Ribbon
I’ve turned the background page black in memory of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
Never forget the lives lost in this cowardly and horrific attack on American soil.
And remember the first responders who toiled at the scenes of those attacks –
make sure they have full healthcare and are treated well for all that they have done.

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More Mid Century Modern homes in Fairfax, VA – Pine Spring

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Heather

Nice home with pergola and mature trees all around


I made a stop on the way home to drive through another community of 50s modern homes.
Just inside the beltway, and just off Rt 50 is the community of Pine Spring. Home designs by the same developers as Holmes Run Acres, its a similar series of 1 and 2 story MCM designs among mature trees.

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MidCentury Modern Homes near Fairfax

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Heather
One of the more interesting designs in Holmes Run Acres

Nice design with a huge deck as carport, amongst mature trees

With all the TV shows in reruns, I’ve been doing a lot of research lately and have run across a number of interesting communities in the area. First off is Holmes Run Acres, just inside the beltway and off Gallows Rd. It’s a community of 355 houses of modern design. The posted image is a neat home I saw there that overlooks the park. I’d love to tour it!

There is another area called Pine Spring, its a 121-home development just inside the beltway on Rt 50, near Loehman’s Plaza where SCAN used to be! (Kinda makes sense that a Scan was nearby!) I haven’t taken any pictures there yet.

Another area I drove into earlier this week is Mantua – its a large community just off 236 a bit below Pickett St – and its a mixed community of traditional and modern designs – I spotted a number of cool MCModern designs there – I’ll upload some pictures later.

Another community is Hollin Hills, a bit below Alexandria, which Emma and I still want to take a drive to and take some pictures. But its amazing the wealth of affordable Modern homes in this traditional area.

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Summer is coming to the Pond

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Heather

I love this time of the year. All the plants around our pond are greening up nicely, the fish are awake and splashing about, the birds have returned and are singing day and night … what a great place to unwind … all on 1/4 acre!

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Happy Birthday to me, he he he …

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Heather

Its been a while since I last posted. The site is more a work in progress than any kind of ongoing commentary. Life is pretty sweet over the last 10 years and I don’t often stop and write it large onto the æther …

Anyway, I am just recovering from a nasty bout with Norwalk virus- or something like it – ugh its nothing you’d want to talk about – certainly nothing you’d want to experience, but I’m pulling through and should be back to work shortly.

Happy Birthday to me, he he …

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Everyone should have a Kenmore!

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Heather

Couldn’t resist! A few months back Emma and I were driving through the neighborhood and saw this old Kenmore canister type vacuum on the side of the road, awaiting trash pickup. Other than a scary dry-rotted power cord, it was in immaculate condition!
Chrome was perfect, logo was intact, paint unscarred. She tossed it in the back of the truck and it sat on our screen in back porch until last weekend, as we started prepping the porch for winter. I visioned it as a odd retro reading lamp beside my chair, and with a few lamp parts and maybe 2 hours of work, voila! The cool thing is, if I replace the vacuum power cord, it still works as a vacuum!

Kenmore Vacuum lamp

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From GrayMatters to MovableType and now WordPress!

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Heather

ACKKKK!
After all this time I’ve moved the blog from MT and into WordPress. I’ve got a lot more to do – create and import some header graphics from my photos, hand tweak the local (non-blog) pages, and generally carry the update through the rest of the site – but – its a start!

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Maggies get bass assist!

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Heather

Mags_3941.jpg

I’ve been real impressed with the Maggies, but when I played some King Crimson or other bass heavy music I can tell the difference – so – I dug out my old M&K Volkswoofer, dropped in the plate amp my friend Wilfredo kindly gave me, and brought it up to play.
Now, the Maggies are 5 ohm speakers and not real efficient – it take a bit of power to make them sing, but I’m using a vintage Carver receiver that put out 150w/ch – PLENTY of power. None-the-less, I did turn the level down on the subwoofer so it wasn’t over powering – and – its a REALLY good match.
Plus, the Volkswoofer is a gorgeous walnut box – so its nice to have it back in use!

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Maggies come to stay!!

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Heather

Mags_3935.jpg

I hadn’t heard flat-panel speakers before, but I’ve heard folks speak well of them in some of the speaker forums. So when I saw a pair of American made Magneplanar MG-IIb speakers listed pretty cheaply in Craigslist, I decided I should go have a listen!
I took some Accoustic Alchemy, Aja, some Klezmer, James Taylor, and Sinatra’s “For the Lonely”. Listened for about an hour, I was completely intrigued, made an offer, and soon we were loading them into the CRV. An hour later I was setting them up in our living room, and we spent the rest of the evening listening to various Cds …
Wow. What a sense of space! Emma says its like swimming in the music – sound comes from the front and back of the panels – MUCH different than the sound-in-a-box of regular speakers …
These are older models from the mid-80s – they cut off a bit above 16k and don’t play really low notes – so I’ll probably tie in a subwoofer for low base – but – I am REALLY impressed!

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One Song
(Jalallud’din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks)

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Heather

All these religions, all this singing
One song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.
Sunlight looks different on this wall
than it does on this wall,
and a whole lot different
on this wall over here,
but it is still sunlight.

We have borrowed these clothes,
these time and space personalities,
from a light,
and, when we praise,
we put it back in.

Just as one man can be a father to you
brother to another and uncle to yet another,
what you are searching for has many names
but one existence.

Stop looking for one of the names.
Move beyond attachment to names.
Every war and conflict between human beings
has happened because of some disagreement about
the names.

It’s such unnecessary foolishness
because just beyond the arguing,
where we are all one people,
there is a long table of companionship
beautifully set
and just waiting for us to sit down.

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