BE-COMING HOME: primer piso

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration. [Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit] After the foundation and sub-floor framing were in place, Jere and Martín could get going on the first floor.  At this … Read more BE-COMING HOME: primer piso


BE-COMING HOME: form & frame

Home is where one starts from. [T. S. Eliot] Immediately the foundation was in, they built forms for the basement and foyer slabs, and also for the basement landing. By the way, if you want to see the photos in more detail, just click on them, and they’ll magnify. The pic above is from 1 … Read more BE-COMING HOME: form & frame


BE-COMING HOME: getting down to fundamentals

De breeze come blow ‘pon it, De rain come down wet it, De flood come deluge it, De sun come down bu’n it, Grudgeful man come obeah it, Red-eye people put dem mout’ ‘pon it, But never was moved a nail from it, For it was built ‘pon a rocky groun’, With a rock for … Read more BE-COMING HOME: getting down to fundamentals


BE-COMING HOME: finding our footing

He who cannot find footing, cannot go forward. [Harry Emerson Fosdick] Once things got going at the site, they went quickly indeed.  As soon as the excavation was done, the cement trucks appeared – – and the first footings were poured.  By 17 June, the trucks were gone, and the footings had sprouted a young … Read more BE-COMING HOME: finding our footing


BE-COMING HOME: dug & dusted

Whenever I pass a building site or see somebody digging a ditch, I always think, “That’s real work.” [Liam Neeson] During the design part of the process, Roy and I were keen to fix things that had been bugging us for the past 16 years.  Old house, people couldn’t find the front door; new house, … Read more BE-COMING HOME: dug & dusted