This house has a tiny crack in the back corner of the garage foundation. I asked all the older people in the neighborhood including a woman who grew up in the house and it’s been there for decades. The garage was an addition to the house back in the 1950s so it’s a separate foundation … Continue reading The Tuff Shed Work-Around
Garden apartment complexes do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to suburban affordable housing. Young singles, the elderly, married couples saving for their first home, recently divorced folks starting over, and people who tried but somehow failed to move on to other arrangements – these are the inhabitants of America’s low density rental … Continue reading The Apartment Complex
Part of my ongoing plan to create a more resilient and adaptable life includes finding alternative ways to satisfy daily needs with simple affordable work-arounds. I want electric lights at night and I want to charge my cell phone and small devices even if the power goes out in a storm. This little $80 portable … Continue reading Little Experiments on the Cheap
A recent podcast discussion between architect/urban planner Douglas Farr and professional cranky old guy James Howard Kunstler presented two opposing schools of thought within the same general New Urbanist camp. Farr expects business as usual to persist for a very long time even as external circumstances force incremental adjustments. Kunstler just sees collapse. I’d like to … Continue reading Betwixt and Between
Yesterday I enjoyed a Sunday breakfast with friends at Wat Mongkolratanaram, a Buddhist Thai Temple in Berkeley. The Temple has been serving food in their courtyard as a community event and fund raising mechanism every Sunday for years. This is the Thai version of Lutheran church basement hot dish. (I recommend the green papaya salad … Continue reading Church and Plate
Granola Shotgun 