Architecture Wednesday: Vermont Modern Farmhouse

Y’all know I love an old barn, but I also love a new barn … or a brand new farmhouse built to resemble a barn.

This modern farmhouse barn sits on 210-acres of the Green Mountains in Woodstock, Vermont. Studio Rick Joy—the Arizona-based architect—specializes in desert modernist-style, but created this stone-and-cedar gable farmhouse and barn for snowy Vermont.

The 3,890-square-foot farmhouse structure and adjacent barn-entertainment space was inspired by the local style and materials. Besides the main house, there is a large guesthouse to accommodate visitors.

The simple gabled forms use locally sourced materials—pine wood shingles in the barn and Lake Champlain bedrock in the house—combined with clean lines and natural light to produce a subtle dappled effect on the structures.

But it isn’t just stone and pine; a modern steel frame, along with structural insulated panels, allowed for quick construction, while providing efficient insulation for Vermont’s four-season climate.

I love the stone, rough and ancient, along with the simple clean lines of the interior, and the glass that lets loads of sunlight into each room. And that bathtub … Carlos might never get me out of that tub as I soak through the changes of each season!

And I love that this modern farmhouse fits so well into the landscape and that the property still features a typical Vermont stone wall that is roughly 200 years old and left untouched by the builders.

As always, click to emBIGGERate...

One Kind Design

Bobservations

We had a bit of a scare last Friday involving the Greatest Cat in the World, Tuxedo.

See, our cats do not go outside, at least unattended. Tuxedo is allowed to walk along the railing with me by his side, or sit in my lap and take a siesta, but because of the rural nature of Casa Bob y Carlos, and the wild-ish animals who roam nearby, it’s not a good thing to let cats wander.

That said, over the course of time we’ve lived here Tuxedo has escaped a handful of times and has always been lured back inside by the promise of treats.

Last Friday, Carlos got up, let the dog out, fed the cats and made the coffee; we had breakfast and chatted and then I got up from the table …

“Where’s Tuxedo?”

“I don’t know, He was here for breakfast.”

"Did he get out when you let the dog in?”

“I don’t know.”

We began the search; through the house, in all the bedrooms, the office, the laundry room, the sunroom; under couches or on tables; in closets where perhaps a door was closed on him; in the bathroom.

No Tuxedo. I head out back, treats in hand, shaking the bag…

“TUXEDO! TUXEDO! TUXEDO!”

No Tuxedo. I go into the front yard …

“TUXEDO! TUXEDO! TUXEDO!”

No Tuxedo. Now I am scared and getting annoyed because I think Carlos missed him when he ran outside and so all kinds of thoughts—of what happened to the cat and what I will do to Carlos—are racing through my head.

“TUXEDO! TUXEDO! TUXEDO!”

Back inside; no cat. I then check every single cupboard in the kitchen, the laundry room and all the bathrooms, shaking that damned bag of treats as I go …

“TUXEDO! TUXEDO! TUXEDO!”

In the master bathroom, I look into a cupboard; no cat. I turn … and there he is, sitting in the bathtub.

See, the night before we’d given all the cats a hit of Advantage because they were scratching a lot. You give Advantage at the base of their neck, so they can’t lick it off.

Tuxedo, because he is so smart, thought he’d wait until Mean Daddy—his name for Carlos—got out of the shower and then he would roll around on the bottom of the tub so see if he could rub the Advantage off.

He got yelled at for disappearing and big smooch from Nice Daddy—that’s what he calls me—for being safe.

In the car, later, driving Carlos to work, I said:

“Sorry for all those hateful things I said about you when we couldn’t find Tuxedo.”

“You didn’t say anything mean to me.”

“In my head, sweetheart in my head.”

“Oh, I expect it was especially vicious then.”

“Yes.”

And luckily, just in my head.

Model Todd Sanfield created an underwear line a few years ago, and that’s one of the photos of the newest campaign.

Um, is it invisible, underwear, Todd?

The “Commando” Line?

This week we learned that 300 priests in Pennsylvania have molested over a thousand children. Boys and girls raped by priests and the Vatican has said

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That’s all.

Up there in Vermont, Christine Hallquist has become the Democratic nominee for governor.

Not a big deal, except Hallquist is the first openly transgender nominee for governor.

The march goes on, but still …

A middle school in Achille, Oklahoma is closed on the heels of violent threats by parents … parents … on social media against Maddie, a 12-year-old transgender student who identifies as female and uses the girls’ bathroom.

Maddie had been using the staff bathroom at her old school but began using the girls’ bathroom at the new school because she didn’t know where the staff bathroom was. And, naturally, she was accused of using the bathroom to “peep” at other students.

And that’s when the threats began on a private parents’ Facebook group for the school. The parents … again parents … called Maddie “it” and “thing”, suggested that her genitalia be mutilated to make her female …

“A good sharp knife will do the job real quick”

Another illiterate, toothless, possibly cousin-f**king parent said it was “hunting season on them kind” and that there was “no bag limit.”

In Vermont trans females are running for governor, but in Oklahoma trans females are running for their lives.

Oh, lord, he doesn’t “get” time zones!

It appears that several times in the first year of his administration, _____ wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon but there was a wee problem: afternoon in DC is the middle of the night in Tokyo and _____ didn’t understand that.

Seriously. His team tried to cover his buffoonery by saying that, as a global businessman grifter, _____ does understand time zones, but that he can’t be bothered to add up “time differences” when he feels like calling a foreign leader.

Oh, yeah, that’s a much better explanation.

In the wake of Omarosa going unhinged, Minister of Propaganda Kellyanne Conway ran into some trouble when she couldn’t name a single West Wing staffer who is African-American.

This Week host Jonathan Karl noted that pariah Omarosa had been the most senior black person in _____’s White House and asked Kellyanne who that person might be now, and Kellyanne said:

“African American?” 

She then named HUD Secretary Ben “Brain Surgeon” Carson, but Karl quickly pointed out that Carson is not a member of the White House staff. He asked again:

“I’m asking you about the White House staff. Who — who there is in the White House staff right now?"

“We have Ja’Ron [but Conway couldn’t remember the last name of Special Assistant for Legislative Affairs Ja’Ron Smith] “He’s been very involved with Jared Kushner and President _____ on prison reform from the beginning.”

Karl asked if Smith had an office in the West Wing, to which Kellyanne lied:

“He has an office on the — in the EOP, absolutely, the Executive Office of the President, yes.”

The EOP is where non-West Wing staff work and it’s in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House.

Oh, Kellyanne, facts are hard, eh, girl?

In case you needed more proof that Republicans lie whenever their mouths are moving, I give you Florida Republican State House candidate Melissa Howard.

There were rumors that she didn’t earn a degree from Miami University in Ohio, so Howard flew home to prove the naysayers wrong. And then she posted a picture on social media of a partial college transcript and another picture of her holding a copy of a diploma, but …

… the degree is a fake, according to Miami University General Counsel Robin Parker, who saw the pictures. And quicker than you can say, ‘Bitch don’t lie,’ Howard removed the diploma pictures from Facebook.

Miami University says Howard attended the school, but did not earn a degree, either in 1994 as she first stated, or in 1996, which she later claimed. And the degree she’s holding so proudly in that picture is a Bachelor of Science in Marketing something Miami University does not offer, and never has.

In addition, the "diploma" contains the signatures of Robert C. Johnson, Dean. Well, Johnson was dean of the graduate school not the dean for the School of Business and therefore would not have signed Howard’s diploma.

Howard has stopped talking which means, for now, she’s also stopped lying.

UPDATE Melissa “Pants On Fire” Howard has dropped out of the race. Bye Felicia!

____ ally and confidante Roger Stone posted a photo to Instagram—which he has since deleted—showing _____ and his Flying Monkeys—Senator Devin Nunes, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mike Pence, and Sean Hannity—dressed in “Space Force” uniforms.

Stone posted the picture with the caption:

“I love this —proud to be in this crew—but the only lies being told are by liberal scumbags.”

Trouble was the uniforms were emblazoned with Swastikas.

Sheesh, Republicans are dumb.

Some men I’d like to see model the Todd Sanfield Commando Line?

Christopher Meyer, top left, who plays the young hottie Anton on The Affair… Sidenote: The Affair might be one of the best shows you’re not watching.

Christopher Abbott, top right, plays Mason on The Sinner, a kind of Whydunnit instead of a Whodunnit.

Will Brittain, bottom left, plays Dave, one of the good … hot …guys on Colony, while Tory Kittle, bottom left, plays another good … hot … guy on the same show.

Just sayin’ …commando.

Architecture Wednesday: A Cottage In Vermont

Some of you have commented on the enormous homes that I post; those fabulous tens of thousands of square feet manses. Some of you have complained that those homes are a waste of space, but, I like ‘em, and it’s my blog so … but I also like smaller and simpler and peaceful spaces, and this home, in the Vermont woods, suits me just fine.

This home is part of a collection of cottages designed to host musicians spending the summer in Marlboro, Vermont. These Marlboro Music Cottages are located on the 500-acre campus of Marlboro College, tucked into the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains.

This cottage, practically hidden in the cedar tree forest, giving it a sense of privacy while also protecting it from the direct rays of the sun, seems like a fairy tale cottage … an Amish Abode …a Pennsylvania Dutch Dwelling …a Quaint Quaker lodging.

The interiors are mostly wood, with tile floors and gracious windows, but feel very austere and peaceful, which I’m guessing a musician might light before and after performing.

I just like the simplicity of it all; the bareness of it all … even with a grand piano in the living room.

Click to emBIGGERate ...

HomeDSGN

Charity and Sylvia

The story goes like this …

Charity Bryant was just passing through Weybridge, Vermont; she was traveling alone to escape the gossip that followed her since she was nearing thirty, had never married, and had had relationships with women while living in Massachusetts.

She thought it best to keep moving, and never planned on settling down in that rural town, but whatever gossip may have been heard, she was welcomed by the people of the town, who flocked to her tiny house where she designed and sold clothes.

And then she met Sylvia Drake; they were like-minded women, literary and talented, and they instantly fell in love. Charity asked Sylvia to be her assistant, and the younger girl moved into Bryant’s home; then Charity Bryant asked Sylvia Drake to be her wife, and so they were married, though not legally, and lived together some forty-four years.

Now, Weybridge was one of those small, conservative towns, as most rural towns are, but the people there seemed not to be bothered at all by the relationship between the two women; in fact, most folks had no problem referring to Charity and Sylvia close to or nearly “married.”

Charity and Sylvia also considered themselves married.  They celebrated the day they moved in together as their anniversary, and Bryant often called Drake her spouse, while Sylvia, still quite young, spent her time writing their names over and over again on scraps of paper, as a young girl often did when she met the person she wanted to marry.

It reads: “Bryant, Bryant Charity, Bryant Sylvia, Bryant Sylvia, Bryant Charity, Bryant Sylvia.”

Their relationship was like that of most other couples; Bryant was the “husband,” who ran the business, and Drake the “wife.” And even at the end, even in that small town in Vermont, after forty-four years together, Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake were buried together, as spouses often are, in the Weybridge cemetery.  Charity went first, and Sylvia followed a couple of years later, but they are buried beneath a single granite tombstone that bears both their names.

Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake might be Vermont’s first same-sex couple, same-sex married couple; but they might also be known as Americas’ first married same-sex couple, because Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake met one another in 1807, and lived as spouses until the 1850s.

Nearly two hundred years before marriage equality became legal anywhere in this country, Sylvia and Charity lived as a married couple, and were respected as a married couple, in life, and in death.

photo via The Washington Blade

story via WaPo

I Loved You .... Once In Silence

While we were living in Miami, Carlos and I often made the trek down to Key West for Pride Weekend. There aren't many more fun places for Pride on the planet and it was always an eye-poppin' good time. But I always remember our first trip to Key West Pride because on the first night, there was a variety show featuring LGBT performers singing, dancing, being merry, and Mary, and just kicking the weekend off with a bang.

One number, sung by two women has always stayed with me. It was their rendition of a song Julie Andrews sang in the Broadway musical 'Camelot' way back in the 1960s, called 'I loved You Once In Silence' that Guinevere sings of Lancelot. These two women, however, explained that, to them, the song meant much more about gay and lesbian love, and how it, at one time, in many places, had to be hidden away and treated as if it didn't exist.

It had to be silent.....

I loved you once in silence

And misery was all I knew

Trying so to keep my love from showing

All the while not knowing you loved me too

Yes, loved me in lonesome silence

Your heart filled with dark despair

Knowing love would flame in you forever

And I'd never, never know the flame was there

Then one day we cast away our secret longing

The raging tide we held inside would hold no more

The silence at last was broken, we flung wide our prison door

Every joyous word of love was spoken

But times have changed, and gay men and women are more open about whom they love, and the need for silence, while it still might exist in some places, is growing dimmer and dimmer. The silence, in fact, ended this past weekend in Washington state when, in the first six hours of marriage equality, 279 couples spoke up, and asked to be married. 

The silence is ending in Maryland soon. Last Thursday, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed the proclamation confirming that his state’s residents approved marriage equality. Counties throughout the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples instantly, although the first weddings will not take place until the law officially goes into effect January 1. Governor Paul LePage of Maine certified his state’s election results approving marriage equality on November 29, and the law goes into effect in time for New years Eve weddings.

The silence is ending in those three states, bringing the number of places in this country, where all men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, are free to marry the person they love, to ten, following New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. 

And the silence might just finally end in California, if the Supreme Court decides to overturn Prop H8 and allow all Californians equality. Add to that, the idea that new polls in New Jersey and Illinois show both those states leaning toward equality as well; New Jersey voters think same sex marriage should be allowed in their state by a 53/36 margin, and Illinois voters believe it should be permitted by a 47/42 spread.

It's funny, there's that old saying about silence being golden, and now all I can think of is that the silence in which many gay and lesbian couples used to live, out of fear, and shame, and, at many times, a need to protect themselves, that silence has turned to gold.

As in wedding bands.

Ashley Cavnerand Jessica Lee

James Griener and Paul Harris

Jocelyn Guzman and Shawn Sanders
drove down from Anchorage, Alaska, to be married

Jane Abbott Lighty and Pete-e Petersen.

Larry Duncan and Randy Shepherd

Matthew Wiltse and Jonathon Bashford

Will Gerome and John Kirby