Architecture Wednesday: in the Heart of the Amazon

I’ve always liked that indoor-outdoor feel in a home, but this one, located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, along the Rio Negro in Manaus, Brazil, seems to take it one step further.

It’s hard to tell when you’re in the house, and when you’re out of the house.

The concrete house, all 7500 square feet of it, is also fill with the warmth of local, exotic woods in the doors, windows, decks and cabinetry. The floors are white cement and all the wet areas—the infinity pool, the barbecue area and the entrance waterfall… let that sink in, the entrance waterfall—are made of oxidized concrete with iron.

In that entrance hall, the rain creates a waterfall and each interior patio employs rain chains to channel that water away, while creating a relaxing, natural sound when it rains.

Nature seems invited to enter the house through various openings in the roof, as well as the gardens that serve almost as room dividers; this also helps to create a natural ventilation system to radiate heat out of the house and keep things cool under the hot Brazilian sun. Fresh air goes down to the planted patios and the windows created by high ceilings let out the hot air.

As I said, you don’t know whether you’ve stepped outside or inside, but either way it’s gorgeous.

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Feud: Whoopi v Jeanine

A hard and fast rule …. never tell Whoopi Goldberg who she is. Whoopi is Whoopi and she’ll gladly tell her yourself who she is, so don’t come for her.

Okay Judge Jeanine?

Jeanine Pirro, a Fox news and_____ darling, was set to appear on The View last week to hawk her book on ______, but when she arrived, and learned that conservative pundit, and staunchly anti-_____ Ana Navarro was sitting in for Joy Behar she apparently became enraged.

She asked that Ana not appear in her segment; the show refused. And she apparently shrieked like a GOP snowflake, demanding that the producers “handle this.” And they did; they told Jeanine to sit at the table, right beside Ana, and do her interview or leave.

Jeanine sat, but was then looking for a fight. And she got one when she told Whoopi that she suffered from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.

Whoopi begged to differ and said:

“Did you just point at me? Listen, I don’t have Trump derangement [syndrome]. Let me tell you what I have. I’m tired of people starting a conversation with ‘Mexicans are liars and rapists.’ Listen, I’m 62 years old. There have been a lot of people in office that I didn’t agree with. But I have never, ever seen anything like this. I have never seen anybody whip up such hate. I have never seen anybody be so dismissive.”

Jeanine, because her lips are pressed firmly to _____ ass, said:

“You know what’s horrible? When people who shouldn’t be here end up murdering the children of American citizens!” 

And Whoopi replied:

“What is horrible is when the president of the United States whips up people to beat the hell out of people … Say goodbye. I’m done!” 

Whoopi was, so incensed she had to get host Sara Haines to wrap up the segment and go to commercial.But the drama didn’t end there, because Jeanine Pirro is a vile human being. In front of the audience, Pirro stood, ripped off her microphone, called all the women of The View ‘cocksuckers’ and stormed off.

Well, Whoopi had already left the stage, top cool off, when Pirro decided to walk past her. A source says:

“Jeanine could have walked by her. There was one more segment to do. She could have walked by her easily, she put her finger in her face and said, ‘I’ve done more for abused women than you will ever do’ and that’s when Whoopi said, ‘You and I have never had a problem,’ before everything else was said.”

And then she allegedly shouted:

“F**k you! Get the f**k out of here.”

Whoopi ended the show by apologizing to the audience for the blowup:

“You saw me do something I very rarely do … I very rarely lose my cool and I’m not proud of it. I don’t like it. But I also don’t like being accused of being hysterical because that is one of the things I try not to be on this show.”

Jeanine took her side to TMZ and played the victim card because, well, Fox News, GOP< _____:

“Look, I don’t mind four against one, I can handle it, but I don’t like being mistreated by people who invited you to have a discussion and then treat you like you’re less than human.”

I may remind you … “cocksucker.” That’s what Pirro said.

And, because it’s TV and everyone has a show, the next morning, Whoopi took on the tale again:

“She seemed to leave some key points out. She left a lot of pertinent stuff out…There’s a lot of spinning she’s doing and I can’t do anything about that but I can tell you what went on. She was upset when she got here because Ana Navarro was here instead of Joy [Behar]. After the segment, which ended up when it was supposed to, she then called everybody at the table a name I cannot repeat on TV [cocksucker] and said it in front of the audience.”

Whoopi went on:

“When I came offstage…I was a little hot. She came off. She could have just passed me. She didn’t need to stop but she stopped and put her finger in my face and yelled ‘I’ve done more for victims than you ever will.’ Then I said to her some few choice words [f**k you] that I cannot repeat. But I did not spit on her. I did not intimidate her. No one chased her out. But she did leave her cursing at the people who book the show, she cursed at the guys who do the security for the show…None of us were chasing her because we still had another segment to do.”

And then Pirro took the story to her own show, the lop-sided, one-sided, _____-sided, Fox News channel and basically said this is about hatred for ______:

“The level of hatred toward the 45th president of the United States is beyond anything we have seen in American history. He was once an icon sought after for movies, television, by politicians on both sides of the aisle, sports figures and yes, even the media. Then he ran for president. Now Donald Trump is the target of vitriol so palpable it’s simply frightening. And reason has become irrelevant. We can’t have conversations anymore. What you’re doing is tearing down America. You’re tearing down the values of the United States. Everyone has the right to speak. But when you can’t even listen to what someone has to say because you despise the man who is president, you undermine not the president, you undermine the United States.”

Wait, he’s sought after for movies? Is she is publicist now? And, again, calling Mexicans vile names, calling all Muslims terrorists, being a misogynistic pig, cozying up to murderous dictators, groping women, calling Nazis ‘nice people’ are not the actions of a man with American values.

It’s hate, and Jeanine Pirro is doing what she can to help _____ out by doing what she, Fox News, the GOP and _____do best … lie. And, with that, Jeanine came off as an hysterical shrew … cocksucker … sticking up for hate and racism and sexual predators, but again, Fox News, the GOP and _____.

PS _____ gave Jeanine 20K when she ran against Hillary for New York Senate and lost in spectacular fashion, and ever since then she’s been smooching the flabby orange ass.

Tuesday Thought #4

Tuesday Thought #3

Tuesday Thought #2

Tuesday Thought #1

Serenity Now

One of Must See spots in Portland for Carlos and me is the Japanese Garden, one of the most peaceful, beautiful, calming spaces I’ve ever seen.

Overlooking the city, the Garden sits high in the West Hills of Portland and provides a sort of urban oasis for locals and travelers alike. Designed in 1963 with the idea that the experience of peace can contribute to a long-lasting peace, it encompasses 12 acres with eight separate garden styles, meandering streams, intimate walkways, a spectacular view of Mt. Hood, and an authentic Japanese Tea House.

Back in Miami, we had several small stone Pagodas in our garden and so we love to see these stone temples spread throughout the gardens.

The garden was inspired in the late 1950s by growing cultural ties between Oregon and Japan. Mayor Terry Schrunk and members of the Portland community conceived the idea of building a Japanese garden on the site of the old zoo in Washington Park. Their reasons were twofold: providing Portland with a garden of great beauty and serenity, while forging a healing connection to Japan on the heels of World War II.

At this time in U.S. history, Japanese gardens were founded across the country as a way to build cultural understanding. Needing no translation, an American could experience firsthand Japanese ideals and values, communicated simply through nature.

The site was dedicated in 1961, and Professor Takuma Tono of Tokyo Agricultural University was retained to design the Garden. Professor Tono’s plan included five different garden styles laid out on 5.5 acres. This was quite a departure from gardens in Japan which typically follow one singular style. His intention was to represent different historical developments in Japanese garden architecture and through that communicate Japanese culture to create a cultural exchange.

Being that it’s Portland, and on a hillside, there are steep waterfalls, and ponds and streams everywhere. The sound of trickling water is just one more tranquil note.

In 1967, the Garden formally opened to the public for the summer. Admission was $0.50 for adults and $0.25 for students. That year, more than 28,000 people came before the Garden closed for the winter.

One of the great things about this visit, was the display of Bonsai, some as old as three-hundred years. Carlos had purchased a Bonsai in Coconut Grove years ago, that we still have in our sunroom today and he loved seeing these far more ancient specimens.

In 1968, the Kashintei Tea House was constructed in Japan, shipped in pieces, and reassembled in the Garden. Other structures were added as the five gardens evolved. The Pavilion Gallery, which sits at the heart of the Flat Garden, was in Professor Tono’s original plan. However, it was not completed until 1980.

When the garden was expanded the old Tea House structure was turned into an exhibit space, and a new, modern, glass-walled Tea House was set near the entrance to overlook the hillside.

In the winter of 1981 it was decided that the Garden could be open year-round, and in 2015 the Garden partnered with architect Kengo Kuma to expand its footprint to accommodate its rapid visitor growth, as well as its ability to immerse visitors in Japanese arts and culture. In April 2017, the Garden’s new Cultural Village opened and featured three new structures—each one LEED-certified—that exist harmoniously with nature both inside and out.

My favorite spots are the Zen Gardens, and the graceful placement of stones, and the raking of designs into the sand. It’s just so calming.

Throughout the Garden’s history, it has been acclaimed by several visiting Japanese dignitaries as one of the most beautiful and authentic Japanese gardens in the world outside of the island nation, as well as one of the foremost Japanese cultural organizations in North America. When His Excellency Nobuo Matsunaga, the former Ambassador of Japan to the United States, visited the Portland Japanese Garden, he proclaimed it to be “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.”

I’d have to agree.

Portland Japanese Garden