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This is a Mother's Day g ift for someone I hold
most dear. She requested words. This is fo r her:
In the long landscape o f time, my days floated by
like dandelion parachutes in the August air. As a young
man, I scarcely nodded at the crests and valleys o f
experience. Now, in the fullness o f the late seasons o f
my life, the whispers and rumors o f finitude shape and
tint each passing hour. I am like a Japanese diner
presented w ith a beautifully arranged meal o f fugu fish.
The artistry, colors, textures, and flavors intensify under
the shadow o f extinction.
I am at last able to recognize those crystalline days o f
soft spirit and sublim ity as I live them. The w riter
Annie D illard says these insights, these epiphanies, can
come to those who wait fo r it, but it is always "a g ift
and a total surprise." "I cannot cause light," she writes.
"The most I can do is try to put m yself in the path o f its
beam."
I want to thank you fo r sharing one special day in
May with me under that beam o f light.
K urt Vonnegut, in his book Timequake. speaks o f his
uncle Alex. "M y uncle Alex Vonnegut...taught me
something very important. He said that when things
were really going well we should be sure to notice it.
"He was talking about simple occasions, not great
victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon
in the shade, or smelling the aroma o f a nearby bakery,
or fishing and not caring i f we catch anything or not, or
hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really w ell
in the house next door.
"Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during
such epiphanies: 'I f this isn't nice, what is?"'
Our day together was one o f those occasions when
all the Fates conspire, a Prussian blue sky and
enchantment afoot in the ether, moments that break the
spirit's sleep. And best o f all, I knew it. The events
unfolded like the petals o f an orchid, subtle, perfumed
w ith emotion.
We walked quietly in the Japanese Gardens. You
held my hand. N o one has ever done that. We sat in the
spring sunlight in front o f the pavilion, a caravanserai
fo r lodging dreams. Two fallen petals floated past in a
clear stream, swirled and touched, pirouetted together
and fused.
Later we dined on the foods o f the East: squid,
Jasmine rice, curries, coconut m ilk, Thai prawns. A t a
concert, the tender voice o f the Islands, the slack-key
guitar, sang poems o f a people's hearts.
It was the nicest day I ever had, and I knew it.
Y.. h M a <
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G ourmet P izz A
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|
?’
W hat I learned on my spring vacation
W e awoke to a downpour yesterday morning,
a steady spring rain that makes the grass grow, seeds
germinate, and slugs proliferate, it felt like a good
morning Io have a small fire in the woodstove.
Because we recycle all the paper we can, we
have a small refuse container in (he kitchen for
"bumables" that can't be recycled, and that's what we
use to start fires We're getting to the time o f year
when w«xxl stove fires are unnecessary, and those
small paper bags o f waste have to go in the trash and
eventually to the land fill. So, the psychological
warmth o f a fire this morning seemed attractive,
especially since I'd he able to utilize that little bag of
sales slips, butter wrappers, and so forth
»—
H it the fire. A few minutes later I came
hack into the living room and was startled by the
warmth emanating from the wixxlstove. You see,
we've been away fix three weeks, working on the
Central California coast near San Luis Obispo. 'i'ou're
probably thinking, quite accurately, that the weather
there was warm and dry , w ith spring further along than
here, a thousand miles further north. Indeed it was
California poppies, bush lupine, ceanothus, and
various sages cloaked the hillsides and jierfumed the
air.
It's true the climate is warmer there, but
w hat really made the difference was that we stayed in a
passive solar, timber frame and straw bale construction
guest house That house didn't get cold, nor did it get
hot It was roughly the same nxxlerate temperature all
the time, w hether the outside temperature was close to
80 degrees in the afterntxxi. or below 40 at night. And,
there was no furnace or wood stove. The cottage
interior temperature was very' stable, warmed by the
sun striking a concrete floor, and that warmth insulated
by the straw bale walls, which provide a minimum o f
R-29 insulation, superior to the Washington energy
axle's R-21.
The point is that I could feel a palpable
difference—no cold spots in the house, no hot spots,
no drafts. The cottage was designed and built by a
couple o f sophisticated architects at the San Luis
Obispo Sustainability Croup as an adjunct to their
home and offices. Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper's
complex has received national attention for its
implementation o f solar heating and cooling, solar and
low-head hydro electrical generation, straw hale
construction, and natural daylighting employing sky
I ids, light shelves and other techniques.
In other words, we were living in a mixlel of
sustainable design for a couple weeks, and now 1 lixik
at our wixxlstove differently. As much as I enjoy its
dry heat and a>zy tradition, I'm thinking there's got to
be a better way, even in this climate with less sun and
more rain. I know that in Northern Germany, they're
experimenting with transparent insulation—yes, walls
that allow light into the house while insulating it far
better than our double or triple-pane windows. I know
that with new construction, we could have higher
levels o f insulation, w hether conventional baits or
straw bale, than in our retrofitted 1895 house, which
already uscs60T less energy than most new houses
built in Washington. I'm also reminded that the oldest
building in Nebraska is built o f straw bales covered
with stucco, so it's got me thinking.
When we left on this "sabbatical," I expected
to enjoy the weather, the people, and learn a few
things while my husband made some money working
with his long time Inends and colleagues at the
Sustainability Croup. I didn't expect to come back
with an uneasy feeling, a slight dissatisfaction with
what we've done so far with our own home.
I'm starting to dream o f a passive solar
house—yes, it'll work here on the Northwest coast,
with just a little help from a wixxlstove—plus a
courtyard facing south, protected from our summer
northwest winds. And the little creek that sang by the
San Luis Obispo cottage, that would be nice too.
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“ Money won’t buy happiness, but it w ill pay the salaries o f a
large research staff to study the problem.” B ill Vaughan
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CANNON BEACH
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Passive solar design
Conscientious material use
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