the [maine] air show

only spent a few hours at the "great state of maine airshow" but it was long enough to get a few pictures.

when you're here, you're [family]

this summer, my wife and i went to the annual st. peters italian bazaar festival and had a wonderful time.  it was a perfect summer weekend to be outdoors.  we enjoyed a few games, some absolutely wonderful cannoli's and witnessed one of the crazier events i've ever seen, the greased pole competition.  as much as we enjoyed the day the best moments were later that evening.  we ran into the wonderful lady who helped coordinate our wedding with the church, who lovingly asked us how the first two months of marriage had been.  later on, as i was trying to purchase my third cannoli of the evening, the lady taking my cash recognized my wife from being an anchor on the local news.  that led to a wonderful 10 minute conversation discussing how much she enjoyed watching my wife on the news and how much we had enjoyed the festival, putting smiles on all our faces.

we not only left the festival that night full of the absolute best cannoli's i've ever had, but also realizing that after a year and a half in our new home, we were starting to feel a part of the community, which is a wonderful feeling.

also did i mention how great the cannolis were?

gropius [live]

a couple years back i wrote about the worst crit i ever had in architecture school.  the crit was for a case study of the gropius house.  fifeteen years after that fateful day, i had the chance to visit the house in person.

the gropius house holds a special place in my architectural heart.  coming from engineering school, i entered the college of architecture without fully "understanding" architecture, and my first crit proved that.  however after it was explained to me exactly why this house is special, i slowly started to understand the magic of good architecture and thoughtful design.  lessons learned during that crit are represented in every project i work on.  i will be eternally grateful to the gropius house for that reason.

living in portland maine, i'm now only 2 hours away from it's location.  this  past  summer, as we were heading to massachusetts to visit friends, my wife and i made a stop in lincoln to visit it.  it was incredible!  it's a strange feeling to have studied something so well and then see it in person.  it's similar to seeing your favorite band play your favorite song live.  no matter how many times you've played that song it will sound better live.  it's the same thing with architecture.

i know an architect writing about "how there's just something about being in the space" is nothing new....but for me this visit was special.  this house represents the reason i love architecture and why i enjoy being an architect.  i got to see gropius "live" and it rocked!