The Long and Winding Road

I've been spending more time down on the Milwaukee River these days, taking the dog for some exercise and meeting people and other dogs along the way.  The path parallels the river on both sides and at least right, while the grass is short, my dog has lots of room to roam and explore.  It's an area I plan to explore more with images.  This one, I'm experimenting with a Lightroom preset that I found online.  I find it interesting in that the image has this glow to it and the color makes it look surreal.  It certainly doesn't work for everything but I kind of like it here.  Let me know what you think!

When Will Winter End?

It's officially Spring now but you wouldn't necessarily now it. The call today is for some snow yet again in the Milwaukee area. Mind you, I actually don't mind the snow but we're trying to build a new house in downtown Milwaukee and we can't seem to get started. We need three days of dry weather in order to start the dig but it's March and this has me worried.

Our plans are to build a house within Kane Commons, a small community being developed by Julilly Kohler. The development will include 13 single and multiple dwelling Condos including three 'bluff' homes overlooking the Milwaukee River. Our home will be on the street (East Kane Place) and will look like a traditional free standing home consistent with the period of the original 'Polish Flats' of the area. However, inside, will be a more contemporary feel (more on that in the future). The most exciting part of this project is that the house will be 'green' with a focus on energy efficiency. This will include a geothermal heating system, biobased foam insulation, energy efficient windows and much more. We are planning to have the house certified under LEED for Homes, a green building standard of the US Green Building Council.

To build the house, we've contracted with Pragmatic Construction, an upstart builder whose primary focus in on green construction. They've won several awards for their green builds and are a fun bunch to work with. Check out their website, they will be also be documenting the build of my home there. Now, we just need to weather to cooperate so we can get started!

Today's photo brings us a bit of summer. It's an infrared photo from my converted (by Lifepixel) Canon 20D. I'm still in experimentation mode but I like what it can produce so far. This image is from Deerfield Beach, Florida. At least I can imagine the warm sun on my face . . .