Water Features At Parque Eduardo Ruiz

If you are dreaming up plans for a water feature... 

An Adobe Dome Building

Our friends Bill and Barbara up in El Rito, in the northern part 

of New Mexico, took advantage of the Adobe Construction Program 

put on by Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) a few years ago

 and had the class build a small adobe dome building on their property

 for the price of supplying the foundation and the adobe bricks.

 Such a deal.

Insulated Concrete Forms

Our friend Susie let us tag along when she went to check out

 insulated concrete forms at a job site in Santa Fe, N.M.

 She was interested in using Faswall Wall Forms 

and had gotten permission from local contractor Doug McDowel 

to let us visit his building site where he was using Faswall.

Andrew's Windows

If you are planning on designing or building windows 

our friend Andrew has built several that offer an array of ideas.

Thorncrown Chapel, Eureka Springs, Ark.

Before we leave the Eureka Springs, Arkansas area I want to include

 the Thorncrown Chapel which is on the edge of town.

The website has a nice virtual tour.

Spring St., Eureka Springs, Ark.- Buildings, Gardens, And Springs

Whenever we are driving across the country and we have enough time

 for a detour we try to stop at Eureka Springs, Arkansas

 And once there the place to be is Spring Street.

More Stone Buildings In Winchester, Virginia

The previous post was on the Colonial Stone Buildings Of Winchester, Virginia

 but building with stone continued into more modern times.

 Above, and the next two photos, show mid 20th century homes. 

The Colonial Stone Buildings Of Winchester, Virginia

Winchester, Virginia is a gold mine of historical architectural styles

 which have been carefully cared for and restored over the years, 

and there is an abundance of stone buildings

 throughout the historical downtown area.

An Artist's Home

We have been camping near the tiny town of Pilar, 

about 20 miles south of Taos, in northern New Mexico recently.

A Small Backyard Pond

I have covered our friends Susie and Ray's
 Albuquerque urban garden in previous posts:

Rain Water Harvesting on June10th
A Cold Frame on April 17th
Worm Composting on April 2nd
The Urban Food Producing Winter Garden on March 7th.

Now I want to show you their very nice and very small backyard pond.
Above is a water lily with koi swimming below.

Stone Descanso

Recently we were driving between Ojo Caliente and El Rito

 in northern New Mexico, when we stopped to photograph 

this descanso which had been placed here to memorialize some one 

who had apparently died in an auto accident at this spot.

Cabins

Small buildings are making a big comeback, 

at least in the blogging world, as witnessed by the number of sites 

devoted to the subject.

Above is a cabin at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon.

Semi-Stabilized Adobe Techniques

Our friends Bill and Barbara have been building ( in their spare time )

 a music and art studio next to their house in El Rito, New Mexico

which is in the northern part of the state.

We happened to stop by the other day to check on the progress.

Real Estate: Build Or Remodel?

     On July 26th, I started a label on buying real estate where I talked about where to look. Now I want to continue with that label and consider the pros and cons of building from scratch or remodeling. My wife and I have always looked for properties to remodel so this will be slanted in that direction. 

More On Shipping Container Building

Back on May 16th I wrote a post on Shipping Container Buildings
and as I was reading the local Santa Fe arts guide yesterday, Pasatiempo
 in the Santa Fe New Mexican, there was an article on the very same project.
 Sorry but Pasatiempo is a pay site, not sure about the archives.

La Santisima Trinidad Church In Arroyo Seco, N.M.

While we are on the subject of adobe churches in the Taos area

 I want to include the church in Arroyo Seco just to the north.

Ranchos De Taos Plaza

Surrounding the St. Francis de Asis Church, which I covered in the previous post, 

is the Ranchos de Taos Plaza,

 which in itself gives a history of building with adobe in New Mexico.

Here is the complete series:

The St. Francis De Asis Church,

Windows And Doors At Ranchos De Taos Plaza,

The Annual Mudding Of The St. Francis De Asis Church In Ranchos De Taos, N.M.-Part 1,

The Annual Mudding Of The St. Francis De Asis Church In Ranchos De Taos, N.M.-Part 2.

The St. Francis De Asis Church

We have been on the road again so I haven't put

 up a post in what seems like forever.

We are in the Taos area and last week we stopped in Ranchos de Taos

 to see the the San Francisco De Asis church.

More Stone Steps

I would like to continue with a post I did on Stone Steps on March 7th.

 If you happen to be thinking of installing steps 

maybe these will give you some design ideas.

Tile Mosaic

I saw this very nice tile mosaic

 in Silver City, N.M. the other day.