how big is this country??

Five weeks gets longer everyday it seems. Yeah, yeah, yeah…we’ve only been apart since Eric flew to San Francisco on Saturday, but already it seems like an eternity. Pepper and I both miss him horribly, but thankfully, Pep has accepted southern living (or at least fit it into her former mode) and has remained pretty chill. The thunderstorm yesterday put her in a bit of a tizzy but within minutes of the thunder ceasing she was back to her laid-back self. As you may notice by my focus on Pepper and what she’s up to…not much to relay here. No Yankee to harass anymore! Awwwww….just kidding. I found a coffee shop in Paragould where I am settling in to heat up the job/apartment searching. It’s funny how the trend of coffee shops has reached NE Arkansas and transformed. To put it mildly, this breed of coffee shop is a little different but a hangout for regulars more than stoppers-by nonetheless.

I suppose that the biggest news that we have right now is…the date is set!

The hitchin’ is taking place: May 15, 2009 at Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A little background is in order here (I apologize for my own dorkdom up front—push glasses up nose—the art history nerd comes out)…Thorncrown Chapel was designed by Arkansas architect, Fay Jones, and built in 1980. It has been noted as a major turning point in his career and was awarded only a couple of years ago the very prestigious award, the AIA 25 Year Award. Just before I came up to PA, I helped to archive Jones’s work and quite honestly became admittedly enamored with not only his quiet aesthetic but especially his attention to engaging the landscape. Thorncrown does not exist without its environment. Placed on a concrete surface, it would lose almost all of its delicacy. It is composed of only glass, stone found in the Ozarks, steel connectors, and nominal lumber (nothing fancy…just whatever can be purchased from the lumber yard). Jones designed the building so that it could be erected on the site with minimal site work or damage in the process of construction…it was raised like a barn! The walls are transparent, broken only by the repetition of the slices of structure. (Check out the Fay Jones Papers for some really cool images of building it) It is a simple, elegant building that is entirely encased by the woods…I could think of no better fit for us.

Now, we have to figure out how we're going to get you all there...

-g

"heeeaaaayyy yaw'lll...I'm Pepper..."

This is the place! Not so bad for a bunch of rednecks, eh?