House-bound

I've been thinking about housing lately, mainly because we went and bought a house (more on that later). I read Winifred Gallagher's House Thinking and really enjoyed her room-by-room history and meditation on shelter; its beginnings and ongoing role in our lives. Heady! Here's some Web sites she lists in the back of the book.

A Picture Dictionary of Modern Architecure (finally, modernism explained, with helpful images)

Greatest Buildings of the 20th Century (one woman's opinion)

The Jeremiah Lee Mansion Tour (Colonial Georgian splendor)

Sea Ranch (known for its successful blending into the geography)

The Mount (Edith Wharton's Lair)

The Gamble House (Craftsman mania)

Home Inspection Nightmares VII (from This Old House)

Levittown (the house as American Dream)

Atlas of Sacred Sites Around the World

We're leaving Oakland for other greenery. It's sad and difficult to leave friends and family but it's also a good time to start over. Oakland has so much potential for greatness but it's also a very difficult place to live. There was a garbage lock-out this month, resulting in much...garbage. A journalist was just gunned down in the street yesterday and seven Black Muslims were arrested in connection to the crime. I can't walk by the art center near my old neighborhood and not think about the woman who was nearly burned to death there one night. I wonder how she's doing. There are well over a hundred liquor stores in Oakland and not enough police and a lot of good will but not a lot of solutions. Great weather though. We'll miss the weather. We'll miss all the people but we'll come visit. One thing Oakland doesn't lack and that's character. I'll always remember the mix of cultures, the food and the music. These are what make Oakland special and great. I'm getting all sappy. Thinking about home does that to me.