Change Happens--Yes We Can

We interrupt our house blogging to share with you this amazing video by Will.I.Am. of the Black Eyed Peas, the "Yes We Can" song based on Barack Obama's speech.

www.yeswecansong.com

Whatever your political leanings are, it's worth a listen.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

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"Lyrics" to Barack Obama's Yes We Can Speech

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom. Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. (yes we can) Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can. Si Se Puede.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We want change!

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
We want change! I want Change.

The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.

As Seen By Google

Is it too invasive for Google to post pictures of your dwelling online? I'm not sure. On one hand, I think the new Street View feature on Google Maps is kinda cool. You can cruise up and down the streets of your town, or look around a city you've never been to before. Or catch a view of a landmark impossible to get otherwise. At the same time, I felt slightly violated when I found pictures of my own home online. What if I had been standing at the window when the Google cameras drove by, wearing my scary glasses and Boo Boo Bear pajamas, unwilling yet to face the world? What if I had kids? Would I want somebody to be able to zoom in on them at their leisure?

The Box House. Don't try to use the zoom or navigation features visible in these images. This is a screen capture from Google Maps.

Alternate view of The Box House before we purchased it, as seen by Google.

The condo building where we are currently renting out our unit, which we hope to sell when the market improves.

Before we bought The Box House, while we were still shopping around, I would pull up all of the addresses of the homes we were looking at on Street View for an unhurried look at the neighborhood. Much of the Chicago area has now been mapped. More than once, potential future neighbors could be seen watering their lawns, washing their cars, or hanging out on their front porch. I even mentioned it to one woman we encountered. "Hey, we saw you with your kids online." She had no idea what I was talking about, hadn't heard of Google's streetview, and I think I freaked her out more than a little bit--about how what she obviously saw as a violation of her privacy by a company happened without her knowledge and, maybe more so, about her new potential neighbor who was looking at her and her family without her knowing it.

Google Street View isn't in all areas yet--my mom's other house hasn't been photographed yet, nor my brother's house outside of Houston--although it looks as if the Google camera van is documenting areas closer and closer to them all the time. If it hasn't made it to your neck of the woods yet, here are a few voyeuristic links to follow:

One Guy's List of Top 15 Things Seen on Google Street View
Ten Urban Street Scenes

10 Trees = $10

I just joined the Arbor Day Foundation, and for my $10 membership I shall receive 10 trees from the Wild Bird Garden collection: a red oak, a river birch, a sargent crabapple, a Washington Hawthorn, a tulip tree, two Canadian hemlock, an arrowwood viburnum, a gray dogwood, and a bur oak. I had a choice between these or a flowering tree collection, or all oaks, or all pines, or an autumn classics collection, or one of a few other combos, but this sounded like a good mix.

Tulip Tree. Image from Wikipedia.

Okay, I know they'll probably only be four or five inches tall when they get here in April, but I'm working with a strict budget this year, people. The trees will go in pots in the yard until they grow big enough to fend for themselves and I can decide where to put them. Some will go against the house as part of the foundation planting, others will highlight various nooks and crannies in the yard. I'm sure it will be years before they are sturdy enough to support any Wild Birds, however.

For good measure, I ordered a rowan tree as well to plant by the front door. According to Northern European folklore--my peeps are from Finland and Poland--a rowan tree will protect your home from evil, from witches, from bad fairies, from fires, and from lightning strikes. Sounds like a cheap insurance policy to me. The wood is also good for dowsing rods, magic wands, and magician's staves.

Rowan tree in Helsinki, Finland. Image from Wikipedia.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees,
under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
—Nelson Henderson

Dreams of Incorporating Storybook Style

The Box House is, well, very boxy in appearance, filled with plumb lines and ninety-degree angles. I'd love to add some storybook design elements, something to make the house seem a touch more whimsical and fairytale-ish yet in keeping with its general 1920s flavor.

Also called Provincial Revivalism, Fairy Tale, or Hansel and Gretel style, Storybook Style seems to have been popular on the West Coast. I've seen only a handful of examples in the Chicago area--my bus in high school used to pass by one we called the hobbit house, because it looked as if Frodo would step out at any moment.

Lights, lanterns, and sconces are great ways to transform a room or facade, I think. The porch light we currently have is a round ball of light with this whopping huge motion activator attached to it. It's ugly. Period. I figure a storybook style light might add the touch of whimsy I'm looking for.

I really, really like one porch light made by Mica Lamps: Storybook Granada Six-Side Wall Sconce. I think it would be perfect, but it's seven hundred dollars. Yes, $700. For a porch light.

Now I need help in justifying just why such an expenditure would be necessary, seeing as the cost of this lamp is more than two car payments--although the car will be paid off in May! (Hooray!) Really, it's a lamp. How does a lamp get to be $700?

Here's another one I like, and it's currently on sale for the bargain price of six hundred dollars. Still more than two car payments, but look how charming it is!


Seriously, if anyone has a source for similar style lamps that are designed for my modest and humble budget, I'd love to hear about them.

A very cool external link that you must check out to learn more about this style is this: Storybookers.com