Despite increasing pressures on Colorado’s fragile water supply in the coming decades, competing interests — cities, industries, agriculture, recreation and environmental groups — could all be satisfied if the state takes a smart approach to growth combined with revamping antiquated policies governing how the precious resource gets used.

That’s the conclusion shared by a panel of water experts who discussed the topic at forum on Tuesday at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. The panel featured Colorado Department of Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar, Denver Water CEO Jim Lochhead and Bart Miller, who directs the water program at Western Resource Advocates. It was organized by the Denver-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and moderated by the firm’s Michelle Kales.

Michelle Kales, chair of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s renewable energy practice, James Lochhead, CEO/manager of Denver Water, and John Salazar, Commissioner of Agriculture, participate in the law firm’s panel on water’s impact on economic and agricultural growth, which was co-sponsored by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

“Water is a finite and ever-scarcer resource, and regardless of the industry you represent, or your personal position, how the state manages the water resources it has will be critical to the economic success and the quality of life in the state of Colorado,” Kales stated at the outset.

In light of Denver’s stage 2 drought and concerns about water shortages across the state, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and The University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-sponsored the panel on April 23.

While the “ongoing push-and-pull between urban use and rural use” described by Kales has been an undercurrent of Colorado politics since statehood — “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting” might well be the unofficial motto of the arid state — a rapidly growing population and an unpredictably changing climate mean that traditional planning no longer cuts it, the panelists agreed.

Riley Combelic, Lauren Hammond, unidentified guest, Cortney Brand and Andrea Cole pose for a photograph at the reception following the panel on water held on April 23.

Colorado is projected to grow by another 3 million residents by 2040, a 60-percent increase that far outpaces the country’s or the world’s population growth over the same period. And much of that growth will be concentrated in the dozen Front Range counties — stretching from Larimer and Weld south to Pueblo — which, by 2040, could constitute 80 percent of the state’s population.

Susan Daggett, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute at the University of Denver, and Bart Miller, water program director at the environmental group Western Resource Advocates, chat after a panel discussion on April 23­ at DU’s Sturm College of Law about the future of water availability in Colorado. epartment of Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar.

While the vast share of Colorado’s water is used for agriculture — currently 85 percent — the addition of so many new residents is projected to boost annual demand for water by as much as 630,000 acre feet, more than twice what Denver Water currently supplies to its 1.3 million customers. (The utility provides water for its namesake city and 14 surrounding suburbs.)

Sabrina Garvin and John Yelenick of Porosity Storage Reservoir Systems, and Dorothy MeNeese, a cartographic technician at USDA Forest Service, enjoy a reception following the water panel at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law on April 23.

“Is it possible to meet that demand?” Salazar asked. The answer, he said, lies in conservation and efficiency, citing Australia as an example of the kind of low water use Colorado can emulate. That country only uses 36 gallons of water per capita every day, while the average Coloradan goes through 121 gallons every day — significantly higher than the average U.S. per capita consumption of 98 gallons a day.

The conversation, Salazar maintained, has to change. Instead of saying so many people are moving here, and they’ll each need a certain amount of water, he said, the discussion should start with how much water is available and proceed to how the newcomers can use it.

“Water should not be a limiting factor for growth. It’s how you use that water,” he said. “As long as that water’s not used consumptively, it can be used over and over and over again to infinity,” he said, pointing to the reuse of “every single molecule” of water on the space station.

Although farms and ranches use most of the state’s water, Salazar said, the equation could change in coming years as the state loses as much as 3 million acres of agricultural land over the next decade. And as urban and industrial users gobble up water rights, that could dry up an additional half million acres of agricultural land by mid-century.

“We have to make every single effort we can possibly can to make sure that we keep water on the land, farming and raising crops,” he said, noting that agriculture makes up the second-largest slice of the state’s economy.

Coloradans have to stop encouraging urban sprawl, Salazar said. “Instead of growing out, we should talk about planning our cities and growing upwards,” he said, noting that condominium dwellers, for instance, use as much as 70 percent less water than their neighbors in single-family homes surrounded by thirsty lawns.

Lochhead made a similar point later.

“If we continue the western ethic of sprawl, if we are developing quarter-acre, third-acre, half-acre lots half way out to Kansas, we will not have a sustainable environment, both environmentally, and particularly from a water-use standpoint,” Lochhead said. He added, “Sprawl will destroy what makes Colorado Colorado.”

But make no mistake, the panelists agreed, there’s likely to be even less water available in a state already buffeting between droughts as the climate changes.

Scientists are projecting significant increases in temperature, particularly in the spring months, which could have a devastating effect on snowmelt, Miller said. Add in a future where “decreasing snowpack is the norm” and the West’s water landscape could change dramatically. “We are facing a future where Lake Powell and Lake Mead may not function the way they have,” he said.

“What climate change does is forces us to think longer-term,” Miller said after the discussion. “On top of the fact it’s more people, we have to deal with this long-term drought issue. I think it heightens the need for us to have smaller water footprints, have new developments that don’t use as much water so they won’t be impacted by drought or climate change as much. If your dependency on water is lower, you won’t be as affected by climate change.”

“Water is not only a scarce resource but it is potentially a diminishing resource if you look at the effects of a warming climate,” said Lochhead, noting that Denver Water recently hired a climate scientist to help grapple with the looming challenges.

“If we’re going to sustain Colorado and its values as a state beyond the next few decades and survive in a changing climate, we need to move beyond traditional thinking of supplying water to whatever development might occur,” he said, making another case for limiting suburban sprawl.

A changing climate is just one recent development among many that throws a wrench in what has been a stable, if contentious, endeavor: predicting how much water customers might need.

In the past, Lochhead said, water planning was “linear” — based on past data about the availability of water combined with projections about population growth and anticipated usage.

“I think we’ve seen in the last 10-plus years that the complexities and the uncertainties make this approach unsustainable,” he said, adding that “a more dynamic approach” will be required.

Among the shifting uncertainties he listed are changing drought patterns, the devastating effects of more forest fires — the resulting change to run-off adds tremendous strain on water treatment and storage systems — plus potential terrorist threats and even the lingering impact of economic downturns.

Conservation and efficiency are key, he said, including an eventual goal of reusing every drop of water before returning it to streams. In addition, he said, the utility has adopted a different understanding of its own infrastructure. Instead of just counting its dams, pipes and treatment plants, the concept also encompasses the water sheds, equipment inside customers’ homes such as high-efficiency appliances and fixtures, and outdoor landscaping that uses less water.

Miller stressed that it’s critical to “decrease the water footprint” of new customers, while also exploring innovative water projects, and making it easier to reuse water and for agricultural and urban customers to share water depending on their needs.

“They’re not brand-new ideas. The question is going to be how aggressively we implement things,” he said.

The panelists agreed that water law needs reforming, with Lochhead — himself a former water lawyer — calling it “way more complicated than it needs to be.”

As the only panelist who isn’t a water lawyer — although his brother, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar more than makes up for it — Salazar said that complex and expensive water law too often stymies practical solutions to water problems.

“If there was less water attorneys in the state, I think we’d get along a little better,” he said. “You can get two people in the room, and you can discuss and figure out a solution, and then one water attorney walks in the room and everything goes to hell in a hand basket.”

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com

JACKSON, WY — April 12, 2013 Craig Douglas Kelley, 59, resident of Jackson, Wyoming passed away from illness this morning, just four days short of his 60th birthday. Owner of the Sassy Moose Inn, Jackson Hole Landscaping and Complete Tree Service, Craig found success in virtually everything he put his mind to.

He graduated from Harvard in 1975 with a B.A. in Soviet-American economics. He married his first wife, Victoria Peterson, and within a year of graduation they had a daughter, Ashley. Craig was also blessed with a brilliant mind for business. After college, he joined the Bridgestone Tire Company as a market analyst retiring 18 years later in 1992 as Executive Vice President.

Craig was always generous and kind and an eternal optimist. He never ceased to take a phone call, provide a helping hand, invest in the life of a stranger, and he never shrank from a challenge. He leaves behind a wife, daughter, two grandchildren, mother, two brothers, two nieces and two nephews. Consider yourself lucky to have known a man like Craig. His many friends, associates, and family miss him dearly.

Memorial contributions may be sent in Craig’s name c/o his wife, Natallia Isaveya, The Sassy Moose Inn, 3895 Miles Rd , Wilson , WY 83014 .

TEMECULA, CA—Hidden underneath a baseball cap, mask, and hearing protection and surrounded by a cloud of dust, Chaparral High School’s principal, Gil Compton, swung the arm of a powerful blower back and forth. Working all around him were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, community members, and students. With the blower still strapped to his back, Principal Compton expressed his thanks for the 169 volunteers that spent a few hours this morning doing a wide variety of work around Chaparral’s campus.

Speaking on the need for service, Principal Compton said, “Over the last few years with the budget cuts, we’ve cut our grounds team by 33%, and our custodial team by 33% and at Chap we have lost 18 teachers, but we have stayed roughly the same in the size of student body.” In appreciation for the work done by volunteers today, he also said, “I’ve been here 4 years and this campus has never looked better.”

Just miles away, in the heart of Temecula’s Rancho Estates, volunteers had the privilege to experience the kindness, compassion, and hope that is in abundance among the founders and supporters of Jacob’s House. This unique facility, founded by Shawn Nelson, former Temecula City Manager, is dedicated to the memory of his son, Jacob Andrew Nelson, who was killed in an automobile accident in 2006. In his welcome to volunteers, Shawn said, “We’ve been able to get to this day, six and a half years later, because of the support we have had from our family, our faith, and of course, an amazing community and all of you.”

A total of 155 volunteers, including LDS Church members, painted, weeded, pruned, cleaned and organized Jacob’s House in preparation for their upcoming Open House on June 15.^{Mormon Helping Hands volunteers joined the ranks of other supporters of Jacob’s House including: Excel Landscaping, Ponte’ Winery, Temecula Pool Supply, AB Windows, CRR and several other local businesses and individuals.}

Shawn Nelson, concluded his remarks saying, “The work you do here today is going to be remembered for years to come because I believe we change the world one life at a time, one family at a time and that hope lives where visions connect into one goal of helping families in crisis.”

The “City of Temecula-Old Traditions/New Opportunities” Entry Monument is positioned just west of the I-15 freeway. In 1989, when the city incorporated, residents of the valley overwhelmingly chose the name “Temecula” over the proposed “Rancho California” and our current entry monument was created.

Last Saturday morning, this area was abuzz with activity as well. One hundred forty-eight volunteers in yellow vests, worked together to put a fresh coat of paint on the monument. Workers also cleaned up the surrounding area by gathering debris, trimming trees and painting the wall that surrounds the area. 

The monument, bearing the seal of the City of Temecula, was meticulously painted under the supervision of Jacob Anthony Martinez, Lead Maintenance Supervisor for Temecula Public Works. Volunteers were also assisted by professional painters from South Bay Coatings.

The owner of South Bay Coatings, Steven Anthony, remarked that, “Everyone’s doing really well and we’re making quick work of it. The more people you get involved, the easier the project. When you have plenty of volunteers you can get it done!” For years to come, volunteers will remember their part in preserving this important “Welcome Mat” to our wonderful city.

Mormon Helping Hands has been contributing to communities world wide since 1998. They are most widely known for their relief efforts during several major natural disasters. However, each spring, local Mormon Helping Hands coordinators search for meaningful service projects that can be done by local church members, along with neighbors and friends and community partners. For more information on how you can participate in Mormon Helping Hands, to find projects, or to submit project ideas for April 2014 visit Mhhcalifornia.org.

—News release submitted by Cathy Dunford for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Temecula

The Rev. Ben Morris knows his coffee beans.

The associate pastor of youth, culture and mission at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Livonia, worked in a coffee house while attending Central Michigan University and spent hours in them during his days in the seminary.

“I lived in Germany and there’s a big coffee house culture there. Every day at 4 p.m. was coffee and cake time. I loved that. Everyone would get together and eat a good piece of German torte and talk. I like places where people congregate.

“Livonia has a lot going for it. I’ve spent a lot of time at the rec center and I love it there, but there aren’t a lot of places to just hang out. Why not offer a place you don’t have to pay to participate in it?”

When members and visitors last year began to walk the newly-installed brick labyrinth, a meditative centerpiece of the church’s front lawn, Morris sought a way to make the indoors and outdoor space contiguous. An old library room that looked out onto the church’s patio, gardens and labyrinth, seemed to be the perfect spot for a gathering space for conversation, quiet contemplation, study and a good cup of coffee.

The Abbey Coffee House, a gathering for the community and church members, opened last December, approximately a year after the labyrinth was installed. Both projects were built by volunteers, with church member Jeff Dudek leading the work. Both will be featured in an open house on May 4 and will be dedicated on May 5, as a part of the church’s 50th anniversary celebration weekend that also will include a dinner and worship service.

Including the community

Jeff Schuman, church council member, said the labyrinth and coffee house are meant to “make people feel comfortable and welcome.”

“It’s almost like a public space, as opposed to walking into a closed, holy place, where if you don’t know the rules you will feel out of place,” said Schuman, describing the coffee house. “You want people who aren’t accustomed to being in church to come in and use the space. You want to be open.”

Schuman said the labyrinth, coffee house and associate pastor position are the first “real public” results of a transition that started when the congregation said goodbye to its former pastor and brought in a new pastor, the Rev. Dana Runestad.

He stressed that church members were committed to maintaining the integrity of the worship service — “We didn’t want to be an entertainment venue” — but also wanted to reach out to the community, attract young members, families and those who don’t attend church regularly.

“As we went through the transformation process with the new pastor, we started talking about how to reach out to the community. You can’t just expect people to walk in on Sunday morning and say, hey, we’re looking for a church,” Schuman explained. “What we were looking to do was to create an environment that is accessible and usable by the community that would invite someone to come into a haven or shelter or attractive area to experience the quiet.“

The labyrinth, a winding brick path set inside a circle, serves that purpose.

Schuman said church council members walked a labyrinth at the Inn at St. John in Plymouth a few years ago. When they began to brainstorm ideas for Holy Cross, they remembered the experience. It took approximately a year to complete what the congregation calls the church’s “front porch.” It includes the labyrinth, a fire pit, fountain, landscaping, brick pathways and a patio.

Schuman noted that last June several teenagers posed for photographs on the “front porch” on prom night. He said the church may offer refreshments in the garden to prom-goers this year.

Coffee and conversation

The Abbey, open during church office hours and some evenings, regularly attracts both members and non-members. Morris said college students often stop by to study together. Saturday night is game night.

“When we were building it someone said, ‘we can put in a big flat screen,’ and we said nope,” said Morris, explaining that the space is meant for conversation, face-to-face relationships, or quiet contemplation.

“There are a lot of neighborhoods around here. My hope is that eventually the neighbors here will start to feel like this is a place they can come on a Saturday morning and read the paper. I’m sure people will engage with the spiritual life of the community, and that’s one of the hopes. But if they don’t, that’s okay.”

The room includes both new, locally-bought items and repurposed furnishings.

A portion of the communion rail, which was removed from the sanctuary because of accessibility issues, was turned into a stand for brewing and filling coffee cups. The base of the coffee bar is from an old choir loft and The Abbey Coffee House sign that hangs on one wall in the room came from an old pallet.

A wall at the back of the space sports photographs from a local artist.

Volunteers who tend to the coffee bar brew each cup individually using a method called “pour over.” They grind the beans from Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company for each cup, then place them in a coffee filter inside a ceramic funnel, with the coffee mug stationed below, ready to catch the liquid.

Several different kinds of beans are available, along with tea and other beverages. Suggested donation is $1.

For more information visit www.holycrosslivonia.org.

Project by project, a two-bedroom, circa-1927 house across from Davenport’s Garfield School is getting a fresh look.

While retaining the charm and character of an older house — arched entryways, hardwood floors and an open front porch with Craftsman-style pillars — Ryan and Amy Orr are giving their home a fresh look, with new colors, landscaping and a total re-do of their galley kitchen.

Anyone who’s ever lived with a galley kitchen — a relatively small rectangle — knows that space is limited. But working with Dan Marine of Oak Tree Homes in Wilton, Iowa, the Orrs made the absolute most of what they had, gaining about six square feet of counter space and additional cabinet space compared with what they had, which was a remodeled space from the 1990s.

In addition, they now have all-new everything: stainless-steel appliances, custom Mission/Craftsman quarter-sawn oak cabinets and black granite countertops. The only original feature is the oak floor that Ryan “revealed” one weekend when Amy was at a conference, pulling up the carpet that had been glued to a type of subfloor that had to be removed with a plane.

The capstone, though, is how the space was reconfigured. “There was no option of adding on (or tearing down walls), so we wanted to get as much function into (it) as we could, with a new look,” Ryan said.

On the south wall, they put back a window over the sink that had been covered up in the previous remodel. And in a corner where there were two windows, they moved one window to center it in the wall, and they covered the other with a floor-to-ceiling, multipurpose, built-in cabinet.

They like to call this built-in a “mini mud room.” It has a bench that gives them a place to sit down and take off their shoes. The space below stores shoes and dog food. Hooks hold sweaters, and the shelves above display Amy’s cookbooks and decorative glassware.

The built-in is highly usable, but they debated considerably before going ahead with it. Amy didn’t like losing a window and the light it provided, but the promise of a place for her cookbooks eventually won out.

The north side of the kitchen was another challenge. Because the home had a wall-mounted heat register, previous owners kept the space between the floor and the countertop open — “wasted space” for the sake of air circulation.

Marine moved the register to the floor, with circulation through the kick plate area, and filled in the “wasted space” with cabinetry topped by several more feet of countertop. All cabinets were custom-made by Pearl City Wood Products of Muscatine.

At the other end of the north wall was a pantry closet that was so high  it was difficult for even Ryan to reach. The Orrs removed that, replacing it with a half-wall below and a pot rack (think more storage) above.

The focal point of the kitchen is the five-burner gas stove, topped with a stainless-steel range hood from Ikea and a backsplash made of 30 brown/gray/rust slate tiles.

“We sat in the aisle at Lowe’s and went through four boxes (of tiles) to get just the colors we wanted,” Ryan said.

The Orrs recommend talking with professionals before embarking on a remodel. They had about 95 percent of their ideas before they met Marine at a home show, but he helped them in ways they didn’t anticipate because he knows what’s available in the trade and has experience with what works and what doesn’t, they said.

BEIRUT: When listening to Tamara Zantout explain what her new website is all about, one would be forgiven for wondering how The Urban Fusion would be able to encompass all these topics: furniture, fashion, real estate, architecture, landscaping.“Everything urban,” she said.

The Urban Fusion launched its beta website last week at an event in Downtown’s Saifi Village. And though the breadth of the website was at first difficult to comprehend, the outdoor party attended by designers, artists and lovers of both art and design was in many ways a physical example of what the website would entail.

Simply put, Theurbanfusion.net is a gathering for all those interested in design with an urban flair.

Designers, from contemporary artists to furniture makers, can promote and sell their products through the website. Pages highlight the work of interior designers, urban planners and architects. Buyers interested in mind-blowing real estate can skim through luxury apartments located in Beirut or anywhere else in the world.

And people with a passion for contemporary design can gawk at avant-garde nargileh pipes, modern stretch-canvas paintings and conceptual lighting fixtures.

A subsection of the website is also dedicated to book authors who’ve written about such topics mentioned above.

So what is the unifying element between a landscape architect and a funky rocking chair? Space. They both affect space: One builds our outdoor space while the other completes our interior space.

That is the whole purpose of the website, to bring all of these somewhat disparate design categories together on one platform in order to incite collaboration and inspiration, Zantout said.

“Form in its integrity has shaped the world, whether through architecture, urban planning or industrial design,” said a statement released at the website’s launch party. “That is why we have chosen to create a space, where these fields can interact, and become one.”

Indeed the idea for The Urban Fusion was born when Zantout took a trip abroad about a year ago. She was looking for a website to sell some of her furniture wares and decided all of them were too narrow, focusing exclusively on either fashion, architecture or furniture.

The launch party offered a taste of the interaction she envisions.

A handful of designers and artists already featured on The Urban Fusion presented their work in a small outdoor gallery, compiling the mixed-media artwork of Nayla Kai Saroufim, the abstract fantasy painting “Book of Life” by Sari al-Khazen and a pair of designer stools by Zantout, among others.

Art dealers could meet artists; fashion designers could find inspiration in Arabesque art; architects and furniture designers could discuss collaborations. “The sky is the limit,” Zantout said.

Just as last week’s opening drew design-minded people from around the city, The Urban Fusion will host events to bring designers together not only online, but in the flesh, to trade ideas.

Only a small team spread out in Beirut, London and Dubai runs the website now. For now the site focuses on those three locations, as well as the rest of the Middle East.

The site has also teamed up with the American University of Beirut and the the American University Sharjah, whose design faculties are also interested in creative collaborations.

“I want to become the hub of everything urban,” Zantout said. “Urban Fusion is everything encompassing the city and the art within it.”

Glen and Debbie Naylor had a clear vision of the new home they wanted to create in the Cowichan Valley: Their goal was to move up in size and altitude.

“We wanted to build a house that would feel like a vacation home,” said Debbie, whose new house at 5,400-square-feet is almost twice as large as their previous one and much higher, set on a sunny slope overlooking Quamichan Lake.

The hardest part of manifesting their dream was trying to come in on budget, she said. “It’s pretty overwhelming making all the decisions. When you build a house, there is so much to plan for, to consider — every design detail from baseboards to lighting to kitchen cabinets and appliances.”

Luckily, designer Wendy Wilson was “an enormous help.”

One of the first choices they faced in the kitchen was whether to include a huge ceiling fan that Debbie had set her sights on, after scanning magazines for years and clipping out favourite images and ideas.

“I always wanted a big overhead fan, but when I talked about the open concept with Wendy, and the barrel roof we were planning, I realized the two just wouldn’t work. A large fan would be this massive structure in the middle of the room. It would have looked ridiculous, and taken away from the ceiling feature.”

Another unforeseen choice involved windows over the sink. They decided it was important to have slightly curved windows, rather than rectangular ones, to emphasize the shape of the ceiling.

Because it’s a large room, their designer also suggested they increase the space between countertops and overhead cabinets. “Standard cabinets are 36 inches from the floor, and upper cabinets begin 17.5 inches above the counter top,” said Wilson.

“But in this case, we pushed it to 20 inches. The owners had chosen a really beautiful backsplash tile and we wanted to see more of it. Also, the extra space allows for more interesting lights under the valance and room to get a large coffee maker in there more easily.”

The kitchen has a built-in desk for paperwork and a baking area, and Debbie opted for a food processor at one end of the island and a huge mixer at the other — both resting on heavy-duty appliance lifts for easy access.

Debbie says she loves “to bake, make pies, scones, cookies. Lemon and poppy-seed muffins are a family favourite.”

She also chose different colours for the wall cabinets from those on the island, to help break up the large space: Dark cabinets have light quartz countertops and creamy ones are topped in dark quartz.

Chocolate brown sateen drapes with a bronze and silver circle pattern look traditional in the nearby dining area, and add a twinkle of bling, thanks to nickel rings encrusted with shiny crystals.

Because the kitchen is large and has a high ceiling, Wilson advised her clients not to install traditional cabinets on all the walls. “When you go this high with a ceiling, why not take advantage of the height and create an interesting feature?”

So she drew up plans for a large cabinet, which has become a focal point of the room, with display area above and gallery lighting set in the ceiling to showcase art vessels.

Glen, a financial advisor with Raymond James, says the kitchen is ideal for cooking and entertaining. “My younger brother is in a wheelchair, so this space is great for him, too — he can zoom all around,” he said, noting they created a spacious dining area at the end of the kitchen to take advantage of expansive views over Quamican Lake, rolling farmland, Duncan and the distant Mount Prevost.

The den is one of the owners’ favourite rooms, and was designed so a future homeowner could turn it into a dining room if desired. This is where the Naylors meet for conversation at the end of every day. “It’s our retreat, our reading room, and we have no television here,” said Debbie, a registered nurse and clinical-care co-ordinator at Acacia Lodge.

“My husband and I always come in here to sit together and catch up at the end of the day, while the kids are off doing their own thing.”

Glen went to school with builder Kevin Fraser — “who is really great to work with” — and designer Bruce Johnson was able to look at their scrapbook and interpret the owners’ ideas. “I gave my book to him and he managed to fit everything in,” said Debbie.

Johnson said the owners showed him a house plan they liked and that was a perfect jumping off point: “We pushed and pulled and dragged the spaces around, basically stirred up the floor plan and made some bold changes. The owners ended up with a bonus room over the garage and a wonderful area downstairs too.

“The big barrel vault through the kitchen was a derivative of the original plan, and the master ensuite spa is absolutely decadent.”

One of the things Glen really wanted was a place to play his drums, and Debbie’s dream was a sewing room, since her hobby is quilt making, but her main delight is the spa-like ensuite, which measures 14 by 16 feet.

While they went with high-end counter tops in the kitchen, in the ensuite, they economized by using a high-gloss laminate. “We feel we have a fantastic home, but still had some fantastic savings.

“I absolutely love this room — it’s so serene,” said Debbie of the Wedgewood blue-and-white room.

“It’s an awesome space,” said Glen, who turns up the music, turns down the lights and pours the bubble bath when his wife needs a break. “Debbie is a Pisces, so she’s a real water person — and she works really, really hard.

“We love visiting spas when we go away on holiday, destination places like the Tigh-na-mara resort in Parksville, so this was something we really enjoy.”

Because the home is built on a slope, the owners have a level drive at the front entry and can walk out at grade from lower-level rooms. Their new garden is starting to grow up.

They waited four years to create it and they give the credit to Apex Landscaping.

“It was a very big job, a real challenge, because it included retaining walls, sprinkler system, plantings, fencing, stonework,” said Glen.

© Copyright 2013

There is a growing inclination among pool owners toward saltwater pools. Jeff Fanara, owner of Bella Pools and Yardscape in South Yarmouth, elaborated on what is popular in the world of pools on Cape Cod.

Fanara said that saltwater pools have been around for 20+ years and are becoming more popular because they require fewer chemicals and are cheaper to maintain. Saltwater pools are “softer on clothes, skin, and hair, and less irritable to the eyes” according to Fanara. These are the only pools that Bella Pools installs, although the company will work on non-saltwater pools.

These pools are run off of a device called a cell which produces chlorine through electrolysis. The only thing owners need to put into the cell is NaCl (sodium chloride), which is more commonly known as table salt. The salt levels in the pool are generally kept low and are undetectable to most. According to Fanara, the pools require 600-800 pounds of salt per year.

If owners need to add more chlorine to their pool, Fanara said there is a setting on the cell called “super chlorinate” which slowly shocks the pool over 24 hours, allowing people to continue to use the pool through the process.

This setting also eliminates the need to buy and store 3” chlorine tabs, which – if improperly stored – can release dangerous fumes and corrode metal because of how caustic chlorine is.

Saltwater pools are also safer for the environment because the chemicals don’t leach out. There has also been some conjecture that saltwater pools may be better for swimmers health (it has been posited that chlorine pools may raise health risks).

Fanara said that his company also converts pools to saltwater, a process that takes about two hours and is considered a service call. Fanara said that while his company has converted many private pools, his company has not converted any commercial pools.

This is because public pools have hard to predict bathing loads, so it is easier to control bacteria levels in public pools by maintaining higher levels of chlorine, according to Fanara. However, some hotels on the Cape have switched to saltwater pools.

There are pros and cons to saltwater pools. Saltwater pools do not impart upon swimmers the red eye, hair discoloration, and other annoyances of chlorinated pools. The pools also have lower maintenance costs. Saltwater pools are also less prone to problems with algae.

Saltwater can corrode metal though, so owners need to be aware of that. The saltwater can also cause calcium deposits on the surface of the pool. Owners may need to add more stabilizers and acid to the pool. Lastly, the pump for the saltwater generator needs to be run at all times, so that can raise utility bills.

Fanara said that aside from working with the saltwater pools, his companies do other things that can really amp up an outdoor living area.

In the pool domain, Bella Pools installs waterfalls and spillover spas, as well as deck jets. Spillover spas are hot tubs that either connect to the pool or constantly recycle the pool water to the hot tub through use of a waterfall. Deck jets are arcs of water that enter the pool from the surrounding structure, creating a sense of elegance.

Fanara said that his company does not install waterslides or diving boards because of liability purposes (he added that diving boards are also quite unsightly).

Another popular trend for pools is gunite pools instead of vinyl-liners because they can be made to look like natural ponds. However, Fanara said that the most common installation performed by his company is vinyl-liner pools (2-3 gunite installations per year versus 8-10 vinyl-liner installations).

Each type of pool structure has its own advantages and disadvantages. While vinyl-lined pools are cheaper in the short term, the lining tends to need to be replaced every ten years or so because they are less durable. Gunite pools are more expensive, but they are very durable and can be built in any shape or size.

Fanara said that owning a pool company and a landscaping business is beneficial because all the work (masonry, landscaping, and pool) can be done by one of his businesses, which keeps costs manageable and keeps projects timely by eliminating the need for outside contractors.

A lot of customers, according to Fanara, want other work done when they have pools installed or rehabbed. Some times, Fanara said, the landscaping can cost more than the pool work.

Popular outside additions are firepits, shrubbery, and pool houses. Firepits are great for entertaining. Fanara said that customers will even get things like outdoor bars installed by the pool. Depending on the nature of the get-together planned, there are a plethora of ideas that people have and Bella Pools is quite accommodating.

Customers will occasionally get a pool one year and then wait until the next year to get the landscape design done to space the cost.

Fanara said that the cost of the pool installations depend on the size and type of pool. Many customers, according to Fanara, get custom designs so they can make their outdoor living space truly their own.

If you are interested in having your own saltwater pool, visit Bella Pools in South Yarmouth, 508-398-4277. Summer’s coming–wouldn’t you enjoy a dip in your own saltwater pool? For pool and outdoor living design ideas, see the Bella Pools photo gallery.

(Above photos: customers are encouraged to choose a custom design that will reflect their tastes and fit their outdoor living space. Photos courtesy of Bella Pools.)

Some of the UK’s leading experts in ecology, landscaping and the environment will be guest speakers at a ground-breaking one-day workshop at the University of Bristol on July 18.

They will be tackling issues including pollinating insects, environment change, sustainable landscapes and low maintenance grasses.

There are still places available for delegates at the event, which will bring together various sectors of the landscape industry to discuss sustainable landscape research, design, and management.

“We intend this very special day to be an opportunity for those involved in specific aspects of the groundcare and landscaping industry to share new ideas and research information,” says Howard Wood, environment and sustainability consultant for Grass Engineering and Top Green.

“Discussions will be held between researchers working in the landscape industry looking at future research ideas and opportunities and the workshop is intended as an academic event, not an open platform for commercial activities.”

Among the leading speakers at the event, supported by Top Green, will be Professor Jane Memmott, a leading expert on environmental change, biodiversity and pollinating insects at the University of Bristol.

Her work includes looking at the various ways of attracting pollinators through the use of the right flower planting.

She is a close associate of Dr. Katherine Baldock at the University of Bristol, who is a leading researcher into interactions between plants and their pollinators.

Other confirmed speakers are Professor Nigel Dunnett of the University of Sheffield, Stephen Alderton, of Top Green and Euroflor, landscape architect Kym Jones, soil scientist Tim O’Hare, Rob Donald of Green Global Solutions and leading personalities from local government, including Bristol City Council.

Topics of most seminars will be released shortly but Howard Wood has announced he will be talking about creating sustainable landscape maintenance for Lyon City Parks Department in France, while Stephen Alderton will be explaining carbon sequestration and low maintenance grasses from the grass breeder’s point of view.

As well as the main workshop event, taking place between 9.30 and 4.30pm on Thursday July 18 at the University of Bristol Wills Hall Conference Centre, there will be an optional networking opportunity for delegates staying in Bristol for the evening.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. With demand for places high, potential delegates should register by the end of the first week in June.

for further information :-http://www.bris.ac.uk/biology/research/ecological/community/pollinators/conference/landscape.html

The Principal of Competitive Exclusion, 2012, 60″ x 48″, Oil on panel, Courtesy Lisa Adams CB1 Gallery

“Second Life,” is the title of Lisa Adams’ show of new work at CB1 Gallery. The ambiguity between the show’s title and the imagery in the paintings is no coincidence. Second Life is actually the name of an online virtual world, where users, aka avatars or Residents, interact with each other in different social settings. In other words, Second Life is the personal fantasy world you build, where you include and exclude whatever you desire. Adams’ “Second Life,” is it’s own kind of virtual world. Adams has a voracious appetite for images and ideas, and she satiates this hunger with an agglomeration of film viewing, imagery perusal online, top watched video on Youtube, treks to the LA River and Angeles National Forest and taking snapshots. Adams is as easily fascinated by Werner Herzog’s Lessons of Darkness as Jon Rafman’s “9-Eyes.” She admits to spending hours online researching, where a single thread of an idea leads to another and then another. She is constantly on the hunt for images that represent her definition of beauty, an intriguing combination of the exquisite and the abject.

I got a clear idea of Adams’ notion of beauty as we walked towards the coffee shop in downtown Los Angeles, where we would continue our discussion of her work. As we talked, a guy passed us by covered in chains and tattoos. Adams quickly pointed him out and said, “Don’t you love that?” On another block we saw a long line of small tents that the homeless were sleeping in. Adams talked about how many people are fearful when they are in this part of town but that it energizes her. She has lived in downtown LA on and off for a total of 15 years and told me that every city she’s lived in has a neighborhood that is comprised of this dense urban living, which she prefers. This is another of numerous contradictions in Adams’ life and work, because many of her paintings contain renderings of delicate plant life. Perhaps it is because Adams’ knows this incongruity exists in each of us.

Adams told me:

I think everybody is more or less like me, meaning that they are comprised of a mosaic of different ideas and backgrounds. I just think the difference is that most people don’t embrace it because it’s too complex and too confusing. It’s easier to identify with one basic way of being, one basic set of ideas, with of course some variation a few degrees off center. It’s like when I used to paint abstractly everybody I knew identified exclusively with being an abstractionist and I did not. And they would all go on to continue to do abstraction with the exception of one. When I started changing none of them could understand why I would do such a thing.

The Reality Breakdown, 2013, 48″ x 60″, Oil and spray paint on panel, Courtesy Lisa Adams CB1 Gallery

There has been a lot of discussion about the real world collision of how Adams’ external vision was impeded by the impairment of her physical vision. In August of last year, Adams was required to have emergency surgery to repair a detached and torn retina in her right eye. What could be more terrifying to a visual artist than to have her sight threatened? Much has been made of the intense drive that would come about after such an event, but the truth is, Adams has had the impetus to make art for as long as she can remember. It is the desire to experience and explore her own interior landscaping that has impassioned her since she could hold a crayon. As she explained it to me, her internal investigations are the places in which she prefers to live and the recreation of them in painting is akin to complex problem solving. Adams is more than a little like an architect who imagines, drafts and then fabricates.

Unlike most recent art grads, after Adams received her MFA from Claremont Graduate University, she did not immediately apply for teaching positions. Instead she went straight into a full time studio practice, which included four years in New York, where she made great headway in carving out a personal practice and style. After much success, which included gallery and museum shows in and around LA, a Brody award and a Fulbright Scholarship, Adams made a tough decision. To continue to be personally rewarded by her work, she needed to make a drastic change in her artistic explorations. In a move akin to Alice Neel — who ignored the current trends of her time, like Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, she continued her particular style of portraiture — Adams decided to move from abstract work to recognizable imagery and the surreal. Because Adams is so driven to satisfy her own standards and goals, trends and movements have never been considerations in her work.

Adams’ describes the internal pull that drove her to change her work so drastically:

I thought to myself, what do I feel is missing from my authentic interests? It was my true love of Surrealism since I was a child and what did that mean to me as an adult? The word “contemplative” came to mind and so I thought I would delve into my mind and emotions in a way that were more direct and also explore the world of representation which I had never done before. So I started the LONG (didn’t know it would be that long) journey of going to the “other side.” It took a good ten years to really start to find a voice/vision in this other world and to my surprise I was subconsciously bringing with me moves from the abstract work and using them along with recognizable imagery. It was really my internal world I wanted to focus on and as a result it’s made me much more internal in real life, with a deeper need for privacy and seclusion. My art practice has always instructed my real life for better or worse, not the other way around.

Almost A Forest, 2012, 40″ x 48″, Oil on panel, Image Courtesy Lisa Adams CB1 Gallery

Adams’ work exists in a crack. Her work cannot be classified as one particular style because she incorporates abstract elements with recognizable ones, a pop sensibility with graffiti spray paint and a hint of abject expressionism. On top of that, there is a subtly implied askew narrative:

It’s a weird space to be in between abstraction and representation but I like it. For me it’s like being fluent in two languages and I have always admired that kind of flexibility. Being bilingual gives you an insight into each culture more fully.

Narrative is something I share with film and maybe that is why I take such inspiration from film. “Story-telling” is NOT a bad word in film, and in fact there really is no other basis to film then story telling. I mean what are you going to make, an abstract film? Yes of course such films have been made by artists, but they are not really part of film’s history. From what I can tell a filmmaker is always looking for a good story.

Adams’ The Principal of Competitive Exclusion, is the perfect example of her many internal worlds meeting physical manifestation. Here we are faced with a torn construct, leaving an aperture that leads us into total darkness. The pink molded form is part barrier and part broken body. It’s top half torn off, bends onto another plane and forces you into a chasm that is surrounded by a wall with a fragmented vision, like looking through a prism. The chartreuse green is an amped up grid of color that is both a screaming green light to go or a call to nature. The entire form is so off kilter that it’s dizzying, like the way you would feel climbing a narrow lopsided staircase. The magnetic pull and the contorting push, beg you to enter an unknown dimension that is akin to a black hole. This twilight zone schism is derived from the foam face piece Adams used in her required face down positioning, post surgery. It isn’t so much that she wants to make a personal statement about the trauma of her malady as much as this once useful piece of medical equipment has now become a part of her visual circumference and is incorporated with the same kind of fascination that a vine, school house, rose or birch tree might be.

Adams lives in an intimate interior and it is the communication of this private real estate, the place where she discovers her personal zeitgeist, which she flushes out in her paintings.

Loading Slideshow

• The Mire of Epiphany

  emThe Mire of Epiphany/em, 2013
  48″ x 60″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• Cynosure

  emCynosure/em, 2012
  24″ x 20″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• A Recondite World

  emA Recondite World/em, 2012
  40″ x 48″
  Oil and spray paint on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• Vale of Life

  emVale of Life/em, 2013
  32″ x 24″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• Almost A Forest

  emAlmost A Forest/em, 2012
  40″ x 48″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• And The World Shall Remain Silent

  emAnd The World Shall Remain Silent/em, 2012
  36″ x 30″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• Sandy Says So

  emSandy Says So/em, 2012
  48″ x 60″
  Oil and spray paint on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• Spawned A Race Of Titans

  emSpawned A Race Of Titans/em, 2012
  24″ x 30″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• The Principal of Competitive Exclusion

  emThe Principal of Competitive Exclusion/em, 2012
  60″ x 48″
  Oil on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

• The Reality Breakdown

  emThe Reality Breakdown/em, 2013
  48″ x 60″
  Oil and spray paint on panel
  Courtesy Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery

Lisa Adams’ Second Life runs through May 12th at CB1 Gallery