Summer Escape {Lakes}

While my family never had one regular vacation spot where would we trek every year, some of my fondest memories of summer revolve around time spent at various lakes.

Jonny Valiant

When I was growing up, not only were my best friend, Jenni, and I close, but so were our parents, and thus my family was welcomed at their weekend getaway. Summer memories from my elementary school years are peppered with days spent at their lake house.

Country Living

The lake was only an hour's drive from our homes, but, at that age, felt much further. I was always anxious to arrive, and the car ride seemed to last an eternity.

Country Living

The house was on a small, private island, and, although it was truly only a short distance from the mainland, it always seemed an adventure to reach. We would load people and belongings into a rowboat and traverse the distance between the shores; each trip, I prayed for the boat to not tip in transit.

Thayer Allyson Gowdy

This is not a tale of the exclusive and wealthy, however, but rather of a simple family cottage that welcomed many; the home was shared by their extended family, and I fondly remember afternoons spent playing on the banks of the lake alongside my brother, Jenni, her sister, and their cousins.

House Beautiful

The island seemed enormous from a child's perspective, although, surely, like many things remembered from childhood, I imagine I'd be surprised to see it again through an adult's eyes.

Country Living

Whatever the true breadth of the land, it was large enough to encompass more than it's fair share of memories including one of the day Jenni and I were given the very grown-up privilege of taking the row boat out to circle the island alone; sadly, our experience came to a crashing halt when, not yet a quarter of the way into our trip, we lost an oar in the water and had to be rescued by our dads.

Country Living

Summers during my middle school and high school years included time spent with our extended family on lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin. The lasting images from those trips are of riding over waves, first on an inflatable tube, then later, water skis, and feeling the wind whip across my face as I was pulled behind a boat flying furiously across the water's surface.

Pia Ulin

I traded the lakes of the Midwest for those of the South when I was in college. There was a lake 15 minutes from campus, and although it was far from a glamorous retreat, my friends and I loved heading off to its murky waters. The best spots were reached via dirt roads, and it felt like we were world's away as we lay sunning ourselves on the lake's dark sandy shores.

Country Living

I moved one state over to attend graduate school, and during that following summer, there were two holiday weekends spent lakeside with my friends from school. An unseasonably chilling drizzle didn't dampen our spirits as we celebrated our friends' engagement over Memorial Day, but it did cut short our time on the water; cruising around the lake in our rented pontoon boat, while lacking the adequate gear to combat the cold rain, wasn't quite as much fun as had planned.

Hakan Ludwigson

Our lake trip later that summer, over the 4th of July, proved much kinder, as we were greeted by beautiful, sunny skies and scorching temperatures, perfect for cooling off in the water.

Hakan Ludwigson

My memories of time spent on lakes has continued into my adult life too; E's and my house in central Texas is only a 10-minute drive from a lake where we watched a sunrise in the early days of our relationship, and since then, more frequently have viewed sunsets... have I ever mentioned I am a bit of a night owl? The lake also provided a perfect place for walks with our dogs and for an afternoon spent swimming the comfortably warm waters when my youngest brother visited us last summer.

Krakvik and D'Orazio

I know we aren't too far from a number lakes here in Houston, and I imagine it will only be a matter of time before we find ourselves making new memories in their now unfamiliar waters. Until then, I will dream of once again jumping into the refreshing water of a lake on a hot and sticky day, something that makes my list of things to love about summer.

Summer Writing Room

I adore so many of the elements of this room, including the bones of it. The wide expanse of windows, the dark wood paneling, and the hardwood floors create a space that is warm and inviting.

Hallie Burton

I also love the curve of the desk chair, the rug underfoot, the slightly industrial fan in the corner, and the stacks and shelves of magazines and books close at hand.

The room is perfectly suited for a summer home, and if I had one, I'd love a space very much like this. I can imagine happy hours spent writing and working at the desk, coffee in hand, pausing every so often to gaze outside and relish the view.

Whatever happened to Greenham Common?

Image from the Greenham Common Trust, 1996

Greenham Common: 'Scheduled Ancient Monument'.

Despite being no longer in use, the GAMA cruise missile silos at Greenham Common are still surrounded by three rings of steel fencing. Behind them the 'Scheduled Ancient Monument' still looks pretty forbidding though. Curious to know what plans English Heritage have for the site. I'm particularly looking forward to the 'Cold War Experience' (or some such enterprise), and the chance to part with a tenner for a look inside. Currently, however, the Greenham Common trust owns the area of the original base and have sensibly returned most of it to heathland and installed a memorial to the 1980's women's peace campaign. The trust also encouraged small businesses to settle in the old 'domestic' section of the site.

Summer Soup {Green Gazpacho}

On a hot day, nothing makes for a better meal than a chilled bowl of gazpacho; it is a staple in our house throughout the sweltering months of the year!

As we continue to look at things to love about summer, I wanted share two of our favorite recipes for this classic Spanish soup, starting today with a Mexican-inspired variation-- Green Gazpacho.

Green Gazpacho- Serves 4-5
(from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen)
Ingredients

-3 green tomatoes (3-inch diameter) or the least ripe you can find, cored and chopped.
- 1 medium-sized green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium (7-inch) cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1 medium (4-inch) avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
- A handful of parsley
- A handful of cilantro
- 1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 juicy limes)
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 to 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon. red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey or sugar
- 1 cup cold water
- black pepper, to taste
- cayenne pepper, to taste
- Optional: tortilla chips for the top

Directions
1. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor, until reasonably smooth.
3. Transfer to bowl with lid and chill until very cold*
4. Serve plain or topped with tortilla chips

* For E and I, the leftovers are always enjoyed chilled, but rarely is the initial bowl enjoyed that way! Often we want to eat it immediately, so we dig right in-- room temperature and all. Also, this recipe is one that easily doubles.

____________________________________

I will share the second recipe, a more traditional take on gazpacho, in the coming weeks.

Summer Siesta

In high school, I can remember being offended the day after a formal dance and a late night spent at friend's house when my mom suggested I take a nap. How childish! I was, afterall, 16. Although I ended up taking her advice and did nap that day, I did so rather begrudgingly.

Coliena Rentmeester

I discovered a true love for napping, however, when living in the dorm my freshman year in college. My bed was positioned by the window, and it caught mid-afternoon sunlight as it streamed into our room. I don't remember the first time I fell asleep while lying in that puddle of light, but, like a cat, I became crazy about napping while basking in the warm sun.

Martin Lof

Life has been feeling rather nonstop for E and I as of late, and I believe this is only the beginning. Looking forward, I'm not sure when things will slow down, which leaves me longing for a day where we can steal a luxurious nap together.

While napping will certainly do anytime of the year, grabbing a siesta on a warm afternoon and waking with many hours of daylight remaining is something I love about summer.

Dining Alfresco {Part 3}

I must apologize for going a bit MIA, especially in the middle of my dining alfresco posts. Thus far, I have logged over 22 hours on the road this past week as I drove to Ohio for the wedding of one of my best friends and then continued north to see E's mom and grandma for a day. While I've been gone, my internet access has been far more limited than I'd expected, but it has been wonderful to have time to catch up with family and old friends.

Today starts my trip back towards Texas with day stops in Kentucky and Tennessee to visit my best friend from college and then my family, so posting may be light for the rest of the week as well, but I wanted to finish this look at outdoor dining spaces before I hit the road again.

We've looked at simple, clean-lined outdoor dining areas, as well as those with lush, garden settings in our dining alfresco posts, and I wanted to close this series with a focus on spaces that have an eclectic mix of elements.

Domino

Domino

Knibb Design via Desire to Inspire

Domino

House Beautiful

Domino

Tom Leighton via Desire to Inspire

After looking at each style, I must admit that I am still unsure what type of space I'd most want for my own; I'd be tempted to say, "One of each, please." What about you? Do you have a clear favorite if you had to choose?

Airspace Models

This images is a Google Earth model of the airspace over the island of Foulness on the Thames estuary. I built it recently as a means of visualising the following Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Danger Areas: D136 (alt 10,000 ft), D138 (alt 35,000 ft), D138A (alt 35,000 ft), D138B (alt 5,000ft). The image also accompanied a paper presentation titled, The Shoeburyness Complex, at the Miltarized Landscapes conference, Bristol University on the 6^th September 2008.

Watchkeeper

Model of a Watchkeeper UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

taken at the Salisbury Plain Airspace Change public consultation drop-in session at the Bowman Centre, Amesbury on Thursday 11 June, 2009.

Domestic Drone Space

Domestic Drone Space.

In a move away from the complex questions surrounding the application of UAVs within the battle space, it is worth addressing their integration into training exercises in domestic airspace. For me this raises a whole new set of problems that relate to a continued blurring of the distinction between military and civil space.

The land owned by the Ministry of Defence for training and defence in the United Kingdom has remained steady for the last ten years at around 1% of the countries total landmass (with another ½ % being leased to them more or less whenever they need it). In most cases this land is relatively clearly defined but where ownership and use is more ambiguous there are the familiar flags, temporary barriers and stop gates employed to restrict entry to these flexible zones. In addition to this, however, are the intangible and barely quantifiable spaces such as transit routes, three dimensional ballistics hazards, the radial spaces defined by noise pollution and, of course, airspace.

The ‘militarized’ airspace of the UK is a highly regulated continuum of invisible but complex architectures. Many exist for only a few minutes at a time, others exist for duration of the working week but many more are permanently off-limits to the passing civilian aircraft. The intersection of permanent aerodrome volumes, bombing ranges, temporary NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen), Air Tactical Areas (ATA) around the coasts and low-fly zones combine to create a uniquely managed environment – one that is created to coordinate a high volume of mixed air traffic. It is one that also currently resists unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has strict guidelines regarding the use of UAVs for military or civilian use. It stipulates that UAVs over 7kg can only operate in UK airspace which is segregated (temporarily or otherwise) from that of manned aircraft. While this may, in part, be the impetus for developing smaller UAVs for domestic applications in urban environments, it also places considerable constraints on the MoD’s burgeoning UAV Watchkeeper program. Judging from a recent application to extend its military airspace to the region south of Salisbury Plain, the MoD must be having considerable difficulties in integrating these drones into training and Mission Rehearsal Exercises. The Watchkeeper’s medium range capabilities are constrained by the existing airspace architecture at Salisbury Plain Training Area which itself is heavily regulated and highly dangerous in equal measure.

The design of this new segregated military airspace and the ensuing consultation process are being managed by QinetiQ on behalf of the MoD, and the opinions of local and national stakeholders organisations are also being solicited as a requirement of CAA procedure. But whether the new space will become a semi-permanent Danger Area such as MoD Shoeburyness on the Thames estuary, the bombing ranges on the Lincolnshire coast and many other sites around the country remains to be seen. If this were the case, however, another block of the sky would be appropriated by the MoD for training activity and another section of the civilian landscape will presided over by military technology. The final go-ahead from the CAA may be some months away and as QinetiQ point out, the airspace design may be subject to changes, but however complicated and drawn-out this procedure may seem, it is something that should be valued for its potential to expose the utility of the technology in question and any further incursions of military spatial production into the civilian realm.

Plans are afoot, however, to eliminate segregated airspace for drones and establish an integrated air traffic policy where manned and unmanned vehicles fly side by side. Industrial and military stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic seem to crave a future where UAV’s fill their domestic skies. In the USA, the Office of the Secretary of Defence stated in 2004, rather worryingly, that this must happen for the sake of national defence and homeland security. There is no reason to suspect that this strategy will change in the near future. Similar objectives are sought for the skies of the UK by a consortium of defence and aerospace giants who gather beneath the banner of Astraea. Under license from the National Aerospace Technology Strategy, Astraea seeks to ‘reinterpret’ the current regulatory framework provided by the CAA to facilitate the desegregation of British airspace.

Of course, the questions surrounding the segregation or desegregation of domestic airspace somewhat lacks the immanence or the strategic consequences of the battle space but they are nevertheless part of the ‘bigger picture’ of UAV deployment. For now the CAA seem to be ahead of the game in terms of restricting UAV deployment until their collision avoidance capability matches that of the human pilot. But with the assumption that deregulated airspace will happen at some stage in the near future and additional pressure from both the state and private sector it seems likely that the CAA will follow suit.

For me, it was a blistering summers day on the Oslo Fjord in 2004 when the airspace divisions were shattered and the ethical implication of drone technologies became immediately apparent. Lying on my back, passively enjoying the usual seaside sensations, an alien buzzing filled the air and a white Predator-type drone calmly passed over me at a unnervingly low altitude. I had vaguely heard about these things but imagined them confined by mountains of red tape to the hidden plains of Nevada or maybe to high altitude reconnaissance over distant war zones. The moment was both alarming and strangely prescient of future when even the most benign holiday activity is monitored by the inscrutable eye of an autonomous drone.

Further reading:

Airspace Integration Plan for Unmanned Aviation, Office of the Secretary of Defence, November 2004, available from:

www.acq.osd.mil/uas/docs/airspace2.doc

Information on Astraea at:

http://www.projectastraea.co.uk/?OBH=354

QinetiQ’s stakeholder consultation plan for the Salisbury Plain UAV airspace extension plan can be found at:

http://www.qinetiq.com/home_salisbury_uav.html

Civil Aviation Authority guidelines for UAV operations in UK airspace can be found at:

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=415

Dining Alfresco {Part 2}

While the spaces in our first glance at dining alfresco were simple and clean-lined, the following are soft and lush garden settings.

I love the metal elements prevalent in the majority of these photos, as well as the romantic lighting that appears in a number of the spaces. These areas wouldn't be quite complete either without the surrounding rich greenery that plays a significant role in completing the look.

Domino

Lisa Hubbard

Philip Harvey via Desire to Inspire

Domino

Brian Andriola- stylist

via House & Life

Martha Stewart

Domino

These dining areas seem as equally suited for afternoon tea as for intimate dinner parties, and I can't say I'd be disappointed to indulge in either type of gathering in these beautiful settings.

Still ahead is the third part our dining alfresco installment with a look at more eclectic outdoor dining spaces.

Dining Alfresco {Part 1}

As I mentioned on Friday, one of my favorite things when the weather gets warm is sharing meals outdoors with family and friends, and of that I am quite certain. When it comes to deciding what type of outdoor dining space I most want to live with, however, as with much of design, I am always torn since there are so many styles I adore.

I love the natural and clean-look of these first three spaces, but I must admit, for me, the setting of each is part of the draw; I would happily step into each photo to drink in the scenic views.

Amy Neunsinger

Joe Schmeltzer

Lisa Hubbard

Stay tuned for more outdoor dining spaces, including garden settings as well as eclectic mixes, as I continue this look at alfresco dining areas and things to love about summer.

To Break Bread

When I was growing up, I loved sharing dinner with my family while sitting outside in the warm evening air, and I still feel the same way now. It is something I always look forward to when the weather gets warm and the days get longer, which is why enjoying meals outdoors with family and friends makes the list of my favorite things about summer.

Evan Sklar

Evan Sklar

Pia Ulin

Andrea Wyner Photography

Richard Foulser

Richard Foulser

Pia Ulin

James Carriere Photography

Pia Ulin

Melanie Acevedo

Pia Ulin