Just the beginning - Julian Emmanuel - 2010
Hello, my name is Julian and I am from the
“Simply Beautiful” island of St. Lucia, West Indies. I moved to the USA as a
teenager, when my mother moved to Lansing, Michigan.
But now, I’m on a venture to give others a view
of my home land that is like no other. This blog will chronicle the development
of the Calabash Mountain Villa, just on the edge of the rainforest. A place
surrounded by the natural beauty of this island where you will feel part of
this community. Not a typical tourist area, but a place where you get a feel
for the real life in the area.
As I get started here I want you to take a
gander at what this place looks like before we start constructing.
You are looking at beautiful mountain views and
trees and vegetation of all kinds (bananas, mango, coconut trees, etc.) Lush and "Simply
Beautiful."
How Did We Get Started on this Project?
There is a funny story about how my wife and I got started on this project. For a long time, we have said we wanted to build a house, in St. Lucia, for our retirement. So, one day I decided to start drawing what I wanted our "snowbird" house to look like. Along the way, the house grew a little bit so we could have sort of a bed and breakfast/guest house, while we were at it.
I'm an amateur artist and needed someone who could help me get a good drawing of what I wanted this house to look like. To get our drawing, we ended up contacting the architecture department of a local university. I called the first name listed in the department directory and explained what I wanted to do (he just happened to be the department head.) I guess I captured his fancy, because he ended up making it a class project. I was invited to tell the class what I had in mind and to tell them about the area where it would be located. They did some additional research on their own. This is where the "house" grew some more.
A couple of months later, we had a large stack of drawings (about 75 of them) to look at and choose which we liked best. We narrowed it down to three and looked at more detailed drawings and finally selected the one by Laura.
From Concept to Concrete Plan
Now that I have Laura's final drawings, I have
to take them to St. Lucia and find a contractor that will convert these
drawings into the format that the St. Lucia Planning Board will want to see
them in to give approval for the project to proceed. This is the step that
takes us from concept to concrete plans - so some changes to the drawings are
necessary.
The contractor and his architect were working on
getting the drawings done, checking with me on changes, to make sure they were
done in a way that satisfied me as well as meeting codes. Then there were
changes to be made to accommodate the slope of the land (we are on the
mountain-side.) While they did their work, I was free to dream about what this
was going to be like when it was completed.
As I roamed the site, I looked at the view we
would have from our new Villa. I could just imagine my wife and me sitting on
the balcony and looking out at these spectacular mountain views. Then I thought
about all of you who will come to Calabash Mountain Villa and how you will be
in love with these beautiful mountains as well.
Finally, I came back to reality and started
thinking about all the work ahead --- starting with clearing the land to build
my dream house.
Approved and ready to go!
There has been a huge gap in my postings. However, I did keep
writing thoughts and decided to post them even though they are past thoughts. I
would hate to not share these thoughts; so things will come quicker than they
actually happened.
Several months later, we were able to get government’s approval to
proceed. Do you have any stories about getting government approval to proceed
on a building project? Sometimes it is a breeze, and sometimes it is…………
Clearing The Way
Well, I got my building materials and shipped them to St. Lucia. I’m ready to get started! Wow! Clearing the space to begin building proved to be quite the chore. My new contractor and I had a really good crew and we really got busy. This site is so naturally lush and beautiful; I want to make sure I preserve it as much as possible. I hope we will be able to reach out from the Villa and be able to pluck some really sweet, juicy fruit from the trees. As we clear the place to build, we also have to cut a path from the road below up to the site. Our work was cut out for us. Whew!
Rainbows, Sunsets, and Bay Views
While I am here, in St. Lucia, to do this project, I am staying
with my brother in his home that sits on the street by the Bay in Soufriere.
Each evening I go and sit on the Jetty to catch a cool evening breeze.
It's really great to sit out there and chat with friends, listen to the music from the restaurant across from us, and watch people go by. The guys usually talk about local politics, but sometimes get into world affairs. Some folk are just there fishing from the jetty in the cool evening. It is relaxing to watch the boats come and go with tourists. Some of the locals who are going out in their boats are going out whale watching. And of course, as we cool off and relax we usually end up taking a nap right there on the jetty. Some folk come out and sleep there all night because they are too hot in their houses to sleep. How do you like to chill out at the end of a day of hard work? Where do you go to catch a cool breeze when the days are hot?My wife and I love to see the rainbows and sunsets here in St. Lucia. So, while I"m here and she is at home, in Indianapolis, I take pictures of rainbows and sunsets for her. She says getting these pictures helps her deal with me being gone three months at a time. I get energized just knowing, when this is finished and she gets here - she will just love the mountains, rainbows and sunsets (among other things.)
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