Our masonry heater

Well, we cranked up the three-ton masonry heater again last weekend. It was down to 55 degrees F inside and 20 degrees F outside, so we decided it might be time. It worked beautifully and we baked yams, hubert squash and biscuits as well. The slow cooking does a great job.
In these pictures, Linda is cutting scones from our first baking back in March.
Another image shows the kitchen side of the heater with its oven big enough for pizza.
The heater is ornamented with Mercer tile from the Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The dragon has been a Loder badge for a long time.

We took a few more pictures in September. Here is the south side the week before the soybean harvest and Linda standing by the heater. We fired it up for the first time this season this last weekend. I guess we were impatient, because it was up to 70 degrees F by late afternoon as a warm front passed through.
The heater was built by Brian Klipfel of Amazin' Masons—a fine craftman and artist who did a beautiful job.

Posts and beams

Part of the reason we went with a timberframe structure was due to the beauty that the wood gives to a building. Here, even in the early stages, the curves of the braces and the lines of the timbers created a visual grace that we never grow tired of looking at.

The Nikon Book

So far I have not written too much here about my second book. This is The Nikon Camera in America, 1946-1953. You can readily access more publishing information from the book's website:
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-3221-9

This is a story about people, both American and Japanese, who believed in a little camera and its lenses and were willing to take risks to promote a product made by a former foe to a public who then believed that anything Japanese was junk.

If you are at all interested any aspects of the history of photography, the history of technology, the post-war recovery of Japan and the interrelations of Americans with their former enemies, then this is a story worth reading.

If you are particularly interested in Nikon cameras: their design, their features, their history and in the individuals who made the camera and its lenses happen, this book is an essential read.

I will not apologize for saying these things. I spent over three years doing the research and, I will admit, that this has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. So, take a look, and if you have read it, let me know what you think.

Ganado, Arizona

We lived for two years in Ganado, Arizona, where I worked in the college's library. The College of Ganado is long gone, but the old mission compound continues. Two images from our stay there.
The edge of the roof of the old adobe dining hall, and Round Top, a local landmark, as seen from the college's horse corral. Both pictures taken using 35mm film and Nikons, although I am not sure at this point which model or lens.