26: This glass house

Dear Friend,

What is on your docket for this coming week? Will you be saying a formal farewell to August? Perhaps you’re looking for some way to celebrate? How about a trip to Pet Rescue to pick up a new friend? Yay! This could be the week!

Frank and I are once again apart geographically. He is camping, I’m house/cat-sitting.

I’m not sure how he began his day, but for me, the morning was as it always should be, all about the cat.

The cat would like to be outside, which is fine as long as I am monitoring him, and he also wants to be in the house, another fine choice. We’ve had a really quiet visit together because I’m complying and since there is no hurry or worry in his world, things are going very well. He’s such a cat! I love this little guy!

Frank and I will be house/dog-sitting together soon. It would not be impossible to have 'our own' dog along on our journey, but for now, because of the electricity it would take to keep a furry-friend comfy in the heat and cold, and the fact that we house/pet sit for other people, not to mention potential vet bills while on the road, it is probably best for us to wait. Someday we’ll have a wheel-less home. It still seems odd to say, 'Frank and I live in a trailer.'

Ten years ago, if you were to have told either of us that we’d be doing what we’re doing now, we would have laughed, though it would have sounded like an interesting idea, neither of us would have believed it to be possible.

How about you? Ten years ago, would you have thought that you’d be where you are right now?

Following along these lines, where do you think you’ll be in ten years from now?

Calendars are super important but plans have a way of coloring outside the lines. Even so, planning is how things get done and everything starts somewhere.

For example, this is the road that was created by a man who once used it to drive home every day. His name was Walter Benson.

Walter had an extraordinary life that included award-winning land planning concepts, working with University students to construct sculptures, inventing and designing an underground winery, he raced cars, flew airplanes, and, among many other buildings, he designed this very unusual home which happens to sit on rocky ground in the high desert and is very difficult to get to.

This glass house by Walter Benson is located in Warner Valley, Oregon. Frank drove the road as far as he dared, and then walked in to get these photos.

The house was constructed in the 1990s. Town and (limited) supplies were well over an hour away, one-way. As Frank hiked in on the rocky one-lane road, he wondered how Walter ever managed to get all that glass there without breaking it, how did he get anything there at all?

Walter’s plans included LED lighting, (his own, early, self-patented invention) in a house of metal and glass. The home is remote and off the grid with early solar using 120 volt and 12 volt electricity, heated with two wood burners and plumbed with propane.  

Though some of the little details are no longer present, things remain that demonstrate Walter's creative whimsy.

And even though the road was tough-going, locals say that concerts were held out on the deck.

The house is a work of art to this day, though nature is beginning its reclaim.

With so many glass walls and ceilings, can you imagine these views while lounging inside the house?

Walter Benson passed away in 2018. The last line of In Memory of Walter Benson, by fellow alumni, Amherst College ‘49, Gerry Reilly:

“His was a singular and rewarding life—not foreseen, I’ll wager, while at college. Very impressive.”

We didn’t know Walter, but his story seemed to be a positive, constant pivoting of his creativity, with intent to move forward as far as he could, to bend and reinvent and to keep on keeping on as long as possible even into the unknown.

Often, people tend to consider the unknown as a dark and gloomy doom but there is just as much chance that the unforeseen can turn out to be incredibly lovely!

Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post! We are grateful that you spend this time with us, we know that life is a very busy experience.

It is always good to hear from you. Please Write and let us know, are you a cat person, dog person, or every-creature person? How do you tend to think of the unknown, light, or gloom, or? And most of all, how you are doing? We'd love to hear from you and we'll reply as soon as we can.

Wishing you a week you’re so glad you had,

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank

Read more about Walter Benson