Until I went on-site to take a few photos of a Collin Beggs design/build project, I had no idea what a timber frame raising looked like. Apparently, at least in this case, it looks like a roof being lowered onto 12 interlocking joints using a crane and a crew of nine men. Some last-minute chiselContinue reading “How to raise (or lower) a timber frame”
Author Archives: Katie Botkin
Emotion/logic, sex/purity
I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but girls are emotional. Like so emotional, they’re not supposed to be politicians or CEOs because their hormones might cause them to become irrational and then they’d accidentally kill and/or fire someone. I actually recited this litany to someone in my early college years, embarrassingly — although it wasContinue reading “Emotion/logic, sex/purity”
Hewn into the (non) living rock of Stonehenge
I’ll admit it: the mock documentary This is Spinal Tap made me want to visit Stonehenge. Specifically the line from the song “Stonehenge,” delivered with deadpan idiocy by Christopher Guest, “The Druids! Nobody knows who they were, or… what they were doing.” Who could resist such an enticing summary? This is actually somewhat accurate aboutContinue reading “Hewn into the (non) living rock of Stonehenge”
Salisbury and the Magna Carta
One of the first essays I ever wrote was, quite pompously, about what “abuses provoked men to demand the Magna Carta.” My research consisted of reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Magna Carta. I mean, hey, I was 12, and that seemed sufficient. I vaguely remember writing something about unfair taxation, loosely tied into myContinue reading “Salisbury and the Magna Carta”
Taking in Bath
If you’ve read Jane Austin, you’re familiar with how trendy it was during the Georgian period for parties of people and particularly sickly women to take the ancient waters at Bath; something that generally turned into a social/tourist outing in which young people would happily subject themselves to a variety of entertainment. Not entirely unlikeContinue reading “Taking in Bath”
Scenes from London
London was predictably gray (or more appropriately, grey) and I had to resort to taking timed self-portraits while balancing the camera haphazardly on a traffic cone.
1984
To be honest, I’d never heard of the Sikh riots, called genocide by many groups because widespread ethnic killings occurred, until I ran into several thousand Khalistan Sikhs marching in downtown London, to the bewilderment of onlookers, for a remembrance and freedom protest. Intrigued, I walked with them all the way to Parliament Square, whichContinue reading “1984”
Evensong at Westminster Abbey
Last time I was in London, back in 2001, the one big tourist attraction I paid for was Westminster Abbey. This was on December 31, just after I’d met up with a friend of mine from study abroad: after the semester ended, we agreed to meet up at noon in front of Buckingham Palace onContinue reading “Evensong at Westminster Abbey”
Sunny side up in Moab, Utah
As it turns out, everyone goes to Moab for recreation, especially on the weekends. Especially on a long weekend. To be honest, after a week and a half of driving, climbing rocks in the Flatirons, staying out late with friends and family, and eating a lot of Whole Foods deli meat and $7 chocolate bars,Continue reading “Sunny side up in Moab, Utah”
Up the Arkansas river and down again
We’re at a dog sled camp two miles above sea level, in Leadville, Colorado, the highest city in the United States, not far from the headwaters of the Arkansas river. We passed over the river’s massive width in Little Rock, and stopped to snap a photo of its refurbished Riverfront Park where Collin used toContinue reading “Up the Arkansas river and down again”
Botkin Creative 