Thursday, January 7, 2010
Scrolling through old Greensaw pics
I kept coming across photos that made me chuckle. Below a collection of pics with cutlines describing what in the heck's going on (whenever I know).

Heath and I were working in the shop for this one -- I think it was his first or second day on the job -- when from around the corner appears this parade of sexy females, who dragged him away from the nearest exist into the photo. I can't imagine what was going through his head. Jay looks like he's found his true calling as a cross-dresser, while Phil's midriff is priceless.




What strikes me about this photo is how much Jay looks like the pickerel he's alligator wrestling. This great catch took place in Eagles Mere Pennsylvania while completing the Lingenheld kitchen. Frustrated over the Betsy's decision to paint her cabinets -- made from reclaimed oak wainscot -- we staged a mutiny and went fishing.















Dave looks time-machined from the seventies, while Niko still hasn't changed out of his paintball outfit. In any case we had a good dinner of trout, catfish, and pickerel.


And while the guys went fishing, the female took her dog and went out for bigger game...



Here again in Eagles Mere heading home for lunch, dogs in tow (is this illegal nowadays?).


Can't help but think of Iwo Jima with this, trying to maneuver a cabinet to level in a house without a straight line. The wall was going one way, the floor another, the ceiling another. I can't imagine walking into that kitchen first thing in the morning, it's like being on a boat. The crazy thing is everything we installed was plumb, level and square, nutty as it looked.


This pic goes back a minute. Luke, Reed and Brian. It's pretty typical, Luke starting off to do something or other on his own, Brian pissed he's worn shorts and generally ticked off about the whole situation, and Reed could give a shit. We took that house from essentially a shell inhabited to squatters to something habitable...basically one huge guinea pig for all the harebrained ideas we come up with at the shop.


It's Brian we give a hard time to for the drooping pants, but here I'm the culprit, handing Alberto a trashbag. Again at my house, cleaning the place out, under the gun to make prepare it for the renter.

Dave, so confident in everything he does, pushed confidently off the Rhode Island beach into the great blue, cigarette between lips, jeans belted on. And somehow, some way he got off balance. There he was, statuesque, frozen for one beautiful second against the horizon, his body fighting the boat flipping beneath him. The next moment he was gone beneath the waves, and up he came, cigarette still between lips.


Mr. Smooth a bit more successful. Take a look at those waves -- you can't blame Dave for going down in those seas. Jason and Brenda encountered a flood of red roses, and of course one had to go, in true Joycean fashion, between the teeth.


Bry on the outboard right before it died in the middle of the ocean .


Niko and I using the truck for what it was made for....



Preparing to make a killing out in Jamestown Bay...


Predicting the kill we were gonna make....



Niko and Brenda modelling a bit first...



And the catch, with Brenda contributing a bluefish.


It's no secret that we end up travelling a bunch. Alexandria, Nantucket, Vermont, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Manhattan, Jersey (which one of these is not like the other?). This a photo taken after cobbling together a truck rack from timbers and transporting close to a thousand pounds of wood down I-95 in winds gusting up to 25 -- which was about my speed going down there. I was sure the whole thing was going to yard sale over the highway causing a huge pileup. Sometimes I consider myself blessed -- which isn't the best thing because I figure I can continue to get away with stupid stunts like this.


Reed at about 6 in the morning showing off his stunning flexibility before setting off for Alexandria.



It's no secret Niko's quite limber as well -- showing off here at 40 feet in the air on Prince Street in Alexandria while Jay considers ending it all.

Dave and Niko finishing off the copper flashing under serious historical skies.


Building the icehouse roof in Alexandria


Holding our breath and checking it for level (look real close, you can't even SEE the bubble...)


And posing triumphant above.



Working in New York on the Upper East Side we were put up at a B&B on 92nd and Madison -- where Dave found a long-lost relative.


When we travel, we all travel together (see previous post on Cornice the squirrel).


And sometimes we pick up a few passengers...


But it's always nice to make it back home, even if it means working on more roofs.


Or talking on the goddamn cellphone


But the shop always offers some peace, here with Cornice checking to make sure measurements are correct.


This in Kennett Square. We took out a bathtub, brought it up the hill, ran the hose up, I got a Bud and Wallace Stegner's bio, and couldn't have been happier.


Nor could Cal, sweet love.


And the other folks, at least from the bathtub, looked fairly content. This was in the Toyota days, before we had a shop -- notice the cabinet carcasses strewn over the lawn.


This is from the Mancaves show. The fluted columns were short so we had to hack em down, and cut in a mortise and tenon. Work spaces weren't ideal there. We had three days working about 18 hours a day to completely transform Siragusa's restaurant.


And on the last night, we had a couple. Notice Jay's busted lip -- and on the far right Sal, Greensaw member for the evening, who incidentally is a genius at painting goalie masks for the NHL. This was shortly before having the brilliant idea to pour beer on Jason's head.



Back in Philly, doing what we do best. At church, or rather, ripping apart a church. We took up a collection of all the floors, as it were, which we then re-installed in Alexandria. Nice to work in pretty places. Notice the organ part in the top righthand corner.


Or maybe this is what we do best. Sunday 11am in Fairmount, Green Builder's football. Alex Keaton and the K Group showed up (once) the Stock Group has yet to make an appearance, Ben Boyd from Grass has become a regular, and Angelo from Greenable has come out a few times.


One way or another, when it comes down to it, I guess it's about this -- doing our best being country guys in a city, re-using whatever we can, making it look nice, finding clients who treat us good -- and trying not to forget to take it easy every now and then, dogs included. This pic gets credited to Jason's good eye.
posted by Brendan Jones @ 4:59 PM   1 comments
A blog addressing the importance of re-using material, and building with existing structures. A strong emphasis on architectural salvage, as well as the people that make the difficult work possible.
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Name: Brendan Jones
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Greensaw is dedicated to using architectural salvage to enhance modern living spaces. We respect history, our environment, and the material with which we work. We recognize our clients as partners in the process of using old to build new.

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