The big center trees were the very first feature that we started work on as we built the house. The top portions of the trees could not be welded until the soffits were in place. The soffits had to wait until the roof was on. The roof had to wait for evertying else under it to be built. And so the huge root systems sat ready and waiting since the concrete walls were poured. The roofers finally got to the the north west side of the house this past week. As soon as the Penfold crew cleared that area the carpenters moved in to work on the soffits. The minute they were done our crew finished attaching the lath.

This morning Peter and I fired up the cement mixer and we began applying the fiberglass reinforced concrete and then sculpted a good portion of the first tree. I've been waiting for this day since I did the first sketch of the trees flanking the big round window so very long ago. The wait was worth it! Although it will take another day to complete the mud work, the tree already looks to be everything I imagined! Once the concrete has cured we'll begin painting from the top down. As we work our way down with the finishes, we'll cut off the temporary scaffold supports that are welded back into the structure, patch the holes and then finish off the trees.

-grampa dan