Should the city of Holland prevent home owners from reducing the number of windows on the front of a home?

Some Realtors in the area have come together to say no.

In fact, they’ve likened the city’s proposed ordinances regulating exterior renovations of homes to a runaway train, said Dale Zahn, CEO of the West Michigan Lakeshore Association of Realtors

“The city may be going too far,” Zahn said, and people are expressing their concerns about that.

If you go
WHAT Holland Planning Commission public hearing
WHEN 5 p.m. today
WHERE council chambers, Holland City Hall, 270 S. River Ave.
ONLINE cityofholland.com

The Planning Commission discussed windows last month when the board learned of two homeowners on East 17th Street who had renovated enclosed front porches. City code enforcers were concerned by the remodels.

The two owner-occupied homes took what were three-season enclosed porches and reduced the number of windows, turning the rooms into extensions of the houses. Neither home appears to have a front porch now.

“A man’s home is his castle,” Zahn said, adding the homeowners in question didn’t do a bad job of renovating. “The homeowners bought the property and made the investment.”

There’s is no evidence that reducing the number of windows will bring down property values, he said.

The Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing today on the amendment to the zoning regulations that apply to certain “in-fill” districts within the city.

The proposed change is one piece of a more in-depth proposal that would allow the city to oversee many exterior renovations and modifications. Because that proposal met with opposition late last year from Realtors and homeowners concerned about personal property rights, it has been indefinitely tabled.

The amendment proposed now would require homeowners in the central city neighborhoods affected by in-fill rules to have changes to windows and doors reviewed. If approved, the rules would ban homeowners from reducing the number of windows.

Currently, the city doesn’t have the authority to do anything about windows and doors, Cindy Osman, assistant director of the Community and Neighborhood Services department, said in January.

The city’s responsibility is to “Keep (properties) safe, sound and sanitary and leave the rest up to the homeowner,” Zahn said.

Zahn questions the idea that a single member of city staff reviewing requests would know what is best for a neighborhood and should be the person to look at each home on case-by-case basis.

“What’s good looking and nice to one is not going to be to another,” he said.

Realtors are more in touch with what’s going on a city neighborhood and are better at marketing the city, Zahn said. The Realtors need the city, but the city needs the Realtors to promote and market the city also.

“It’s a two-way street,” he said.

The rest is here:
Holland could regulate homes' windows, doors; Realtors say no

MADISON TWP. - When Dan and Toni Luscher bought their double-wide trailer in Kearney's Mobile Park I in 2004, they expected to live there for a long time.

They had more space than they needed with three bedrooms and two full baths. They added porches, planted shrubs and last year replaced the windows and flooring.

Now, they are being forced to move from the park and take their mobile home with them.

The Luschers and about 60 other tenants of Kearney's Mobile Park I and II were given notice from owner Robert Kearney Jr. that the park is closing. Their personal possessions, including their homes, must be removed by April 30, according to a notice Mr. Kearney sent to all residents.

The notice came after months of rumors about regulators looking into the shared utilities at the lots. The parks are served by two wells and have a sewage system connected to a common septic mound, tenants say. Both have had problems, the Luschers say, adding that park officials blame regulators for requiring expensive system upgrades and testing for forcing the parks' closure.

Attempts to reach the park office by phone and email were unsuccessful Sunday. The state Department of Environmental Protection and federal Environmental Protection Agency also could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

Whatever the reason, the parks' closing in less than three months presents residents with some difficult problems to solve.

Alissa Lozenski and her husband had decided to move from Kearney's Mobile Park II with their two children. But they have few options. Their parents and aunts live nearby, but they have medical issues. Money is a problem.

"I want to leave, but we have no money to go anywhere else," Mrs. Lozenski said.

The Luschers figure the cost of moving a mobile home would be between $5,000 and $7,000, not including out-of-town moves and the large mileage surcharges. Special pilings are required for newly set mobile homes. The bank that has the mortgage to the home has to approve the move, and that could take months.

The problem underscores the limits that tenants of mobile home parks face. While they often own the home in which they live, they rent the land and can be evicted. In January, the park raised the lot rent from $230 to $250 per month.

Mr. Luscher is on disability. Mrs. Luscher is taking classes at Luzerne County Community College, hoping to get into an allied medical profession. Their son, Connor, is in preschool and could have to change schools.

They point to their neighbors, some elderly, who have lived at the park for decades, as having particularly hard times with the prospect of moving.

The Luschers also have looked at land, but any option requires more money than they have. "We don't have that kind of money," Mrs. Luscher said. "If we did, we wouldn't be living in a trailer park."

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

Original post:
Residents of North Pocono mobile home park have to move hearths and homes

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Archadeck of Kansas City has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service companies.

“Only a fraction of the businesses rated on Angie’s List can claim the sterling customer service record of being a Super Service Award winner because we set a high bar,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “The fact that Archadeck of Kansas City can claim Super Service Award status speaks volumes about its dedication to consumers."

Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their customers and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

Service business ratings are updated daily on Angie’s List, but members can find the 2011 Super Service Award logo next to business names in search results on AngiesList.com.

Angie’s List collects consumer reviews on local contractors and doctors in more than 500 service categories. Currently, more than 1 million consumers across the U.S. rely on Angie’s List to help them make the best hiring decisions. Members get unlimited access to local ratings via Internet or phone, exclusive discounts, the Angie’s List magazine and help from the Angie’s List complaint resolution service. Take a quick tour of Angie’s List and view the latest Angie’s List news.

Archadeck of Kansas City based out of Overland Park has been serving the metro Kansas City area for over ten years. Archadeck builds custom backyard structures including decks, screened porches, open porches, sunrooms, three- and-four-season rooms, pergolas, patios, hardscapes, and custom outdoor living areas. Archadeck is proud to have won the Super Service Award four times including each of the last three years. Read more and view multiple photo galleries at http://kansas-city.archadeck.com.

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Archadeck of Kansas City Earns Coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award

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Scott Salladin of Poughkeepsie organizes barbershop quartets to surprise your valentine with a song.KEITH FERRIS/For the Times Herald-Record

Published: 2:00 AM - 02/13/12

POUGHKEEPSIE — Scott Salladin and his fellow choristers sing in the rain, in the snow, on porches and in living rooms. They'll even sing, if someone asks them, in a barbershop.

Salladin is chapter secretary of the Poughkeepsie Newyorkers Barbershop Chorus, practitioners of a four-part singing style with roots in the early 1900s.

Anyone who's ever attended a high school production of "The Music Man" has witnessed a barbershop quartet in a capella action. It's old-fashioned. It's corny.

And it's romantic, especially as Valentine's Day nears. For a modest fee, Salladin and friends serenade couples all over the mid-Hudson region.

"We'll come right to your door, whether you open it or not," he said. "Sometimes they let you in; sometimes you stay on the porch."

Salladin has scads of stories documenting rigors and risks of appearing unannounced on a stranger's doorstep, wearing a tux and singing "Sweet Adeline."

Once, when the group was grabbing a bite at a McDonald's, an elderly gent asked for a tune. The group agreed: How about "Heart of My Heart"?

The man's wife, Salladin discovered, was a stroke victim, unable to speak. But when they finished singing, he saw the hint of a smile on the woman's face, and a tear ran down her cheek.

The man asked what he should pay for the song. There was only one thing to say: "No charge."

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Pougheepsie group offers four-part harmony for your valentine

KITCHENER — They’ve still got the front porches, barbecues waiting for summer and pastel-coloured cottages where inmates themselves carry the keys.

But the Grand Valley Institution for Women, Kitchener’s federal prison that opened in 1997 as a kinder, gentler kind of jail, is most certainly a changed place.

A trip behind the razor wire will show you it’s nearly bursting at the seams with an influx of female inmates — housing 177 women on a recent visit, three times the number it was designed for when it opened with eight cottage-style units 15 years ago.

The formerly minimum-security prison now houses some of Canada’s most notorious female offenders, and will soon include Tooba Yahya, the mother convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in the recent Shafia honour-killing trial.

It took The Record more than three months to get permission from Correctional Service Canada to tour the institution. Once inside, the photographer was prohibited from taking any images of inmates, including pictures that didn’t identify the women.

Space at Grand Valley is at such a premium they’re extending the prison’s perimeter to build a new food services building near Homer Watson Boulevard. Those cottage units have now doubled to 16, and temporary portables fill the space where women used to play baseball.

Tenders are also out for a new two-storey, 40-bed minimum security unit to be built on a hill overlooking the prison. This February, construction will wrap up on a 16-bed building in what used to be Grand Valley’s courtyard.

The prison is so full Grand Valley recently ran out of mailboxes for inmates, has converted private family visiting rooms into sleeping quarters for inmates, and put bunk beds in what used to be single rooms.

It all means warden David Dick has had to get creative to find spaces for his growing population.

And his problem isn’t expected to go away any time soon.

“If they arrive at the front door, I have no choice. They’ve got to come in,” he said. “The legislation has had an impact on our numbers, and that impact is likely to be permanent.”

The space crunch is being driven by a dramatic increase in the number of women getting jail terms longer than two years, sending them to federal institutions instead of provincial jails. Canada’s female federal prison population has grown by 40 per cent in the past decade, and that growth appears to be speeding up.

Crowding has become such a challenge that some federally sentenced women are being transferred involuntarily to provincial jails because there’s no room for them.

Women who’ve spent time at Grand Valley say the population explosion isn’t just making it more cramped. It’s also increasing wait lists for rehabilitation programs and pushing tensions to the breaking point.

“It’s just warehousing now. It’s not about rehabilitation. It’s pure security now,” said Toronto’s Surriff Atkinson, who was first sent to the prison in 1999 for trafficking cocaine.

Programs that once dealt with issues like anger management or violence against women have been replaced by religious-based volunteer-run programs that don’t appeal to all inmates, she said.

Inmates at Grand Valley made 124 formal complaints in 2010 to the Office of the Correctional Investigator, more than any other women’s prison in Canada, according to the 2011 annual report by prison ombud Howard Sapers.

Many of the complaints have to do with the conditions of their confinement, and that’s no surprise to the federal watchdog.

“The more crowded an institution becomes, the more there’s an increase in tension within the institution,” Sapers said. “It affects the institutional climate.”

It’s meant more inmates living on top of one another, pushing some tensions to boil over.

Former inmates interviewed for this story witnessed fights breaking out between women made to share tight spaces. The Elizabeth Fry Society and the union representing prison guards have raised concerns about the makeshift accommodations too.

Records show use-of-force incidents, reported security issues and assaults, both between inmates and on staff, are all on the rise, Sapers said.

Security staff has been increased, Dick confirmed, but that’s because the prison population is growing and incidents of violence have risen in step. It’s an inevitable result of having more inmates, he said.

“There has been a rise in the number of fights between inmates, yes,” he said. “You put more people into a defined space, and you’re going to have more disputes … There’s no question there is frustration with the added numbers.”

Some former inmates complain that wait lists to get into some programs are now so long that an inmate can spend six months at Grand Valley without getting in. But others seem to recognize the prison is at the mercy of the courts, which is sending a steady stream of women its way.

“It’s not really their fault that so many more women are being sent to prison,” said Georgina Poirier, a Cambridge mother who was released from Grand Valley in 2007 after a drug trafficking conviction.

“It’s hard to accommodate everyone, and there’s only so many (program) spots open.”

The warden argues that more judges are choosing to send women to federal prisons because they offer such a range of treatment and educational programs for women.

That’s a change from the 1990s, when many judges sent women to provincial jails to avoid time in Kingston’s infamous Prison for Women, the warden said. That was before the regional federal prisons were built to keep women closer to their homes.

The number of women in Ontario’s provincial jails, meanwhile, is actually dropping, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

“Judges used to bend over backwards not to sentence them federally. That’s all changed now,” Dick said.

For all its overcrowding, Grand Valley is still trying to do corrections in a more progressive way. Much of the minimum security unit feels like a high school, where women in grey sweatpants linger in the halls and offer a pleasant hello to new faces.

There’s a library, a “grocery store” where inmates can pick up their week’s food and cook it themselves, and a spirituality centre where someone strums an acoustic guitar. In a far corner of the property, inmates have built a “sacred ground” area, a space for campfires and quiet reflection.

There are classrooms where inmates can work toward their high school diploma — an important goal in a place where as many as six in 10 never finished school. Officials here know an inmate who is released with few job prospects has a good chance of returning to prison.

“If they don’t find work when they get out, they may be back,” said deputy warden Pam Gray.

There has even been a partnership with the Accelerator Centre, where inmates have been trained off-site to gain skills that could help them start their own business upon their release.

Within a few weeks of arriving at the prison, every inmate is entered into a program that teaches them about things such as addictions and employment skills. There’s a special version for aboriginal inmates, who represent about a third of all inmates.

There’s the gymnasium where women still play volleyball and basketball, but because of space constraints it also doubles as a meeting room for parole officers and social agencies. It’s also used for classes on everything from yoga to quilting.

Grand Valley’s founding philosophy of women living and co-operating together in small groups in a house-style setting is still working the way it’s supposed to, Dick insists.

And with an army of volunteers, estimated at as many as 600, coming to the prison to run programs for the women, there’s still a wide range of activities to help inmates better themselves.

“Certainly, as your numbers increase, the dynamics change. There’s no question about that. But I think we’ve been relatively successful in minimizing that impact,” he said.

The prison has also increased the number of officers running in-house rehabilitation and counselling programs, Dick said, but it’s not staffing that’s the problem. The prison now employs 214 people.

“Our problem now is not finding program facilitators, but finding space where they can do it,” he said. “As our numbers have grown, I’ve had to add parole officers. But we have not grown in space.”

Grand Valley is not the minimum-security institution it used to be, although about 60 per cent are here for non-violent offences, such as drugs, fraud or shoplifting.

Today, parts of the institution look more like a conventional prison, with a maximum security unit, segregation cells, uniformed prison staff and razor wire. About 20 per cent of inmates here are “lifers,” serving long sentences for crimes such as murder.

In 2004, Grand Valley added its 27-bed, maximum-security unit, which looks like the type of imposing cellblock you might see on television. Inside, groups of eight women live in small, college-dorm-style rooms with bunks behind heavy steel doors. It’s attached to the segregation unit, where on a recent visit a guard kept an eye on an inmate on suicide watch through a small window in her cell door.

“We’re seeing many things in women’s prisons that weren’t in the original plan,” Sapers said. “The environment within women’s centres has certainly hardened.”

Overcrowding has meant inmates are being pushed into higher level security classifications, sometimes unfairly, as violence rises, and many can’t access prison programs, such as in-house employment or mental health services, Sapers said.

With inmates sleeping in spaces they were never intended to, the prison ombud says, there are concerns around personal security, hygiene and access to fresh water.

An overburdened prison also spends most of its resources just trying to secure its own population, and has less time and money to deal with the rehabilitation of inmates, he said.

“As a consequence, we do see there are delays in getting people into programs, there are delays getting people into their treatment plans,” Sapers said.

But the overcrowding isn’t likely to ease any time soon, Sapers warns. Despite the plans for the 40-bed addition, he’s concerned the expansion may not be enough to deal with a coming influx of new female prisoners, thanks to new federal tough-on-crime legislation.

The number of women in federal prisons jumped by 15 per cent in just one six-month period last year, according to his office.

The plans for the extra beds at Grand Valley were made before the Conservative government introduced changes that are expected to place even more women behind bars, Sapers points out.

“The net impact of those legislative reforms will be to add new population on top of that which was already projected,” he said.

“It’s now an open question whether the additional capacity will be enough to meet the demands that will be placed on the correctional service.”

gmercer@therecord.com

A troubled legacy

The construction of the Grand Valley Institution for Women was in part a response to the troubled legacy of Kingston’s Prison for Women.

The 90-year-old stone prison, closed for good in 2000, was the subject of 13 inquiries and commissions, and was once famously described as “unfit for bears.”

In 1990, the federal government commissioned a task force that recommended closing the outdated prison and replacing it with smaller, regional residential-style centres.

The new era of women’s prisons ushered in a whole new way to house female inmates, with an emphasis on co-operative living arrangements and increased programming. Grand Valley was opened in 1997.

Grand Valley, by the numbers

 • Inmate population has tripled from 64 women in 1997 to about 180 today.

 • Minimum-security housing units have doubled, from eight to 16.

 • A 27-bed maximum-security unit was added in 2004.

 • New 40-bed minimum-security unit to be built next year.

 • New 16-bed unit opened this month.

 • The prison now employs 214 people.

 • There are about 570 women in federal prisons in Canada, one third of them aboriginal.

Continued here:
Women’s prison a crowded, harder place

08-10-2010 23:10 http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com Join our community of porch lovers on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com Side porches are quite common on historic Charleston homes. We explain why.

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The Story of Side Porches on Charleston Homes - Video

16-05-2010 07:13 At The Peel in Kingston

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Porches 'Shirts On, Dudes Off' @ K-Fest 15th May 2010 - Video

Before the invention of central heat and air conditioning, people generally built houses that were designed to be as comfortable and durable as possible for their specific climate.  In hot climates, they built overhangs to shade windows and protect from rain, high ceilings to let the hot air rise above the people, porches to sit out on when it was hot, and big windows to let in breezes.  In cold climates, overhangs were smaller to let more sun shine into the house.  In dry, desert areas, houses were made of masonry that would absorb heat during the day, releasing it at night.

When we started heating and cooling our homes, all those smart decisions fell by the wayside and we started building any type of house anywhere – southern cottages in the north, southwest adobe-style homes in the south, and on and on.  However, appropriate roofing in Phoenix is not synonymous with appropriate roofing in Baltimore. What we are finding is that a house style in the wrong climate can lead to more energy use, and reduced comfort and durability. 

For example, in the hot, rainy south, small or no overhangs let too much water hit the walls of the house, which causes premature deterioration and lets in too much sun on hot days.  Big overhangs in the north don't let enough of the sun's heat on cold days.  This illustrates that thinking about where you are when you decide what kind of house to build is an easy way to make a better, greener house that will be cheaper to operate, more comfortable, and last longer – and none if this has to cost you a dime extra.  Just make the right decisions early in the process.

Here are some guidelines for climate-friendly roofing and window placement:

If you get a lot of rain where you live, design your house with overhangs and simple roof designs to keep water from backing up into the attic and keep it off the walls.  If you get a lot of snow, a steep roof will allow the snow to slide off quickly instead of building up.  In almost all climates, avoid west-facing windows – they heat up the house at the end of the day and can overheat during even cold weather.  I have seen homes that need to turn on the air conditioning in the winter because too much sun comes in.  In cold climates, don't put too many windows on the north side, especially if you get a lot of wind from that direction – they will lose a lot of heat.  Put a lot of windows on the south side of the house all climates, making sure to shade them with overhangs to keep out the heat during hot months.  Put in windows that open easily, with screens if you live in a buggy area.  Then open them (and turn off the AC) when the weather is nice.  You don't need to heat or air condition your house every minute of every day.  Take advantage of natural heating and cooling, save money, and enjoy the day.

If you build or renovate your house to fit your local climate conditions, you can save energy, save money on maintenance, and be more comfortable year round.  Why more people don't do it is beyond me.

Have you remodeled your house to suit local climate conditions? Tell us about how you keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Green building consultant Carl Seville writes for Networx. Get home & garden ideas like this - http://www.networx.com/article/building-a-house-to-fit-local-climate-co - on Networx.

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Home Designs for Every Climate

05-01-2011 00:25 Step by step from A to Z an outdoor home addition,

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COVERED BACK PORCH at Glenrock Hill Dr. - Westheimer Lakes North Community - Katy, TX 77494.wmv - Video

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Uptown, a historic district bounded roughly by South Claiborne Avenue on the north, Tchoupitoulas Street on the south, Toledano Street on the east and Lowerline Street on the west. It's such a huge area with so many distinct cultures that it includes neighborhoods such as Freret and Milan, Bouligny and Touro-Bouligny, Hurstville, Rickerville and more.

I choose a portion to explore near the intersection of Freret Street and Napoleon Avenue.

THE BLOCK: The 4400 block of Loyola Avenue on the odd-numbered, or north, side of the street, between Napoleon Avenue on the east and Jena Street on the west.

The Napoleon end of the block faces Samuel Square, one of the planned green spaces in Faubourg West Bouligny, developed by Samuel Kohn (hence the name of the square) and Laurent Millaudon (whose namesake is Laurence Square at Napoleon and Magazine Street).

I am just three blocks from Freret Street and tempted to call the neighborhood "Freret," but a couple of websites tell me I am just outside of its boundaries.

THE HOUSES: Five distinctive houses from the early years of the 20th century. Four are large, two-story homes in the Neo-Classical Revival style that dwarf the petite shotgun at the corner of Jena.

********

Freret Street has become such a stylish destination for dining, yoga, art, drinking and shopping that it's almost hard to remember that the Freret Market and annual Freret Street Festival used to be the main draws to the area.

But no matter how many burgers are grilled, pizzas are baked and cocktails are poured, the market -- from noon to 5 p.m. today -- remains an irresistible draw.

With yummy food offerings and dozens of artists' booths, it's a great way to enjoy the La Nina weather in early February. If you're there and in the mood for a walkabout, Samuel Square lies just three blocks away.

Anatomy of the block

The first stop, at the corner of Jena and Loyola, is a meticulously renovated shotgun with a side porch and entry shaded by a pretty pergola. The design is thoughtful: Pale-colored shutters on the front porch, the same over the side door; a criss-cross pattern over the panels on the front, the same for the wood railing on the side. A jolt of color from the entry door -- it's an unabashed tangerine -- provides the exclamation point to the understated composition.

Its immediate neighbor is a grand home with Neo-Classical Revival details. I can't say for certain whether the home is a single unit, but the single front door tells me that it was when it was built. A covered porch at the first level, and uncovered porch at the second, invite sitting, facilitated by the grouping of chairs I spot. On the first floor, Tuscan columns support the porch above; on the second, a balustrade stretches between short box posts with recessed panels. My favorite feature: the bold dormer on the hipped roof, extending forward from the roof ridge almost to the eave, and featuring a diamond-pattern window framed by millwork.

A lemon-buttercream confection appears on the right, a kissing cousin of its neighbor and replete with Neo-Classical Revival details. Common elements include the two-level porches, the second-floor balustrade, deep eaves and dormer windows. But it's the well-articulated gable on this house that distinguishes it. Forming a triangle of impressive portions and embellished with modillions, the roofline serves as a fitting crown to this beauty.

If only I had my hedge trimmers with me (and the permission of the owners) to prune away the greenery blocking the view of the green house I encounter next. It's tricky but, by maneuvering, I am able to catch glimpses of the home's glorious details and stitch them together into a coherent image. The house is a double, and each half has access to both the downstairs and the upstairs porches. To individualize each unit, roof features differ from one side to the other. On the left, I spot a gable with stucco and millwork strips. On the right, a hipped roof with a dormer. No imagination was spared here, from the square-within-square pattern of the porch railings, to the stained-glass dormer window, to the wonderful configuration of the glass panes in the transoms over the downstairs doors and windows -- all was done with the utmost attention to detail.

If the first three two-story houses were large, the fourth is a behemoth. I study it for awhile trying to figure out why it seems larger than its neighbors and realize that it is at least 50 percent wider. Whereas each unit in the double house on the left is one room wide, judging from the placement of windows and doors, here each unit has a hallway in addition to the one-room-wide living space. The plan is similar to that of a sidehall shotgun or a double-gallery townhouse. Although the tall, narrow, stained-glass window on the roof dormer enchants me, I find the dual front porches -- their roofs supported by a colonnade of Tuscan columns -- to be the home's most appealing feature.

Life on the street

In my years of Street Walking, I have met preachers, bowling alley owners, sultry singers and any number of fascinating people who make life in this city so astonishingly captivating. But today is a first.

Rebecca Taylor-Perryman is sitting on the front porch of the buttercream house, yellow hibiscus shrubs blooming in the yard in front of her. She is seeking solitude with her iPad but is too nice to send me packing when I begin barraging her with questions.

"I have only lived in this house since December, but I like it," she tells me, then explains that she was drawn here by love. "I moved in with my boyfriend."

A California native, she came to New Orleans for graduate school and will graduate in December. Her course of study? Archaeology, specifically the Upper Paleolithic.

Hmmm... does Paleolithic mean Stone Age?

"That's right," she tells me. "The Upper Paleolithic is late Stone Age, from 10,000 to 40,000 B.P." ("Before the Present.")

Her excavation site is in southwest France and is called "Peyre Blanque."

"White rock, for the flint that was used," she explains. "The site dates to about 14,000 B.P. and is contemporaneous with many of the cave paintings."

I ask her to spell everything for me so I can get it right.

"You don't need to write it down?" she asks. "You must have a very good memory."

Not really. But receiving an impromptu lesson on the Upper Paleolithic from an archaeology student while on an Uptown Street Walk is a rather memorable experience, wouldn't you say?

********

R. Stephanie Bruno can be reached at housewatcher@hotmail.com.

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Uptown homes are lovely on Loyola Avenue