Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Leon Mathieus Christmas tree is usually the last thing he puts up during the holiday season.

Before that come the 11,000 lights, 22 inflatable displays and everything else that goes into making his lawn one of the brightest and most festive in Raynham each year.

When my wife and I first started it about 11 years ago, we had one blow-up and then the next year we would add another one and then we progressed that way, and then the kids came into our lives, said Mathieu, 51. Then we starting going from one per year and we started buying multiple per year.

The South Main St. lawn is chock full of characters on display from his 12-foot-tall Mickey Mouse, clad in a Santa costume, to his newest addition, a reindeer driving a steamroller that ran over grandma.

His friends say he gives Clark Griswold, from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation a run for his money.

Thats the running joke, our friends will call me Clark, Mathieu said.

Another new addition to Leons display is a purple and white cancer awareness ribbon he made out of plywood, hanging from a tree in his backyard. The ribbon is adorned with more than 250 lights.

I just made that a couple weeks ago, he said of the ribbon. That might be one that stays up year-round. I havent decided yet. I went into a store and I found some purple lights and then I bought the white twinkling lights to outline it.

Ive been a cancer patient since the early 80s, Mathieu said. Back then, I had a form of bone cancer. Three years ago I had the better part of three organs removed. I came down with the same type of cancer that Steve Jobs had. I had a neuroendocrine tumor in my pancreas, and at the end of this summer we found that it has spread to my liver.

These days it takes him a little longer to set up his display as he tires easily. He has always kept a positive attitude, however.

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Leon’s lights make Raynham glow for holidays

CHAPEL HILL LaMonte Armstrong met with Gov. Pat McCrory 11 days ago as the newly lighted Christmas tree twinkled outside on the Capitol lawn.

Carolers sang out melodies of good tidings, and Armstrong, in his ninth month of freedom after a wrongful murder conviction cost him 17 years of his life, took note.

Armstrong, who lives and works in Chapel Hill, was with his lawyers that Friday afternoon elaborating for the governor on the miscarriage of justice that caused him to miss out on many key moments of his 63 years. His daughter, not quite 7 at the time of his imprisonment, blossomed into a woman while he was behind bars. His older son, who was playing college football at the time, matured into the kind of man that Armstrong enjoys being around today.

The father and son were together on Monday morning, sharing a meal at a Bob Evans restaurant between Durham and Chapel Hill, when Armstrongs phone lit on top of the table.

Armstrong looked up from his plate of eggs, sausage and grits toward his son, who was filling up on a plate of pancakes. The number in the phone window was a Charlotte one and Armstrong almost didnt pick up. But on the fourth ring, he answered, and McCrory, the former Charlotte mayor, was on the other end with long-awaited tidings.

He asked me what I was doing and I said I was eating breakfast with my son. I said we were doing a sort of Christmas breakfast, Armstrong said. And he said, OK. What Im about to say will probably make your Christmas even more joyous. And then he said, I just finished signing a document of pardon of innocence for you. And I said to him, Fantastic, governor. Thank you so much.

With that the governors first pardon of his term Armstrong is eligible to file a claim under a North Carolina law that allows compensation of up to $750,000 to persons wrongly convicted of felonies.

Armstrong was wrongfully convicted of murdering an N.C. A&T University professor found dead in her Greensboro home in July 1988. He maintained his innocence throughout from the first time Greensboro police interviewed him to when a Guilford County jury returned a guilty verdict to his arduous appeals of his life sentence.

Duke Universitys Wrongful Convictions Clinic took up Armstrongs case more than seven years ago and helped spur his release in June 2012 with a vacated conviction.

But it was not until March 18 that Armstrong learned the murder case against him had been dismissed. He no longer faced the possibility of another trial or another wrongful conviction. He finally was free of accusations that he had a hand in the fatal stabbing and strangling of Ernestine Compton, a beloved college professor at N.C. A&T.

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McCrory pardons Chapel Hill man wrongly convicted of murder

THREE LIVES HAVE BEEN TOUCHED FOR THE BETTER THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. THE MAGICAL INGREDIENT, SHOES. IT'S A POSITIVELY JAX STORY ABOUT A MAN YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ON THE WESTSIDE ON I-295 AND NORMANDY BOULEVARD. JOHNNY ADDISON MOWS LAWNS FOR A LIVING AND ADVERTISES HIS SERVICES BY STANDING ON A STREET CORNER WITH HIS LAWN MOWER AND A SIGN THAT SAYS "WILL WORK FOR FOOD." HE DESPERATELY NEEDED WARMER SHOES NOT LONG AGO AND ONE SUNDAY, HIS PRAYER WAS ANSWERED. WHEN HE'S NOT MOWING THE LAWN, YOU'LL FIND 42-YEAR-OLD JOHNNY ADDISON ROAMING THE WESTSIDE, PUSHING HIS MOWER, HOPING SOMEONE WILL GIVE HIM WORK. I'M VERY CONTENT. I'M BLESSED. I CAN'T COMPLAIN. WE CAUGHT UP WITH JOHNNY AT THE PLACE HE CALLS HOME, BEHIND THIS DILAPIDATED HOUSE ON A SLAB OF CONCRETE. YOU SEEM HAPPY. I'M VERY HAPPY WITH IT. JUST COMING HOME EVERY NIGHT TO MY TRANSITER RADIO AND MY CATS, HAVING THEIR ATTENTION, MY BED, I LOVE IT. I MEAN, I MAKE THE BEST OF A NEGATIVE SITUATION. THIS IS, WELL, HOME. ONE OF HIS MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS, THE SHOES ON HIS FEET, GIVEN TO HIM BY A GOOD SAMARITAN WHO READ HIS HAND MADE SIGN HE WAS HOLDING ON AN INTERSTATE OFF RAMP ONE COLD SUNDAY MORNING. IT WAS REALLY COLD, WINDY. I THINK IT WAS HITTING AROUND THE 40'S THAT DAY. AND I HAD SANDALS ON, NO SHOES ON WHATSOEVER. HE WAS LIKE, SIR, DO YOU REALLY NEED SHOES? I SAID YES, SIR, AND I'M WILLING TO WORK FOR THEM RIGHT NOW. I SAW HIM TAKING THEM OFF AT THE WHEEL AND HANDED THEM TO ME. I THOUGHT YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. IT HAPPENED SO QUICKLY AT THE INTERSECTION. JOHNNY NEVER GOT A GOOD CHANCE TO REALLY THANK THAT GOOD SAMARITAN AND THAT GOOD SAMARITAN HAD NO IDEA HE WAS BEING WATCHED BY SOMEONE ELSE. IT TOOK A FEW DAYS, BUT WE FINALLY TRACKED DOWN THAT GOOD SAMARITAN. I WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR NATE WES COT. IS THAT YOU? ANOTHER DRIVER CONTACTED ME ON FACEBOOK, ASKING ME TO PASS ALONG A GIFT TO NATE, LETTING HIM KNOW SOMEONE ELSE ALSO APPRECIATED HIS ACT OF KINDNESS. THIS PERSON WANTS TO ANONYMOUSLY REWARD YOU AND SAY THANK YOU FOR DOING JUST A GREAT THING. THIS IS FROM THEM. I APPRECIATE THAT. WOW, ALL RIGHT. I DIDN'T WANT ANYTHING FROM THAT. I JUST WANTED TO GIVE HIM SOME SHOES. NATE'S GIFT WAS A SURPRISE, JUST LIKE THE SURPRISE GIFT HE GAVE JOHNNY. AND AGAIN, I'M WEARING THEM. VERY COMFORTABLE, TOO. PAYING IT FORWARD, ONE STEP AT A TIME. YOU DO SOMETHING GOOD, SOMETHING GOOD WILL FIND YOU, EVERY TIME. NEVER FAILS. I PROMISE YOU. NATE, THE GOOD SAMARITAN, WAS GIVEN A RESTAURANT GIFT CARD BY THAT ANONYMOUS GIFTER. NATE WAS ALSO GIVEN A SPORTS AUTHORITY GIFT CARD WHICH HE SAYS HE'S GOING TO USE TO BUY EVEN MORE SHOES AND GIVE THEM TO OTHER PEOPLE IN NEED. AMAZING JOY. WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE SURPRISE FOR NATE, OF COURSE. JOHNNY GOT HIS PAIR OF SHOES, BUT HE SAYS IT GETS TOUGH FOR HIM ON THE STREETS, ESPECIALLY DURING WINTER. WHAT WILL HE DO? JOHNNY IS HOPING ALL THIS GOOD KARMA WILL SEND HIM WINTERTIME WORK, HELPING SOMEONE MOVE, PAINT A HOUSE, WASH A CAR. IF YOU'VE GOT WORK FOR JOHNNY, WE POSTED HIS CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE.

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With the news that…

The circle is large for a parlor room chat 50 people.

They are seated in folding chairs in a room with a Jesus portrait on one wall and a woven picture of the Last Supper on another. One person speaks and then theres 15 to 20 seconds of silence, as if everyone is savoring the words just spoken. The silence is broken by another voice, then the silence falls again, and the cycle repeats. The group is discussing something fairly radical what their churchs Sunday morning services should look like and even whether to have one at all. Yet, theres no rancor here. Just an exchange.

Members of Englewood Christian Church have been gathering for these Sunday night conversations for 17 years, but theyve been holding regular Sunday morning services for more than a century. In the 1970s, the church bused in folks from all over town for the Sunday morning service that would attract 1,100 people. Today, 200 may come on a really good Sunday, and in this circle of friends, that doesnt bother anyone in the least.

More interesting to just about anyone you speak with at Englewood is what goes on around the church for the 166 hours a week other than Sunday mornings. And thats quite a lot. So much, in fact, that the Sunday morning ritual that is the staple of American Christianity is now almost an afterthought.

Sunday service is still held, said lifelong Englewood member Jim Aldrich, 62. But it may be the event that is most not a part of what Englewood is now.

Still, the event, as Aldrich calls it, is the one constant that has remained at Englewood through the 118-year lifespan of the church. It was there when the church was born in the late 1900s in the middle of the citys newest streetcar suburb. It was there in the early 20th century, when a pastor was fired for not allowing the Ku Klux Klan to meet in the building. It was there during the booming mega-church years of late 1960s and early 1970s. It was there during the long, slow decline of both the church and the Near Eastside neighborhood that surrounds it.

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But today, Englewood looks at its mission as one of almost communal living with its surroundings. The churchs focus has morphed into improving neighborhood quality of life providing housing, offering quality child care, creating jobs. What happens for two hours a week on Sunday morning seems almost inconsequential.

Some people think if you dont have Sunday morning, if you dont have a worship service, you dont have a church. I think we are beyond that now, Aldrich said. If we didnt have Sunday morning we would still exist as a church. And thats the best thing you can say about where were at right now.

Where Englewood is right now is more firmly tied than ever before to the Near Eastside, an area that has been decimated by factory closings in the past 40 years and the abandoned houses that followed, a place where many residents still struggle to get by in an area where crime is always a looming concern.

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Englewood Community Church, by being a good neighbor first, tries to live its faith

Image Credit | Cindy Boyce

The years shortest days are almost here, and that means, happily, the return of Luminothrapie to Quartier des Spectacles. On December 10, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership unveiled the two participatory works comprising the fourth annual edition of the event that celebrates Quebecs northern climate. Every day until February 2, starting at nightfall, the luminous installationEntre les rangswill turn Place des Festivals into a wonderland.

Continue reading Entre Les Rangs | Montreal Canada | Kanva architecture firm

Dube Square is a unique example of landscape architecture boldly bringing together the design of public space, the design of an iconic outdoor structure and the design sculptural, water and visual elements to create a memorable outdoor space.

Continue reading Dube Square | Durban South Africa | CNdV africa

The Chinese hotspots of turbo urbanization have shifted: the large construction sites, engines of economic growth have moved inland to the large provincial capitals, like Xian in Shaanxi. Literally thousands of high rises and shopping centers grow simultaneously, nerved by wide boulevards.

Continue reading Fishpond City | Xian China | Lu Yang, Christian Lindle, Raoul Bukor

An ever-changing landscape that brings life to the city before it is built, and nature that cleans pollution, creates new communities and provide amenity value for all. That is the fundamental idea behind the development of a temporary, recreational landscape as a precursor to the overall urban development of a new city in Denmark that is now in the finals of one of the worlds most prestigious urban development awards, the World Smart Cities Awards 2013.

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World Landscape Architecture « World Landscape Architecture ...

Henry White of Smithson Valley will face incumbent Scott Haag for commissioner in Comal Countys Precinct 2 in the March 4 Republican Primary.

White, a Vietnam vet and graduate of Texas A&M University, spent a career as an urban planner and landscape architect before retiring. Hes been a resident of Texas for over 42 years and has lived in Comal County for more than a decade.

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Henry White throws in hat

Patio and porch containers of summer can be repurposed for holiday and winter focal points of interest.

They can be filled with evergreens and other natural materials to create interest in the same spots where the petunias grew this past summer. You may be surprised how quickly a few containers will dress up the cold and dormant winterscape. Here are some tips for keeping porch containers working through the winter.

Less is more. During the winter, there is less competition in the outdoors to draw the eye, so use fewer containers for more impact. If you normally have three pots flanking each side of your door, then scale back to one or two. Or make two large containers and minimize the amount of materials in the remaining ones.

Thriller, filler, spiller still applies. Even though the materials may be different in winter, use the same formula used to combine plants in the growing season. Use a tall element like dogwood branches for thriller, rounded items like dried pods, cones or dried flowers for filler.

Plan an easy transition from holiday to winter decor. By removing red bows or glass balls of the holidays, the rest of the container can keep the seasonal interest going until its time to plant pansies.

Scavenge your landscape for materials. Many of the components for winter containers might already be in your yard. Create your own sustainable scavenger hunt and look for:

Berries, such as red cotoneaster, blue or green juniper and orange currants.

Cones from evergreen trees and shrubs.

Seed pods and dried plants like yarrow, hydrangea or Echinacea.

Colorful deciduous branches that can be cut such as red-twig dogwood or others with an interesting shape like sumac.

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Landscape Logic column: Containers create quick winter decor

Liz Ball

Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.

-- Herman Hesse

Landscape gifts

Just because we are transitioning into a winter season, do not assume home landscapes are doomed to become dull and unattractive. Whether the landscape is covered with snow or not, the plants there still can offer a lot of beauty and interest.

Why not make a point of noticing how your plants, and those in neighbors yards, are showing off this winter? Start now to spot fluffy or dry seed heads on ornamental grasses, dried flower husks on trees and shrubs, cones on conifers and interesting peeling, patchy or striped bark visible on woody plants that have lost their leaves.

Some plants reveal colorful yellow or red stems, others have branches that weep or are contorted. There will be berries on vines and shrubs. Some plants display interesting buds for next springs flowers all winter.

As the winter season progresses, yes, you will start to see flowers from bulbs and certain plants such as native witchhazel trees, hellebores and winterhazel. A winter of observation will assure you that with plants, there is never a dull moment.

Do you know?

-- Homeowners spend upwards of $500 a year on yard and garden care. Continued...

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Yardening

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Heidi Cardenas

Heidi Cardenas specializes in human resources, business and personal finance, small-business advice, home and garden and home improvement. Her professional background includes human resources and business administration, technical writing and corporate communications. She has studied horticulture and business administration, and enjoys guest blogging for publications including Herb Companion Magazine, Natural Home Living Magazine, and Mother Earth Living.

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Pools are a big investment and require special consideration during design and installation. Landscaping around them creates an atmosphere and sets a scene. Plants, shrubs, trees and landscape materials should complement the pool and minimize yard and garden maintenance. Whether simple or elaborate, plan pool area landscaping along with pool design for the best results.

The landscaping around a pool is the setting for a large feature of your property. Plan the landscaping at the same time you plan the size, type and location of the pool. Make a list of how you want the pool and plants around it to look, what plants you want to use and where you want to buy them, what your budget is for landscaping and your timeline for completion. Sketch the pool shape and dimensions on graph paper, and make several copies of it. Try out different plants and color combinations on the swimming pool sketch. Consider growth habits, mature size and maintenance of the landscaping plants you are considering.

Use natural stone and rock in poolside landscaping to create texture and minimize plant and shrub maintenance. Consider a natural stone border and patio around the pool, with plants and shrubs planted 20 to 25 feet from the pool's edge to avoid plant litter in the pool or pool chemical damage to the plants. Granite and slate slabs, landscape boulders, river rock, blue stone, purple quartz, red rock and rainbow rock are just some of the decorative stones and rocks you can use in landscaping around pools.

Use flowering perennials as much as possible to cut down on maintenance and add color and interest from spring to fall. Perennial ornamental grasses and rocks or boulders create a savanna-like look. Flowering shrubs like butterfly bush attract butterflies and birds. Fragrant flowering shrubs like lilacs and camellias add another dimension, perfumed fragrance, to the landscaping around your pool. Flowering ground covers create a maintenance-free carpet around pools for a simple look.

Use lights in landscaping around pools to add nighttime drama and illumination. Use solar lighting, lanterns along pathways, underwater pool lights and spotlights on the patio and deck. Also consider ornamental plants or decorative items like sculptures to extend the area's usefulness into the evening without the cost of electricity.

If you have a pool, it likely serves as a focal point of your outdoor landscape. Pools provide a space for entertaining...

Link:
Landscaping Ideas for Pool Areas | eHow - eHow | How to Videos ...

Today, 18 percent of IT workers are self-employed, and this number is growing by 7 percent annually compared to 5.5 percent for the rest of the independent workforce, according to research presented by Patrick Thibodeau in a recent article on Computerworld. This accelerated growth in IT is being driven by the need for the right skills to match a rapidly changing technology landscape. Independent experts fill temporary project needs and help a business avoid a commitment to fixed-cost employees when long-term growth is uncertain. Midsize businesses in particular are sensitive to fixed commitments while the economic recovery remains tentative and talent in emerging areas such as data science is commanding high prices for permanent positions.

Right Talent, Right Time

Independent workers bring the right skills to IT in less time than a permanent employee drawn from a significantly larger geographic talent pool. Talent alone does not guarantee value for a business. Successful integration with existing IT professionals and the ability to forge relationships with business users or external clients remain outstanding challenges for both independent and permanent employees. The use of independent talent, however, minimizes the inherent risk by allowing the business to end a contract with minimal penalty and to contract anew with an alternative resource.

Midsize organizations benefit greatly from access to independent workers when the resource requirements are often less than full time. Individual projects do not have to be delayed while waiting for these needs to be filled across multiple projects. Each project can acquire the right skills at the right time instead of sharing potentially generalist skills.

Team from Talent

The ability to rapidly integrate these outsiders into the organization with minimal friction is necessary to generate return on their skills. Independent workers are likely to bring their own technology, and businesses with comprehensive bring-your-own-device (BYOD), wireless and remote access policies in place are prepared for the variety of technologies that may be brought. Identifying access requirements through data governance policies ensures that the independent worker is able to view relevant materials without exposing internal documentation to the security risks of external email or public cloud tools.

Employing social business technology such as wikis, instant messaging, online meetings and collaboration work space integrate the independent expert with the business and facilitate remote work if necessary. Midsize businesses with budgetary constraints can also avoid maintaining idle permanent office space by accommodating mobile workers with remote social tools when face-to-face interactions are not required all the time. An independent worker can integrate more easily with existing teams as needed when the business is familiar with social business technologies and flexible collaboration.

The right skills from independent workers are available to businesses of all sizes. A business that has positioned itself for social collaboration is more likely to gain value from this expanding pool of talent that fits with midsize business needs.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

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Right Technology, Right Skills, Right Fit