Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

AMSTERDAM (JTA) Video calls werent really cutting it for Fiet Aussen, a 91-year-old widow who has spent the past six weeks in lockdown at this citys Jewish nursing home.

Nearly deaf, she isnt really able to use that technology to communicate with family members, who have been unable to visit her at Beth Shalom since it closed its doors in the middle of March because of the coronavirus. COVID-19 has killed 26 of its residents.

So her grandson, Timo Haaker, 26, decided to enlist a different kind of machinery.

He called Riwal, a Netherlands-based international company that specializes in crane machines, to inquire about renting one to lift Aussens relatives up to the window of her third-story apartment, the NIW Dutch-Jewish weekly reported Friday.

Riwal, which is owned by the Israeli-Dutch businessman Doron Livnat, lifted 12 of Aussens relatives up to her on April 15 for free and has offered to do the same for any family of residents at Beth Shalom who want to do the same.

Haaker told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he did not know about Riwals Jewish connections. The company has been targeted by anti-Israel groups for its activity there.

To be honest, she couldnt really hear us on the crane, but it made her super happy, it filled her with new energy, said Haaker, a co-founder of the We Are Amsterdam tourism company, which he runs with his Israel-born partner, Guy Kuttner.

To minimize the cranes footprint on the street outside Beth Shalom, Riwal sent out one of its smallest units, which can only lift one person at a time. Each member of the Aussen clan had a quick chat of about three minutes with Fiet before being lowered and replaced by the next visitor, as onlookers snapped pictures and took videos of the scene on their cellphones.

The sun was shining, there was a great atmosphere and it was just a perfect day, Haaker said.

His mother is one of four children raised by Fiet and her late husband, Hans. They took Haakers mother into the family as a foster child when she was a teenager.

Fiet, who is not Jewish, moved in to Beth Shalom with Hans about a year ago. Hans was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust in hiding. He died in November.

In mid-March, Beth Shalom went into lockdown for fear of the coronavirus, but it was too late for many. To date, 26 of its 120 residents have succumbed to the virus and some are quarantined to their rooms, NIW reported. This made Beth Shalom the worst-hit place in the Dutch Jewish community by COVID-19, according to Esther Voet, the papers editor in chief.

One of Fiets best friends, also a Beth Shalom resident, died on April 13, possibly from the virus.

The infection rate at Beth Shalom made the Aussens increasingly worried about losing Fiet without getting to say goodbye, her grandson said.

Even without the virus, theres a chance that each visit will be the last when youre talking about a person in their 90s, Haaker said. And my grandmother has had lung issues in the past. So this concern about not getting to say goodbye was one of the main reasons I decided to put this together.

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At this Dutch Jewish nursing home, family visitors can be lifted by cranes to see their loved ones safely - JTA News

A very mild winter apparently did not assist contractors trying to seal up the many broken windows at St. Pauls, as they proposed additional project costs to the village, which were quickly challenged.

The Village Board decided to table an agenda item for its April 15 meeting calling for a change order that would drive up costs of the current stabilization phase at the historic St. Pauls main building. The identification of new broken windows at St. Pauls, during a very mild winter and while the community and country is under quarantine orders wasnt considered an accurate assessment of conditions warranting the expense. Furthermore the St. Pauls School Window Protection project would be under the supervision of the hired construction manager consultants CNY Group, represented by village resident Walter Beal at multiple Board meetings last year.

Superintendent of Public Works Joseph DiFrancisco said three project change orders were submitted by Talty Construction, Inc. at a total cost of $35,776.83; amounts of $19,043.43, $3,600, and $13,133.40, including charges for additional labor and materials.

The suggested total with change orders for the project awarded on January 9, 2020 and begun in early March would increase from $39,400 to $75,176.83.

The first change order ($3,600) submitted would be for aggregate material that was needed on the ground as there was an area where Taltys lift was sinking into the ground surrounding St. Pauls this was due to a building on that site that was removed (Ellis Hall, demolished by the village in 2014). They needed to secure the ground in order for their equipment to operate in that area, DiFrancisco said.

Trustee Stephen Makrinos immediately said it should not be the villages responsibility if the on-site equipment contractors are using and bringing in would sink into the ground. If they needed to prep a job site for work should this have not been in their bid price already? If they didnt price it then, shouldnt that be the contractors problem? Makrinos said.

The other change orders for Window Protection were also lambasted by board members.

The additional changer orders, respectively $13,133.40 and $19,043.43 were for additional windows that have broken since the job has started (less than eight weeks ago) and/or had been missed when the initial evaluation of the scope of Window Protection was done last year. The total amount of Change Orders submitted comes to $35,776 increasing the cost of the Window Protection to $75,176.83, DiFrancisco told the Board.

Members of the Board took exception that the new total amount could exceed the CNY budgeted amount of $69,000 by $6,176.83.

Trustee Mark Hyer was shocked that 29 additional broken windows have resulted over the last month, with no snow or harsh weather damage recorded in the coastal Northeast. He says there was poor oversight if these windows were missed upon initial inspections of St. Pauls.

I think we need to bring in Walter Beal of CNY Group in front of the Board to explain why this was miscalculated, Hyer said. DiFrancisco told the trustees he spoke with CNY the morning of the Board meeting, and they said there were at least 15 to 20 windows, a significant number that have broken since the beginning of March, when the job started. DiFrancisco says that would account for at least half the change orders in front of the Board now.

During a special Board of Trustees work session on St. Pauls, held September 12, 2019 with a lineup of consultants from Beyer Blinder Belle and CNY Group presenting on the initial Stabilization and Abatement stages, Beal commented that 60 broken windows of St. Pauls were to be addressed. The windows were either to be sealed with winter coming, or at least during temporary protection. The work as outlined was going to be handled by two separate crews, Beal explained, with one on the ground to cut the cracked or missing glass and another to install replacement material (either plexiglass or plywood boards).

Last September Beal told the Board the cost would be approximately $750 per window, including equipment, materials and caulking. The overall cost for the Stabilization phase including Window Protection and ivy removal was to run just under a million dollars, at $984,000.

At the same meeting back on January 9 that the Board awarded the Window Protection bid for St. Pauls it had rejected the sole bid for building stabilization from Westar Construction

Group, Inc. of Syosset as it came in $356,500 over the budgeted amount (as reported in The Garden City News January 17, 2020).

Deputy Mayor Robert Bolebruch said it was ludicrous to believe that CNY has an accurate picture to suggest that within a month, one window per day has broken at St. Pauls. Trustee Hyer said the historic property has been fenced in for most of the past one year.

We dont have 27 kids standing in front of St. Pauls and throwing rocks at the building. I would like to have a better explanation from CNY than that, Bolebruch commented.

Trustee Louis Minuto said when change orders this big could drive up project costs, nearly double the amount, Beal will need to present justification and an explanation of the issues to the Board. The other trustees concurred and the village will request his participation in the next Board of Trustees meeting.

If you look at the original project bids, the contractors price now is coming close to the other bids when Taltys was significantly under those (when the bid was awarded). You start to wonder. The broken window count is just arithmetic its just math. I would like Walter showing us the information and talking through these change orders, so that there is not just a blind approval, Minuto said.

Bolebruch added, lets just make sure we arent getting lowballed and then all of a sudden we ended up where the project is far over budget due to change orders.

Trustee Hyer noted that such surprises with contractors on the St. Pauls job suggesting higher prices could be the tip of the iceberg as we move forward with this.

We have to take another look at costs of stabilization and ivy (vine) removal and see if CNY is correct with what they presented. If all the estimates were lowballed, the price could end up three times what were expecting it to be, he said.

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Board balks at St. Paul's window protection change orders - Garden City News

BEREA, Ohio -- I live a hop, skip and a jump from one of the five city-owned houses, all of which will undergo top-to-bottom renovation before they are put on the market.

The house Im mentioning today is at 115 Seminary St. (corner of Seminary and East Grand Street). Its two stories are clad in green shake shingles, and theres a plaque next to the front door designating its construction year as 1871.

Ive walked past the place many times and have long wondered what this vintage home looks like on the inside.

I was lucky enough to get a recent tour of the place, conducted by Jim Brown, Bereas administrator of operations, and Matt Madzy, the citys director of planning, engineering and development.

Renovation by Wallmack Properties LLC took several months and included the replacement of all electrical systems, all plumbing and repair or replacement of interior walls.

We salvaged as much (original) plaster as we could, Madzy said.

Thirty windows in the house also have been replaced, as have six exterior doors and all interior doors. I can tell you that many of the windows in this home are spectacularly large, offering expansive views both up and down nearby streets.

The 2,500-square-foot house has a first-floor in-law or master bedroom suite, three bedrooms on the second floor and two full baths. The fully renovated kitchen boasts granite countertops, hickory cabinets and vinyl plank flooring.

New appliances include a General Electric stainless steel dishwasher and stainless gas range with center griddle and broiler.

The roof was replaced around 2012, along with the furnace and hot water tank, Madzy said, adding that the houses 30 oversize windows have been replaced, as have door trim and baseboards -- all in what he describes as more the old-style scale size than what you would see in a new home.

All of that is impressive enough, but whats harder to describe is a certain grandeur that many of these 19th century houses have -- and this place certainly has it.

A few finishing touches are still needed before the house is ready to sell, Madzy said, explaining that Berea City Council recently passed legislation approving its sale.

Proceeds from the sale of this home will be used to renovate the next house -- all of them former rentals. The Seminary Street home "will be on the market very soon, Madzy said.

And the price? No firm amount has been set yet, Madzy said, adding that it will probably be in the mid-two-hundred-thousands.

Hmm. Now, if I can just come up with a winning lottery ticket.

Pantrys new rules: Now that spring has arrived, St. Thomas Church, 50 E. Bagley Road in Berea, will host its first mobile food pantry in the parking lot behind the church.

Since a lot more people will be showing up because of this virus (COVID-19), the church pantry operation will be following the State of Ohios cautionary directions, said Beverly Smith, St. Thomas mobile pantry coordinator.

She said clients will not be permitted to pick their own items, but will remain in their cars. Produce and other food items contributed by the Cleveland FoodBank will be placed directly into the vehicles trunks.

We will be unable to sign people in to the Pantry Track system, so all clients will receive the same amount of fruits and vegetables, Smith said.

Teenagers who are not attending school due to school closures will gather the food on carts and deliver it to a driveway exit from the church on Seminary Street.

No one on foot will be permitted on the premises. Customers must also wear face masks when approaching the pickup spot in accordance with suggestions from the State of Ohio.

Volunteers over the age of 65 years will not be permitted on the premises of the church parking lot. The St. Thomas church building will not be open and all transactions will take place as outlined above.

Deans Award: Berea-Midpark High School graduate Brenelly Diaz Soto has earned the Deans Award at Colgate University.

Soto, a member of the Colgate class of 2022, earned the fall 2019 Deans Award for Academic Excellence. Students who qualify for the Deans Award must receive a grade point average of 3.3 or higher while completing at least three courses.

Aid for seniors: The City of Middleburg Heights has partnered with local faith-based organizations to aid seniors and those in need to obtain supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.

If a resident is unable on his or her own, or with the help of family and friends, to get food or other necessities, please call 440-234-2255.

The citys call center staff will be ready to answer the phone from 9 a.m. to 4 pm. Monday through Friday.

The city, at its website, has also provided a list of Middleburg Heights restaurants currently providing carryout and delivery options, along with a list of Middleburg Heights businesses currently hiring.

Gammella goes online: Brook Park residents can view Mayor Mike Gamellas COVID-19 address, Our Nation and City are Facing Critical Times, online here.

Metroparks safety: Residents of Berea, Brook Park and Middleburg Heights are finding the nearby Cleveland Metroparks, which have been designated an essential service, to be an outdoor respite during these days of sequestering at home and social distancing.

As such, Brian Zimmerman, Cleveland Metroparks CEO, is online to address proper use of the Metroparks to ensure everyones safety during their Metroparks visit.

Read more from the News Sun.

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Berea house offers oodles of 19th century charm: Around The Town - cleveland.com

Public Services and Procurement Canada has further scaled back ongoing construction work on a range of federal projects since Ontario announced its moratorium on construction in the province, but renovations to the historic Centre Block building continue to crawl ahead.

Based on our own assessments, we had started to demobilize some sites ahead of the announcements made by the Government of Ontario [on April 3], explained Michle LaRose, media relations for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), in an email to The Hill Times.

Following this announcement, we demobilized additional sites to align with the governments revised directives. In all, 85 projects [in the parliamentary precinct] have been demobilized [to date].

On April 3, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that, as of April 4, all industrial construction in the province would be halted for the next two weeks, except for projects deemed essential services, like those related to health care facilities and critical infrastructure (like transit), among others.

As reported by The Hill Times in late March, PSPCwhich acts as custodian of Parliaments buildings and is responsible for federal infrastructure and work spaces generallybegan adjusting its operations after federal work-from-home orders were issued in mid-March.

At that time, the department said it was limiting work in occupied buildings to emergency work only. But it signalled that exterior work and renovations in unoccupied buildings, like Centre Block, would continue, albeit with modifications, including: staggering breaks; additional cleaning of equipment and shared facilities; reducing and limiting the size of construction teams on site to avoid workers being in close proximity; new face covering protocols; and making handwashing facilities and hand sanitizer available on work sites.

As a general construction requirement, all workers are required to wear personal protective equipment at all times to perform their work, which includes gloves. The nature of the work performed, as well as the large footprint of the construction sites, enables social distancing to be applied on site, explained Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anands (Oakville, Ont.) press secretary, Cecely Roy, last month.

Further changes have been made since Mr. Fords announcement, according to PSPC.

Although federal projects do not fall under provincial authority, Public Services and Procurement Canada is reducing its construction activity across the province in the spirit of inter-jurisdictional co-operation and to demonstrate leadership in our collective efforts to flatten the curve in alignment with the advice of Canadian public health offices, said the department.

The approximately 85 projects temporarily demobilized so far range in size and nature, falling into three general categories, according to PSPC.

First, theres interior fit-ups. Demobilized projects in this category include work to offices carved out for parliamentary administration at 50 OConnor St., where interim office space has been leased to accommodate people displaced by other precinct work. This list also includes retail and operational space fit-up in the Wellington Building, where work was ongoing to ready retail spaces (which are set to be leased out) along Sparks Street on the buildings ground floor.

Another category of impacted projects are interior improvements. Drywall repairs and patchwork renovations inside the East Block building, which remains occupied by some 40 Senators and staff, have been paused, as have ceiling and radiator repairs in the Confederation Building, among other things.

Finally, some projects dealing with exterior repairs have been paused, including window sealing work on the Justice Building, window replacement and repairs on the Confederation Building, and exterior renovations on the National Press Building at 150 Wellington St.

Work on the Centre Block and East Block will continue in unoccupied spaces, said the department, so, too, will necessary repair and maintenance work required for the safe operations of parliamentary facilities.

Health and safety remain the top considerations. Over the past month, PSPC has worked closely with industry leaders and associations to move the industry toward stringent health and safety protocols in the context of COVID-19, based on prevention, detection, and response, said Stfanie Hamel, another member of PSPCs media relations team, noting that the department was an active participant in the development of the Canadian Construction Associations standardized protocols for construction sites in Canada amid COVID-19, the latest version of which was released on April 16.

Aside from interior patchwork, ongoing work on the East Block buildingbumped out of of necessity ahead of the buildings full renovationincludes masonry restoration, roof replacement and repair, and restoration of iron work.

Work inside the Centre Block building is currently focused on demolition work and the abatement of hazardous substances, like asbestos, in particular on floors four through six. Outside the building, excavation work is underway to prepare for the construction of the final phase of Parliament Hills new underground Visitors Welcome Centre.

The final design plans, budget, and timeline for Centre Blocks overall renovation have yet to be finalized or announced. To date, more than $770-million in contracts related to the buildings renovation have been awarded, and overall, roughly $4.5-billion in spending has been approved for the precincts renovation.

lryckewaert@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

Originally posted here:
PSPC further scales back construction projects, but work on Centre Block continues - The Hill Times

Photo credit: DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN

From House Beautiful

For Shirley Robinson, owner and principal of Robinson Interiors Group, redesigning the layout of an historic 1927 Mediterranean home in San Franciscos Pacific Heights neighborhood to suit a couple with two college aged sons was no small task. In fact, thanks to San Francisco's building restrictions, it was somewhat of an interiors puzzle.

"Weve spent four of the last five years in construction," says Robinson. When they bought the home, almost everything was original with very few updates at all. The plan, according to the designer, was to give them as much space as possible despite restrictions placed on such historic properties. What that means in San Francisco is you cant really change the size of things like windows or build out toward the street you cant increase the scale of the house.

Instead, the 25-year design veteran focused on changing the floor plan and general flow of the place. We had to open up all the rooms to give the feeling of more space, she explains. Its a decked-housebasically its one narrow floor on top of anotherso I worked with our architect to blow the interior out as much as possible.

After significant excavation and practically taking the interior structure down to the studs, the resulting home gave the family the additional room they required, including a generous basement-level space, complete with a game room and bar. With the exception of the living room ceiling and fireplace, some wood floors, and the substantial carved doors leading into the dining room, every element of the space was designed, built or rebuilt, says Robinson.

The 14-foot windows that offer unobstructed views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge are framed with subtly glamorous white glazed cotton drapes. Its hundreds of yards of fabric, recounts the designer. Glazed cotton is my absolute favorite fabric. Growing up in London it was everywhere, though its not used a lot here. Lucky for her clients, Robinson has her own line of fabrics which includes an array of colored glazed cottons as well as a line of handmade wallpapers (shes represented by Tatiana Tafur in London).

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As for the furniture, Robinson had everything designed with Yves Saint Laurent in mind. Saint Laurents Parisian salon is one of my favorite spaces because it was designed to be used, she explains. The sofas in this space are classic party sofas designed so you could sit on the backs that flank the custom over-sized brass coffee table. The brass armchair upholstered with Mongolian lamb in the foreground is vintage 1970s Mastercraft.

The designer worked with a favorite Los Angeles-based maker to create a one-of-a-kind contemporary deco credenza in walnut and mahogany with brass details to house additional linens and serving pieces.

Robinson created a jewel box of a formal dining room, complete with deep sapphire blue lacquered walls and a complimentary-colored Venetian plaster ceiling in a high-gloss. Its the finest of Venetian plaster because its just marble dust and tint, explains Robinson, who formed her decorative finishes company in the mid-90s and specializes in the technique. And the walls have about 20 coats of shellac.

The custom dining table benches are some of the clients' favorite parts of the home. And they're more family-friendly than they look: The seating has two layers of fabric, one is upholstered and the other is a perfectly-fitted slipcover that can be taken off for dry cleaning, says Robinson. They can also be tucked into the table to help maximize the limited space for a cocktail party or buffet. The custom light fixtures are from Venice.

Kitchen

The kitchen is not extraordinarily large, so where the finishes were concerned, everything had to be over-the-top, she explains. The onyx behind the stove is completely back-lit, the marble-clad walls and island are waterfalled, the vintage Italian chandelier is over-scaled, and all the cabinetry is custom.

For the powder room just outside the living and dining rooms, Robinson Venetian plastered the walls and had her team hand-paint a peacock feather motif on the ceiling. The lighting is vintage Murano, and the faucet fixtures were custom-made in Los Angeles to the designers specifications.

The sofa and chairs are from the set of the film American Hustle, and were originally red velvet. Robinson modestly reupholstered them in taupe mohair. The vintage coffee table is from Almond & Co., and the grass cloth wallpaper is Phillip Jeffries. Robinson designed bench seating similar to the formal dining room for an additional 1930s Burl dining table in this family space.

Robinson Venetian-plastered the groin vault ceiling and walls in a pale blue, and had the chandelier made in Italy. All the doors on the bedroom level were hand-carved from walnut and stained to match the original existing doors on the entertaining level.

The entire master bathroom is slab marble except for the mosaic "carpet." The vanity is custom with beautiful acrylic legs in order to expose more of the floor. Its not a huge space, so we added a groin ceiling, and as much mirror as possible.

The colorful, large-scale mixed-media painting was also designed by Robinson and executed by her companys artisans. We needed something really large and there was just nothing we found that would fit the space.

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How a Designer Totally Reimagined This Home's Layout Without Changing the Footprint - Yahoo Lifestyle

I thought I knew what real fear was seven years ago, sitting in a locked-down hotel after two explosions ripped through the crowd packed along the homestretch of the Boston Marathon course. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic, all the world has become Boylston Street. Every day brings new shock waves. We're frozen in place while brave first responders run toward the disaster. And we have no idea where the finish line is.

That day in 2013 changed me forever. I wrote this essay a year later to explain why. I took the guilt I felt for letting some important relationships slide, and I took action. I'm not perfect at it -- who is? -- but I gave more. I checked in more. I said yes more. I tried not to pass up opportunities for reunions and celebrations. I got closer to building a life without regrets.

2 Related

When I'm swamped by despair at the thought of losing loved ones without being able to hug them again, or say goodbye, or grieve in any recognizable way, I try to remind myself that it's what I've done all along that counts.

Editor's note: This piece was originally published on April 20, 2014.

BOSTON -- Larry and Stephanie Guidetti were standing three rows back in a dense crowd when the bombs exploded on the sidewalks across the street, first to their right and then to their left on the finishing stretch of the Boston Marathon. Their 27-year-old daughter, Gillian, was still out on the course, somewhere close, according to the race tracker they'd been checking all afternoon.

Stephanie was a nurse for 23 years, trained to cope with life and death on the job. Larry has logged 44 years as a math teacher, coach and guidance counselor. He has dealt with the aftermath of suicides and car wrecks and heart attacks.

But what faced them at that moment was wholesale shock and gore. People turned away, fleeing to either side and behind them. Stephanie's body iced over. Her mind congealed into a single thought: Please, God, let her be OK.

Larry's head instantly cleared of all but the essential. He worked the equation. If there was a third bomb, he reasoned, it was likely to be on their side of Boylston.

"We need to get into the street,'' he told Stephanie. He climbed over the metal barricade and yanked it just wide enough to let her slip through. She grabbed his arm. They began walking in the opposite direction from where the runners had been flowing moments before.

Their path took them past the swath of devastation in the second bomb zone. "Don't look,'' Larry said. But it was unavoidable. He remembers more than she does: Severed body parts, pools of blood, first responders crouching over the wounded, a man with clothing still smoldering.

Stephanie, dazed and frantic, tried to call Gillian. Police stopped their forward progress after a few minutes, gesticulating toward side streets. "They were saying, 'Get to safety,'" Stephanie recalled later. "I thought, 'Where is that? We don't know where that is.'"

A couple of blocks away in the media workroom in the locked-down Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel, I was fielding an onslaught of texts and tweets from concerned friends, colleagues and near-strangers. I'd never grasped how many people had a piece of the Boston Marathon. Everyone seemed to know someone who was running or someone there to support a runner.

Were there more bombs? Could there be one in the building where I was pinned down? Fear clawed in my stomach briefly. I stiff-armed it away.

It never occurred to me that I could have loved ones in danger.

Larry is my father's sister's oldest son, a cousin I adored as a child. He is one of an ever-dwindling group of people who can summon up the faces and voices of my grandparents, who emigrated from Italy as children. He can remember my father, Vincent, as a young Army veteran from Springfield, Massachusetts, who brought home a beautiful blonde named Susan from Minnesota.

Yet I had no idea Larry and Stephanie were on Boylston Street, or that Gillian was running. And they had no clue I was in Boston. We shared 50-plus years of family history, but we weren't in regular touch.

Our family was fortunate compared to many. Gillian, running her first full marathon, was stopped roughly a mile from the finish and didn't understand the scope of what had happened until she got back to her apartment near Fenway Park. Larry and Stephanie made their way there and took her to dinner and told her they were proud of her.

Somewhere in the blur of the next few hours -- none of us can remember how -- we discovered how close we'd all been to the finish line. I felt anguished. I wanted to shoulder their experience and erase it from their brains.

Like many that night, I was swamped by the what-ifs. Runners who were forced off the course wondered where they might have been if they'd run a little faster. Spectators shuddered at the randomness of where they chose to stand. The thought that kept piercing me, making my legs rubbery, was that I could have lost people dear to me that day when I hadn't tried my best to keep them.

We are all returning to Boylston Street on Monday. And we have made some changes.

The lucky among us have that one house whose blueprint never fades, the one you walk through in your waking dreams. That was my cousins' house in West Springfield for me. It remained virtually unchanged through my childhood and nomadic adolescence and early adulthood. It was the safest place I knew.

My father was very close to his sister, Norma, and we visited often. I sneaked candy from the dish she kept filled in the living room, and soaked in the big white claw-foot tub upstairs. Out back, a gate in a low picket fence led to the yard where my uncle Frank tended wildly prolific tomato plants. In the winter, he flooded one end so Larry and his brother, Gary, could play hockey with a homemade goal. Just off their shared bedroom was a tiny triangular alcove stocked with board games. It was kid paradise.

Their baby sister, Corinne, four years older than me, hung beads in her room and plastered the walls with rock n' roll posters. I hung on her every word. I learned to play pool on the table Gary built in the basement, and drank my first cup of coffee -- really, milk with a splash that turned it beige -- in a white china mug with pink roses in my aunt's kitchen.

Larry went off to Providence College in the late 1960s and came home telling animated tales of basketball stars Ernie DiGregorio and Marvin Barnes. I was a bookish little girl who loved sports when that wasn't so common, and he drew me out as I burbled on about baseball. It was one of the first affirmations I had that I wasn't a total weirdo.

We grew up. I went to my cousins' weddings and held their firstborn sons. My work as a sportswriter frequently brought me to the Boston area, where Larry and Corinne had settled with their families. Then my travel pattern changed and the visits thinned out.

My aunt died of breast cancer in 2002. My uncle, his spirit broken, followed six weeks later. Gary, a talented contractor, moved into the house and did some remodeling, but it was still my touchstone, always there for me. He married a second time in the backyard with his own vegetable garden ripening in the July sun, a wedding I missed because I was covering the Tour de France.

A year later, he died suddenly after a brief illness. Once again, I was on assignment in France, and once again, I missed the family gathering. I wept over the phone with Corinne and privately questioned my priorities. Siblings and cousins are the ones you envision your arms around as you get older, helping you through unfamiliar territory as parents pass away, houses pass into other hands and the generation under you lifts off. This was out of order. Apparently, my sense of order had been an illusion.

I promised myself I would do better by my cousins, but more years evaporated. The night of the marathon bombings, I cast back in memory for the last time I had seen Gillian and all I could picture was a winsome, wide-eyed little girl. Now, I learned, she managed operations for the pulmonary clinic at Boston Children's Hospital and had raised more than $5,000 in marathon pledges for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Stephanie left nursing for health care marketing. Larry is in his 29th year at Westford Academy outside Boston. Both will retire within the next year. I'd seen them more recently, at my father's 85th birthday celebration. Larry took the occasion to give a beautiful speech about my dad's influence on him, articulating things I'd never heard or understood before.

"I was bucking the system,'' Larry told me last week, reprising his remarks at my request since I hadn't taken notes at the party. "I was going to be the first Guidetti to go to college. He always would encourage me. Whenever I had doubts about whether I'd be smart enough or good enough, he was my model: 'If Uncle Vincent did it, and he thinks I can do it, I can do it.'"

In the days after the bombings, I thought a lot about what more I didn't know about the people I'd known the longest. Gaps had opened up in my life -- inadvertent, perhaps, but they needed attention. Actor Tim Robbins' famous line from "The Shawshank Redemption'' -- "Get busy living or get busy dying" -- scrolled through my head. I told myself I better get busy getting reacquainted with my extended family.

The scar tissue that binds Boston now is also connective tissue. I suspect it feels that way for many torn and touched by the tragedy. I know it does for my cousins and me.

I returned to Boston last August and retraced all my steps from marathon day, reclaiming the end of the race for myself. Then I had a meal with Larry and Stephanie and Gillian. We made a pledge to each other to keep the lines open. I had gotten out of the habit of making personal plans on business trips, afraid work would intervene. That reduced love to an ordinary obligation, and that had to stop. From now on, I told them, I would never visit without calling first. Even if we couldn't see each other. Just to check in.

On Boylston Street last April 15, Stephanie dialed her daughter and improbably got through. Gillian was on Beacon Street, running on fumes and unaware of what had happened.

She heard her mother scream something about explosions and felt a surge of irritation. Everything looked normal where she was. "What are you calling me for?'' Gillian shouted into the phone. "I'm running a marathon. I'll call you when I'm done.''

"I figured she was exaggerating,'' Gillian told me. "I hung up on her. If anything had happened ..." Her voice trailed off.

Her mother can laugh now about Gillian's exasperated tone, the phone clicking off in her ear. Those few seconds told her what she needed to know: Her daughter was all right. There would be more time to talk, but not all the time in the world. "We are much more conscious of the time we spend together,'' Stephanie said. "We bought season tickets for the Boston Ballet. We're being smarter about what we're doing.''

Gillian decided almost immediately that she wanted to enter the marathon again and accepted the automatic invitation offered to non-finishers. The harsh winter challenged her training plans, but she was forced indoors only twice. On mornings after a heavy snowfall, she went to the Museum of Fine Arts, where the sidewalks were always "impeccably shoveled,'' and ran around the building for an hour.

Her parents will be at the finish line. They have seats in the grandstand with Stephanie's parents, who are in their 80s, and their son, Geoffrey, who has come from California. "I feel very supported,'' Gillian said. "I'm sure it's not going to be easy for them to go back.''

Life has felt more precious and fragile to Larry over the past year, and he will carry that with him to Boylston Street.

"I know my eyes will be darting around,'' he said. "I'm not afraid to go back and I want to go back, but I'm not going to totally relax until she finishes the race and we leave the race site. But if anybody's doing something brave in our family, it's Gill. She's running it. I'm just being a supportive, loving father.''

Stephanie was just as resolute. "We're not going to let terrorism dictate what our family does,'' she said. But she was shaken enough that she sought counseling last spring. She still finds it helpful to talk. And there is one thing she treasures from that terrible day.

"Larry was unbelievably cool under pressure,'' she said. "Much more so than me. I really admire that. I reacted like a mother, not a medical professional.

"It was another aspect of my husband I didn't know about, and we've been married 34 years. It's always nice to discover something new about someone you've known for a long time.''

The timing of this year's marathon was fortuitous. We had Easter dinner together Sunday. Twenty-one people around two tables hushed only once, when Stephanie asked them to hold hands. "We thank you for the blessing of family,'' she said.

Later, I picked up my dessert plate and sat next to Gillian and asked how she felt. She is excited that the day has come and will be excited when it's over, she said, echoing many others I'd spoken to over the past few days in Boston.

She recalls the exact spot on Beacon where she got her mother's call, and where she and others were stopped on Commonwealth Avenue, and she is eager to put those waypoints behind her. She said she is better prepared than she was last year. She's confident she can do the distance. But she will be nervous at the start in Hopkinton, same as she was last year.

"It's kind of daunting,'' she said. "All my family is waiting for me 26.2 miles away, and I have to run to them.''

What safer destination could there be?

Writer's note: Gillian did finish the marathon in 2014. She and the other family members I wrote about here are safe today. I called Larry and Stephanie recently, and the resolve and resilience in their voices helped sustain me. I caught up with Gillian by text. She's married now, with a beautiful 15-month-old daughter, and is a director of operations at the Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary -- a facility that sits in the shadow of Mass General. She's still going to work two or three times a week amid the stress and peril of this pandemic, making sure staff can function and patients are served. I'm so proud of her.

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What the Boston Marathon bombing taught me about family and gratitude - ESPN Philippines

CALHOUN, Ga, Apr. 23 /CSRwire/ - Mohawk Group announced today that the commercial flooring manufacturer is the Luminary sponsor of the annual Living Future Conference. This years event, a completely virtual experience, will take place May 78, 2020, and be followed by six additional weeks of sessions and summits. The Living Future Conference is a game-changing platform and program created by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) for the green building movements most innovative leaders to come together to ideate and exchange expertise.

For the first time, the conference will be a completely digital and carbon-neutral event. This years theme of Sustaining Hope Within Crisis was originally intended to reflect immediate issues around climate change, but took on a new relevance in light of current events. The educational and inspirational lineup still operates under a singular commitment to creating a collective message of hope that can reach more people with greater urgency to share ideas, stories, obstacles and concernswith an underlying sentiment that while we may be isolated by distance, we are not isolated from each others minds, spirits, and energy for creating change.

Mohawk Group has been fundamental to the success of our sustainability initiatives in the manufacturing world. They've shined a light on what was done wrong and what could be done right, said James Connelly, ILFIs vice president of strategic growth. They have been steadfast in their support of the Institute through this crisis and through trying to envision a future where companies like Mohawk Group actually make the world a betternot just less badplace. Their continued support means that Mohawk is the leader in driving a transition for the entire industry.

The manufacturer has partnered with ILFI since 2014, the same year it achieved a Declare label for its proprietary FlexLok carpet tile installation system. Two years later, Mohawk Group achieved the organizations Living Building Challenge Petal Certification for its Light Lab Design Center, which became the first Petal Certified project in the state of Georgia and the first restoration project in the Southeastern U.S.

At Mohawk Group we believe in this platform and this transformational movement that uses opportunities like this conference as part of its efforts to make a true impact each year, said Rami Vagal, Mohawk Groups senior sustainability manager. We are proud to partner with ILFI to support their mission, and share a vision for a future where we can make the planet better together through more sustainable green building practices, certifications, outreach and advocacy.

Following the successful implementation of Living Building Challenge Petal Certification, Mohawk Group pursued and achieved Living Product Challenge Petal Certification for the programs first floor covering to meet its stringent requirements. Designed by ILFI founder Jason F. McLennan and his team at McLennan Design in collaboration with Mohawk Group, the award-winning Lichen collection is inspired by the idea of Natures Carpet and assemblages of multi-hued, multi-textured lichens and their regenerative role in our ecosystem. Building on its success, the manufacturer went on to achieve Petal Certification for its full carpet tile platform produced at Mohawk Groups Living Site in Glasgow, Virginia. One of the latest additions to its Living Product portfolio, Owls, was also designed in collaboration with McLennan, who will be delivering the Living Future keynote.

The Living Future 2020 Online Conference includes two days of live events on May 7 and 8, followed by six weeks of additional content. For the first time ever, all content will be recorded and available as an option to attendees interested in viewing workshops, sessions, and summits in their own time. In addition, many sessions and workshops offer Living Future Accreditation, in addition to other industry standard continuing education unit credits.

Register for the Living Future 2020 Online Conference and access the full schedule and speaker list by visitingunConference.Living-Future.org.

About Mohawk GroupAs the worlds leading producer and distributor of quality commercial flooring, Mohawk Group believes that better floor coverings emerge from better design, innovation, sustainability, project solutions and operational excellence. Mohawk Group addresses the unique challenges and opportunities in contract interiors with a comprehensive carpet and hard surface portfolio of all types and price points. As the commercial division of Mohawk Industries, the company has a heritage of craftsmanship that spans more than 130 years. To learn more about our full line of flooring products, please visitMohawkGroup.com.

About the International Living Future InstituteThe International Living Future Institute is an environmental nonprofit committed to catalyzing the transformation toward communities that are socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. ILFI is premised on the belief that providing a compelling vision for the future is a fundamental requirement for reconciling humanitys relationship with the natural world. ILFI operates the Living Building Challenge, the built environments most ambitious performance standard. It is a hub for many other visionary programs that support the transformation toward a living future. Learn more atLiving-Future.org.

# # #

Contact:Luke Chaffin762-204-5607luke_chaffin@mohawkind.com

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Mohawk Group Announces Support of ILFI and Living Future 2020 Online Conference as Luminary Sponsor - CSRwire.com

Its a fun night for the NFL, which is broadcasting the first virtual draft in its history.

The setup is quite extensive, with Verizon providing more than 100 phones and service for live video/communication, Bose providing more than 132 headphones and Amazon Warehouse Services managing more than 100 video streams, as well as the drafts Infrastructure, according to ESPN.

But more enjoyable is seeing the carpet Bengals coach Zac Taylor has in his home office, how many televisions Vikings general manager Rick Spielman is using or which recliner looks the comfiest in Joe Burrows home.

Here are some of our favorite war rooms, starting with the home front in Tampa Bay:

Taylors carpet looks like it was steam-cleaned or installed just before the draft.

Burrows place looks comfortable enough to take a snooze.

New Washington head coach Ron Rivera shows off his team pride.

If you ever need some bookshelves, coach John Harbaugh should have you covered.

Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury goes for more of a minimalist look.

If watching the draft on one TV isnt enough, you might want to visit Vikings GM Rick Spielman.

Even commissioner Roger Goodell made sure his basement is dressed up for the occasion.

Bucs coach Bruce Arians had every northerner jealous with his short-sleeve polo and khaki shorts.

Detroit GM Bob Quinns has IT waiting in a Winnebago outside his home in case something goes wrong.

Jerry Jones broke out with the crystal and social distancing efforts before making his pick for the Cowboys.

Alas, all have been trumped by this guy.

Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.

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Whats better than the NFL draft? Getting a glimpse of these war rooms - Tampa Bay Times

Basia Goszczynskas latest work explores the connection between humans, plastic waste and manufacturing innovation

Apr. 23 /CSRwire/ - Commissioned by Mohawk Flooring North America, and built using materials sourced from its internal recycling facility,Overflowis an artistic interpretation that incorporates the stages that single-use PET plastic bottles undergo during the patented Continuum process to produce EverStrand, Envirostrand and Air.o carpeting. Get an inside look at Brooklyn-based artist Basia Goszczynskas creative process behind the installation, as well as the powerful partnership that showcases how thoughtful product design, innovation and sustainability in the flooring industry is reducing the waste stream.

Click hereto learn more about Continuum.

About Mohawk

Mohawk Industries is a leading global flooring manufacturer that creates products to enhance residential and commercial spaces around the world. Mohawks vertically integrated manufacturing and distribution processes provide competitive advantages in the production of carpet, rugs, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone and vinyl flooring. Our industry-leading innovation has yielded products and technologies that differentiate our brands in the marketplace and satisfy all remodeling and new construction requirements. Our brands are among the most recognized in the industry and include Mohawk, American Olean, Daltile, Durkan, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, IVC, Karastan, Marazzi, Pergo, Quick-Step and Unilin. During the past decade, Mohawk has transformed its business from an American carpet manufacturer into the worlds largest flooring company with operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

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VIDEO | Overflow: Mohawk Makes a Wave of Change - CSRwire.com

No stranger to affordable technology for the home, Wyze has recently expanded its offerings beyond cameras, locks, and bulbs, now dipping its toes into fitness items. Today were taking a look at one of those the Wyze Scale. Priced at an astonishingly low $19.99, the Scale does more than just report your weight. It can also track a ton of other metrics like muscle weight and metabolic rate. Head down to the video below to check it out.

Wyze has also released a fitness tracker, the Wyze Band, but that review will come a little later. Weve also checked out some Wyzes other products like the Cam Panand Wyze Lock and are always amazed at the affordable price points for their features.

Getting the Wyze Scale out of the box, we have the quick start guide, the Scale itself, and four AA batteries.

Setting up the Scale is very straight forward. Put the batteries in and open the Wyze app. Select add a product and choose the Wyze Scale. Youll be asked to enter some of your metrics like birthday and height so that the app can calculate figures such as BMI and metabolic age. Then step on the scale, install any updates, and youre good to go.

With an attractive dark blue and black color scheme, the Wyze Scale sports a modern design. Its hard to believe this is only $19.99. One thing to keep in mind here is that unlike the Withings Body+ scale, there arent any feet included that can be installed to use the Scale on carpet. The Scale must be used on a hard floor to get an accurate measurement.

On the screen, the Scale will show weight and body fat percentage after a short time scanning. You can also get the scale to measure and track your heart rate, but that must be prompted from within the Wyze app.

Also within the Wyze app are a ton of other metrics. Everything from muscle weight, metabolic rate, and bone mass to metabolic age. If youre like me and dont know what a lot of these really mean, Wyze tries to quickly explain them in the app to give an idea of what those metrics can tell you.

Both with the Wyze Scale and the Withings Body+ Ive had for a while, Im not sure how accurate these readings are. I havent compared them to any official tests. I do think theyre great for tracking trends, though. You can see if your BMI is going up or down along with your weight, etc.

While weight and BMI were very similar between the Wyze Scale and the Withings, the other metrics did differ a bit. For example, the Withings Body+ scale had me at 16.2% body fat while the Wyze Scale had 19.7%.

To make it even more useful, the Wyze Scale can also connect to third party applications. Currently, it can connect to Apple Health and Google Fit with support coming soon for other programs like Fitbit and Samsung health.

Its still hard to believe that the Wyze Scale is only $19.99. With its modern design, ease of use, and variety of metrics tracked, it has a lot to offer for that price. Like I stated earlier, Im not sure of how accurate those measurements are, but they are great for tracking trends.

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Wyze Scale Review: Classy looks and Apple Health support for $20 [Video] - 9to5Toys