There are a lot of materials that get embedded in a project. Of course, there are the traditional things like wires, pipes and insulation that go in a build but what about the personal secret things; things that tell a story. Project 851 has many stories as you'll find under the Big House section. The history of the people posted May 16, 2016 onward give a glimpse into all those shades of telling and unlimited story possibilities. Honouring those before also made me think of what is being carried forward so when putting the love into this project we added a few secrets right into the build. What would your quiet secrets be; the one's embedded in your home?
Pennies went into the foundation. One beautiful sunny day my Mom and I went to the house and placed them into the freshly poured concrete. We talked about the loss of the penny and also all the hard work and penny pinching things that brought us to a place where Project 851 could happen. I also love the penny as a symbol of copper and all it represents.
Growing up as a child of immigrants we learnt that saving your hard earned money was a positive pattern of behaviour. Even if you had the money didn't mean you bought what you wanted because it was more important to save for a "rainy day". Vancouver has a lot of those but as I've told my Mother "it's raining now". Those pennies have come in handy and are at the base of these structures. Here's to hoping they stay put!!
Another secret embedding went into the project; okay, not so secret now that I'm writing about it. As a child we were told that we must remember Palm Sunday and as a family we always went to mass on that day. I was not the biggest fan of attending church but understood this was a significant day, not because we received something; the palm, but because of my Dad's story.
During the war, that would be WW II, he had a very close call and was almost killed. He told us that planes were flying overhead and they all thought they were "theirs" but soon they realized that was not the case. He was wearing a heavy cavalry coat and as the bullets were flying he hit the ground and his coat spread out as he went horizontal. The bullets came down and went through the coat not even a foot away from his body: that happened on Palm Sunday. As a nod to his life, palms are now in the wall at the Big House.
When I talk to others about their family traditions and cultural building stories there are so many interesting discoveries. One I like also came to me this week by Lucas, one of the guys working on site. He told me that in his country, the Czech Republic, they burry a glass bottle with a story of the family and names of people who built the house in the ground. How perfect! Here's a bottle I have that was in the foundation of the property that came my way some months ago -- it will be going back to hence where it came!
(as you can see, I'm not afraid to get my hands a little dirty)
