image borrowed from sodahead.com
Dreaming Large
“My dream got bigger & bigger--and the box
got bigger than the message--than the Gospel.”
--Jim Bakker.
As a younger more gregarious man, I
dreamed of putting together an Artist’s
Colony, where fellowship, love, & creativity
could flourish & co-mingle--but not in
an old warehouse firetrap like in the
urban artist clusters I had seen,
No, mine would be out in Puget
Sound on one of the smaller
islands, sprawling over a 100
acres, rife with wonderful forest
trails, walking distance to the
sparkling inland sea. The artist’s homes would
include dome houses, domiciles
built underground with sod & moss
roves, mountain man log cabins, and
ambitious tree houses with spider web
catwalks connecting them, each with its
own studio for sculptors, painters, musicians
actors, dancers, & writers.
My house would be on a high bluff overlooking
the colony, with a clear view over the top of the
pungent conifers of a lighthouse nearby, that
would be festooned with red & white stripes.
It would be 20,000 square feet,
all on one level, with 15’ cathedral
ceilings, several tall stained glass picture
windows with their brightly colored
depictions of orca pods, Roosevelt
elk, bald eagles, seahawks & gulls.
black bear, timber wolves, forests
and beaches.
My wife and I would have a palatial bed chamber,
with separate bathrooms connected to a spa,
cavernous walk-in closets, a canopy bed with
red & black velvet curtains, a tall functional fire
place, two red leather love seats, with no TV’s.
The monstrous kitchen would have several kinds
of ovens, a plethora of hanging brass pots and
pans, and a dinette table for immediate
family that adjoins a huge King Arthur style
dining hall, complete with several hand-carved
oak sideboards and a humungous carved redwood
dining table that could seat 30 guests. On the blond
paneled walls would hang the Buttkus family crest,
sent from a German castle, dozens of authentic
samurai & European cavalry ornamental swords
& spears, interspersed with weapons of the American
Old West, from buffalo rifles to carbines.
Of course, there will be
a library laden with books,
movies, and music, adjoined
to a home theater with a
20 feet screen & Dolby
surround sound, that could
seat 50 people, with a glass
cabinet by the door that displays
real Oscars, Emmys, & SAG awards.
The roof of my rambling home would be fashioned like
a tall ship, with railings. thick masts, red & black sails
and large flags. Rising majestically out of the center of
the roof would be my personal circular Tower of Silence,
an apartment perched a hundred feet above the trees,
fitted with an elevator, the old fashioned kind taken from
a pioneer building in Seattle, with flashing lights atop it
to alert planes at night & a cell tower to power all the Wi-
Fi wonders below. This is my retreat,
my office,
my eagle’s nest,
my den in the clouds,
my writer’s space.
my meditation space,
my home for Muses,
my cradle of creativity.
What good is great wealth--
if you don’t share with friends and
loving family?
Glenn Buttkus