The Ruin
"Skipping, yelling the sun poured through the trees onto their small happy faces. Eyes twinkling, gleaming with joy. Long brunette shimmery hair bouncing with each step. I remember..."
Each hot summer day seemed endless; picnics, playing house, dolls, applying make-up. Alyssa and Ashley were sisters more than that, they were best friends. They each had a spray of freckles across cute little turnip noses, grins that would light up a room. Everyday they would grab snacks putting them into their favorite blankets, small enough that their little hands could hold. After stuffing their favorite foods into their blankets they journeyed to a beautiful pond about a mile away from the house. There they played and swam for hours on end. Every direction the girls looked flowers of all colors bloomed; mostly black-eyed susans. When the wind blew blew just right, the trees would sway over the pond creating ripples in the water. The beach was covered with pebbles. The sound of laughter was everywhere. One of the neighbors had given the girls a row boat to play with in the water. The girls would jump from side to side rocking the boat until it almost tipped, it was a sight.
One hot afternoon, Ashley felt sick. Her mother made her stay in bed, while Alyssa was to go outside so she wouldn't become sick too. Not quite sure what to do she ventured down the road. As she walked, she collected an assortment of wild flowers; sprays of yellows, pinks and whites. She ended up at the pond where her sister and she had played so many times before. Noticing the green wooden boat floating in the center she saw her sisters favorite doll. She knew that Ashley would feel better if she held her doll in her own small hands. So Alyssa began to wade out into the pond. The water just barely reaching her cute turnip nose. She reached up to pull the boat down close to her face, but the boat hit her head and knocked her unconcious. Alyssa didn't come home that night. When they found her she was afloat ontop the water. Her brunette curls had become stringy black. In the hands of this angelic little girl was her sisters doll. Never will I forget her, she was the only sister I ever had.
As he looked at the picture, his eyes welled up with tears. It was a picture of him with his little sister, whom he would never play with again. Being only nine years old, he had not been through the deaths of any family members, except for his grandma he never even met, who passed away only months after he was born. But this tragedy turned him into an emotional wreck, as he would never be with his four year old sister again. It all happened in a heartbeat, he woke up on the first day of Spring Break and found his little sister lying silent in her bed, not breathing. And now, two days later, he finds himself at her funeral. The picture that stood out was of him and his sister showing off the vegetables they had picked in their garden
These girls have had a rough life. In 1910, their mother died and the four girls only have each other for all their weeps and worries. Also, their dad has been dead for years and ever since the death of their mother, life has just not been the same. They were left as orphans and took care of each other, since they were all they had. Then, something gave the Purcell girls a glimmer of hope. They had a guardian, who for the rest of their lives would take care of the girls. His name was Mr. Mackenzie and he was married to Mrs. Mackenzie and they had kids of their own. They have three sons; Gabriel, Geoffrey, and Antony. Also, they had one daughter; her name was Lucy. One child, though, would soon become very important in Julia’s life. His name was Master Geoffrey and he had been away at school ever since the Mackenzie’s started taking care of the Purcell girls, which was in January of 1910. At this time, he was the same age as Julia. They were both 15 years old. As soon as they first met, they wanted to get to know each other better. One of the first things Geoffrey noticed about Julia is that she was very much like her older sister, Frances; except, there was something special about her. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something
Her eyes were heavy, her body weak. As she crawled into the bathroom two feet away, Abby felt her body slowly succumbing to the numbness. All of her pain would be gone in less than 10 minutes, so why would she want to turn back? What about the senior trip Abby had planned with her best friend? What about the chair at the dinner table that would now be vacant? A couple of hours later Abby’s family came home from her little sister’s soccer game. Little did they know what they would find as they approached the top of the stairs. Her little sister, Ali, stood still as she looked down at her feet. There on the cold floor lay her big sister, her role model, and her super hero. Ali was crushed when she saw the pill bottle in her hand and the pale color of her skin. Her mom fell to her knees screaming and crying, wondering where she
Arriving at Lacey’s house I walk to the backdoor letting myself into the house. Lacey was putting on tanning lotion in the kitchen, “Lacey,” I called to her, “my mom wants me to pick up snacks for the beach, do you want to go into town with me?”, “Sure,” she replied, “do you mind if my cousin comes with us?”, “Of course I don’t mind,“ I answered, “but we have to get moving, my dad only left me the car to use ‘til noon.”
At the start of the afternoon, everybody just wished they were at the beach. By the end, all we could think about was how much fun we had playing board games. After Mom won for the hundredth time, we decided it was time for dinner. The smell of hotdogs and hamburgers floated throughout the house. Laughing, talking, more laughing, and even more talking echoed around us.
“Mykell!Wake up my mom said.We are going to Disney.When I heard that I got right up.Running to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then I said MOM I am almost ready.While I was packing my bag I was thinking how much fun we were going to have,but I did not know what kind of adventure we are going to have. Starting to run to the car I noticed that I was the only one almost at the car.
The small legs that whisked back and forth in the open space of the vehicle were full of energy. The young girl spent the day with the two people she admired the most. A bigger version of herself sat in the passenger seat with her husband driving next to her. They laughed over conversation. Every so often, the girl would stick thin fingers against her mother’s shoulder to receive her attention. She would say something trivial and obvious, but her mother would still entertain her. She absorbed every phrase her daughter said as if each filled her with a tremendous joy and was the greatest thing ever spoken. Her mother had selected a black dress for her today with a large white ribbon tied around her midsection. Her hair had been combed back in two braids so that the tips were touching her shoulder blades. They were coming home late from a Christmas party at church.
I stood at the end of the driveway with a bag of clothes and my little sisters by my side. My dad pulled up, we got in the truck, and we drove about 10 minutes until we got to his shop. This would seem like a normal day, but things were different this time. We weren 't at the shop to ride the four wheelers around or to play basketball in the garage or to mess with the pinball machines. There was a gloomy feel about everything around us. Even though I didn’t say anything, I knew things were changing.
The year is 2003. It’s the beginning of July in a small suburb town. A little girl sits in her backyard on a covered swing. The sun sat in a cloudless sky, casting shadowy patterns across the cushion on the swing. She can hear her younger sisters laughing and splashing in the pool that is just a few feet away. But she was not interested in swimming, because her attention was on the book on her lap that she had just gotten yesterday. Her feet brushing against the grass with every motion of the swing. Her eyes eagerly scanning the pages, trying to soak up as much of the story she could. Before her mom told her to put the book down and spend time with her family.
Moore, Gary T. "Architecture and the Human Behavior: The Place or Environment-Behavior Studies in Architecture." . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2011. .
“ Architecture organizes and structures space for us, and its interiors and the objects enclosing and inhabiting its rooms can facilitate or inhibit our activities by the way they use this language”(Lawson pg.6).
I finally arrive at the cabin, in amazement; something this beautiful sits so far back in the woods. After admiring the cabins for several minutes, I walk up to the door and gave it a light knock. The door opens and to my surprise, a beautiful brown hair, blue eyed girl was there to greet me. Her hair glistens in the sun, like fresh silk. Staring into her magnificent blues eyes, reminded me of the ocean. Smiling as she told me to come in, I entered the cabin.
My friends Jeff and Randy lived next door to me. Jeff was a tall dark haired boy who was a year older than I. Randy was similar in build as his brother, who was the same age as I was, and he had blonde hair that was very long. Jeff was different from his brother Randy. Jeff was a daredevil. He liked to take chances that were sometimes dangerous. Randy was more laid back, and easy going. Summertime in Indiana was the paramount of school vacation. I lived on an old country road, where fields of corn touched the blue sky. I loved watching the wheat fields on windy days, as the wheat would sway back and forth.
A compliant tower is a flexible structure with flex plies (principally flexible legs or axial tubes) to control mass and stiffness characteristics so as to mitigate the effects of periodic wind, wave and current forces. The tower is supported laterally at its lower end by the flex piles, but is permitted to slide vertically along the flex piles and rotate about its lower end. In response to movement of the tower away from the vertical, the piles establish a righting moment (couple) acting at the point of pile attachment. This provides the stabilization necessary to restore the tower to a vertical orientation. Natural periods are usually greater than 25 sec so they are generally well outside wave periods. Compliant towers are designed to sustain significant lateral deflections and forces. Compliant tower are relatively slender compared to jacket/tower structure but have higher installation costs due to the portion of the flex pile must be driven after the tower in place and use a considerable amount of steel.
Rolling waves gently brushed upon the sand and nipped softly at my toes. I gazed out into the oblivion of blue hue that lay before me. I stared hopefully at sun-filled sky, but I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to get through the day. Honestly, I never thought in a million years that my daughter and I would be homeless. Oh, how I yearned for our house in the suburbs. A pain wrenched at my heart when I was once reminded again of my beloved husband, Peter. I missed him so much and couldn’t help but ask God why he was taken from us. Living underneath Pier 14 was no life for Emily and me. I had to get us out of here and back on our feet. My stomach moaned angrily. I needed to somehow find food for us, but how? Suddenly, something slimy brushed up against my leg and pierced my thoughts. I jumped back and brushed the residue of sand of my legs. What was that? As my eyes skimmed the water in front of me, I noticed something spinning in the foam of the waves. Curiosity got the best of me and I went over to take a closer look. The object danced in the waves and eventually was coughed out onto the beach. “Emily!” I called to my eight-year-old daughter who was, at that time, infatuated with a seashell that she found earlier that day. “Come here and see this! Mommy found something.” Although I had no idea what that something was and I definitely didn’t know it would change my life forever.