November 11, 2014 - Northwoods League (Northwoods) Kenosha Kingfish Kenosha, Wis. - Ballparkdigest.com has selected the restoration of Simmons Field, home of the Kenosha Kingfish, as their 2014 Best Ballpark Renovation Under $2 Million. The Kingfish and City of Kenosha partnered to invest nearly $1.5 million into the renovation of Simmons Field. The 84 year-old facility was refurbished for the inaugural 2014 season and although improvements were made, the history of the ballpark was preserved. The "Bambino," a 43-foot-long 80 year-old fishing boat installed in the left-field wall, was one of the many notable improvements made to Simmons Field. "It was a project with a lot of moving parts and resulted in a great product because of the good relationship between the City of Kenosha and Big Top Baseball. It certainly exceeded my expectations and I'm ready for 2015," said City of Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman. Ballparkdigest.com is the industry standard online publication tracking the business of baseball for over 350 teams across the United States. For more details please see the attached press release from Ballparkdigest.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Simmons Field Upgrades Cited as Ballpark Digest's Best Ballpark Renovation of the Year

The center of pro and amateur baseball in Kenosha since 1920, Simmons Field received a long overdue renovation for 2014, bringing new life to a classic ballpark.

If there is a model for a historic and fun renovation for a ballpark, it's the 2014 makeover of Simmons Field, which was transformed into the home of the Kenosha Kingfish (summer collegiate; Northwoods League). Preserving the historic grandstand and playing field while adding some whimsical touches led to a renaissance of baseball in the city, resulting in an award of Best Ballpark Renovation Under $2 Million from Ballpark Digest.

There is a long history at Simmons Field, where baseball was first played in 1920, when the Simmons Mattress Company built a ballpark to host a factory baseball team, the Simmons Bedmakers. The present grandstand was built in 1930, and in 1947 it was converted to the home of the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, who played there through 1951. Over the years it hosted barnstorming major leaguers like Satchel Paige, Bob Feller and Warren Spahn, as well as Class A Midwest League ball and independent baseball.

"Simmons Field is why summer-collegiate leagues are great for ballpark fans: smart operators will fix up historic old facilities and bring new life to an old ballpark," said Kevin Reichard, Ballpark Digest publisher. "The historic Simmons Field grandstand was spruced up, and the rest of the ballpark was upgraded to make it more fan-friendly and accessible."

"Simmons Field provided a compelling combination of both history and the infrastructure to build a spectacular facility on a relatively tight budget," Kingfish President Vern Stenman and COO Conor Caloia said. "It would be a challenge to build a new facility from scratch comparable to Simmons for less than $7 to $8 million. However, even if you built a ballpark, there is no way you could evoke the history, nostalgia and stories that came built into Simmons Field.

The $1.4 million renovation kept the historic grandstand, the playing field and a newer office/team store/restroom building intact, with the city paying $750,000 and the rest from team owner Big Top Baseball. All seating down each line was torn up, replaced by concrete risers installed with seats recycled from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and backed with a signage displaying a timeline of the ballpark's history. Two multilevel suites were installed on each side of the grandstand. The grandstand wall was moved in, and 25 four-top tables were installed, providing a birds' eye view of the playing field. A kid's area with bouncy houses, games and a sandbox was installed down the first-base line, along with a berm. Group areas were installed in the left-field corner. Various concessions, including a frozen-custard stand, were installed behind the grandstand.

If you want to be close to the action, 25 custom-built four-top tables were placed on what used to be the playing field at Simmons Field. These tables were just 43 feet from home plate and offered wait service and VIP amenities. All 25 tables were sold out on a season-ticket basis, at $6,000 per table.

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Ballpark Digest Awards Kingfish 2014 Best Ballpark Renovation Under $2M

Nay Pyi Taw, Nov 12, 2014 (PTI):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met Nobel laureate and Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who described India as her "second home", recalling her years spent in the country. It was Modi's first interaction with the 69-year-old pro-democracy icon. The Prime Minister referred to Suu Kyi as a "symbol of democracy", referring to the enormous efforts made by her for restoration of democracy in Myanmar long ruled by military junta.

After the meeting, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that the Myanmarese leader had told Modi that India was her "second home".

"India is my second home - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to @PMOIndia," Akbaruddin tweeted.

He told reporters that Suu Kyi was effusive in her praise of India. Suu Kyi told Modi that India was the first country to which she travelled from Burma, which was the old name of Myanmar.

The opposition leader also underscored the importance of stability going hand in hand with democracy.

The prime minister also presented Suu Kyi with a special copy of Mahatma Gandhi's commentary on Bhagwad Gita.

Asked by a journalist whether the prime minister had extended an invitation to the Myanmar leader to visit India, the spokesperson said, "the invitation to Aung San Suu Kyi to visit India is always available as no one invites one to her second home". The meeting at the Presidential Suite at Park Royal Hotel here where the prime minister is put up, came on a day when he had a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders and participated in the 12th India-ASEAN summit.

Myanmar is in the midst of a national debate on whether to allow Suu Kyi, Chairperson and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, to contest the 2015 parliamentary elections, which she is barred from at present due to a provision in the Constitution.

Suu Kyi last visited India in November, 2012. She spent several years in India during her early days when her mother Daw Khin Yi was Ambassador to India. She studied at Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi and also spent some time as a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla in 1987.

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'India my second home', Myanmar's Suu Kyi tells Modi

David and Danielle Crittenden Frum use their rural Ontario vacation home as an escape from the D.C. grind, which makes the name they gave it pretty ironic. Given their need, in Dwell's words, for the design to be "eloquent within tight constraints," they named their retreat the Twitter House, after the social media platform that has blurred the work/everything else divide more than any other.

After working with architect Richard Williams on the restoration of their D.C. house, the couple enlisted him for this project, giving him a budget of just $500K, which included furniture and landscaping. On a plot right on Lake Ontario, next to the home that Crittenden Frum's mother shared with her husband, the couple tasked Williams with creating a "concise building," both in price and in aesthetic.

Blessedly, unlike a few painfully "of the moment" hotels we could name, the Twitter theme didn't manifest itself too overtly. "It was about very simple ideas," Williams tells Dwell. "How do you reduce a house to the absolute bare essentials?" Here's how they did it.

Photo by Christopher Wahl/Dwell

"As you approach, you can already see the lake right through the house," Frum tells the magazine. "That's the most arresting thing about it." The windows on the lake-facing side of the home were kept slightly out of alignment with the those on the north side (), so as to encourage a cooling cross-breeze; important here given the lack of air-conditioning. But beyond low-impact building, Frum wanted the place to be light in "your claims on people's attention... Not to say, 'Look at me,' but to say, 'We are going to be as invisible as possible.'"

Photo by Christopher Wahl/Dwell

The living, dining, and kitchen areas take up the west end of the home (), while the east is reserved for the master suite, and the combined guest room and study. Working with Toronto-based interior designer Julie La Traverse, the couple implemented an Ikea galley kitchen with countertops of stainless steel. The floors are made of poured concrete. A wide strip of oak paneling runs along the wall and ceiling of the north wall (), helping define the corridor that runs from the front door through the kitchen.

Visit Dwell to check out the 1,500-square-foot home's living and dining areas, lake-facing wraparound porch, and the cheap and "low-key furniture" the couple filled it with.

Modern Lakeside Retreat Stripped Down to the Basics [Dwell]

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The Printed Page: This Pared-Down Vacation Home is Called the 'Twitter House'

Educating public about Greatest Generation is priority for expanded Salem museum -

One fine day, the Lacey Lady will again take to the sky, bringing with her stories of sacrifice, courage and, above all, hope. But that is six years and more than $3 million in the future.

But for now, the iconic B-17 that once soared over gas pumps along Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard just south of Milwaukie will be taking a more prosaic journey to a new home in an 80-foot-by-80-foot hangar in Salem, plus office and classroom space.

Restoration

Terry Scott, the executive director of the nonprofit B-17 Alliance Group, couldnt be happier about the move.

This is huge for us; the plane has been a landmark since 1947. A lot of heartstrings are being pulled, but we gave it a lot of thought and decided to take this leap of faith, she said.

We did it out of respect for the airplane. It couldnt weather another winter, and in the hangar we can restore the plane to its flying condition, Scott said.

Our goal is to fly it and do tours in honor of the Greatest Generation. Inside will be more than a museum, we will have displays, we want to engage people. It will be interactive and multisensory, she said.

But for now, to make a long story short, there are difficulties disassembling the plane, and there will be more problems packing it for moving, including actually transporting the pieces that are all over-size loads.

We are working through the details, Scott said.

Link:
Lacey Lady's NEW HOME

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November 10th, 2014 4:00 pm by Amanda J. Vicars

Oak Hill Funeral and Cremation Services in Kingsport, Tenn., under new local ownership and management, is striving to restore its legacy of care-giving for bereaved families in the Tri-Cities and Southwest Virginia regions through individualized and affordable funeral, cremation and cemetery services.

"I do not view our funeral home as a business, but a ministry to the bereaved during one of the most difficult seasons of their lives," said Phil Hoskins, owner of Oak Hill and a licensed funeral director and Kingsport minister. Our goal is not only to serve the funeral and burial/cremation needs of our families, but to minister to them as they face one of life's greatest challenges, losing a loved one.

Hoskins went on to add, "not only do we care about the families we serve, we understand their pain. Brenda and I have lost a son and, over the past two years, I have lost my mother, my dad and my oldest brother. Last week, Brenda lost her mother as well. Through our journey of grief, we needed professional care and ministry. Both of those needs were met by the compassionate staff of Oak Hill Funeral and Cremation Services. Today, Brenda and I make this pledge to our community: 'We will provide the care you deserve at a cost you can afford.'"

Oak Hill Funeral Home was opened in 1979 - the cemetery on its grounds was established in 1902, Hoskins added - and later bought and sold twice by national funeral care conglomerates before returning to local ownership in September 2014. Hoskins, his wife Brenda, and regional fourth-generation family funeral business owner Richard Tetrick have assumed ownership of Oak Hill Funeral Home and its grounds and begun renovation of the properties.

"We're making a diligent effort to restore the legacy of the cemetery and to renovate the funeral home to today's standards," Hoskins explained.

Oak Hill Memorial Park and Cremation Gardens, now a part of Heritage Family Cemeteries, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, will undergo restoration and improvements alongside Oak Hill Funeral Home to create an overall "premier end-of-life resource facility" in the area.

The transformation allows for a renewed focus on bereavement care. Hoskins said he, his wife and their 10 present full-time and part-time employees are your friends and neighbors and 'stand ready to serve the community we love.'

Oak Hill Funeral Home is located at 800 Truxton Drive in Kingsport. For more information, call 423-246-4631.

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Oak Hill Funeral Home returns to local ownership

For those who love to decorate, there's no time like the holidays for adding fun, festive touches to our living spaces. This year, there's something for many tastes and styles.

A look at the trends you'll see at stores:

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From vintage to city chic: holiday decor trends

PHOENIX -- A west Phoenix woman is a shopping spree away from getting her life back on track after help from her local community and the Phoenix Police Department.

Last August, Linda Tims was in the midst of serious hardship as she had lost her husband and parents, had medical issues and had her home near 43rd Avenue and Thomas burglarized on multiple occasions. All of which, had left her home in a state of disarray.

Having her home burglarized may have been a blessing in disguise though, as that is how she met Phoenix Police Officer Glenn Branham, who after responding to a burglary call at her residence, decided to try and help Tims.

"When you see someone in need and after being and officer as long as I have, you can see if someone is true and who needs extra help," Branham said.

Branham, who worked in construction before becoming a police officer, said he used his connections to help gather volunteers and donations to completely remodel Tims' house.

"There was a lot of trash, a lot of debris, she had been storing up stuff for her family, so literally we had to get dumpsters here (and) we went through two 40-yard dumpsters filled with trash," Branham said.

Branham said he and volunteers redid all the drywall inside the home, repainted the walls, remodeled the kitchen with new cabinets, added tile and even did some landscaping.

On Nov. 10, after more than two months of working on the home, Branham, members of the Phoenix Police Department, donors and some of the volunteers cut the ribbon on the home for Tims, who got her first look inside.

"(It's) totally awesome," Tims said. "Now I just have to get some furniture."

Tims said she is very happy to be moving back into her home and spent Friday using $1,500 in gift cards to American Furniture, plus an additional $2,500 in cash donation to buy the furniture she needs.

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Phoenix cop, volunteers complete remodel of woman's ruined home

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle appealed for financial support for the restoration of the Pontifico Collegio Filippino, the seminary where Filipino priests stay while pursuing further studies in Rome.

In a press statement issued Sunday on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, Tagle encouraged the faithful to support a global fundraising campaign for the restoration of the four-storey structure at Via Aurelia in Rome.

The restoration of the Collegio will help preserve the environment of excellence it has established through the years a quality that will redound to the entire Catholic community, Tagle said of Collegio Filipino, which the CBCP calls Filipino priests' Home in Rome.

In the same statement, Collegios rector Fr. Gregory Ramon Gaston said the building was in bad shape and needed major repairs.

He particularly identified the building's pipelines and heating system as needing upgrades, and the dilapidated walls and cracked floors as needing renovation or replacement.

Gaston said that aside from the higher construction costs in Europe, the subsidy that the Collegio is currently receiving from the occupants' lodging fees and the donations it receives from guests are just enough to finance its daily operations.

Inaugurated in 1959, Collegio Filippino, officially known as Pontifical College Seminary of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, has produced more than 500 alumni.

Gaston said many of these alumni are bishops, archbishops, and papal nuncios who have gone on to become professors and members of the Diocesan Curia, and serve in specialized ministries such as communications and school systems.

It takes two to four years for Filipino priests to obtain their ecclesiastical degrees, and after completing their formation, they return to their home dioceses to work with the bishops and to train future priests in seminaries, Gaston said. Elizabeth Marcelo/BM, GMA News

Read more:
Tagle appeals for aid to restore Pinoy priests Home in Rome

Coming from a townhome into a Colonial-style home, John and Renee Morehouse wanted to make the most of their extra space.

A formal dining room was unnecessary for now, so that spacious spot was turned into a playroom for their 2-year-old daughter. Unsure about how to use the formal living room, which was sitting vacant, they worked with designer Lauren Harris to create a TV-free gathering space. Now the stylish yet flexible space serves as a conversation area, with four chairs on casters, a round ottoman and storage cubes offering padded seating.

We wanted it to be area to sit before dinner or after dinner, Renee said.

Built in 1970, the Colonial-style home in Dunwoody has four bedrooms, two full and two half baths.(Christopher Michael Oquendo/ http://www.ophotography.com )

Snapshot

Residents: John and Renee Morehouse, their daughter, Kate, 2, and their dog, Murphy. John is a research engineer at Georgia Tech; Renee is a behavioral scientist at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention

Location: Dunwoody

John Morehouse, research engineer at Georgia Tech, and Renee Morehouse, a behavioral scientist at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, have settled into their Dunwoody home with 2-year-old daughter Kate Morehouse. They worked with Lauren Harris Interiors on selecting pieces and a palette for spaces including their family room.(Christopher Michael Oquendo/ http://www.ophotography.com )

Size: 2,700 square feet, four bedrooms, two full and two half-baths

Year built: 1970

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Transitional look in Dunwoody Colonial

The Landmark Trust has announced three major restoration projects to help showcase its 50th anniversary in 2015.

The first to open will be Belmont in Lyme Regis next summer. The Grade II-listed seaside villa was built by the 18th-century pioneer Eleanor Coade, the most important female architect of the time, according to Landmark Trust director Anna Keay. The property was later the home of author John Fowles who completed the French Lieutenants Woman there. Once complete it will sleep eight.

In the autumn St Edwards Presbytery in Ramsgate will open. It was the last project by the gothic-revival designer Augustus Pugin, who built it for his Catholic priest before he was incarcerated in the Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam) at the age of 40. The property, which was almost derelict, is being restored as a self-catering holiday home for four.

In addition, the Landmark Trust is launching an appeal to rescue Llwyn Celyn, a 15th-century manor house in Monmouthshire, the most at risk inhabited building anywhere in Wales according to Keay and a window onto life in the Welsh mountains. The building will cost 4m to restore. Saving places like this isnt just an intellectual exercise, its about survival, said Keay.

The Landmark Trust was founded in 1965 by Conservative MP John Smith to preserve not just the derelict buildings but also moments in history, said Keay.

The openings form part of a year of celebrations that will also include a collaboration with artist Antony Gormley, who is installing life-size statues at five Landmark Trust properties in Suffolk, Dorset, Scotland, Warwickshire and Lundy Island. The project, called LAND, is launching on the weekend of 16-17 May and will be in place for a year. The same weekend has been designated a Golden Weekend with free public open days at 25 Landmark Trust properties.

Another initiative is 50 for free, a charitable scheme that invites charities to highlight individuals, including carers and challenged families, who deserve a holiday. Charities have until 4 January 2015 to apply for the breaks, which will be taken between 9 and 16 March.

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Major restoration projects to showcase Landmark Trusts 50th anniversary