As long as I can remember, my Mom has dreamed of a log house in the woods. Maybe for as long as she can remember. When I was a child that dream seemed remote. As a single parent, my Mom worked two and sometimes three jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table. She kept our family together by her intelligence, tenacity, and strength of will.

Despite her schedule, she always found time to take us to the woods where we learned to love the trees and wildlife surrounding us. Picnics in parks across Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee were common. Good food, with good friends and family gave us a strong sense of belonging and rich memories. Beautiful settings gave us an strong devotion to the world around us. Green is the new buzzword for the 21st Century, but green was a way of life for us.

Then thirty years ago a remarkable man entered our lives, Mr. Gordon C. Hicks. My mother became Cecilia Hicks and he became my step father. In all this time, he's never ceased to amaze me. Engineer, story teller, humorist, and builder, he's a true Renaissance Man.

Together they purchased ten stunningly beautiful wooded acres in an area known as Bull Skull Hollow. He built her the log home she wanted, but he didn't stop there. Over the past thirty years he's built a village. Log by log, stone by stone, board by board, he has been the architect of their dreams.

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