Robert A. Andrys

Alva, Florida

I was raised in the small faming community of Larimore, North Dakota, near the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which brought in people from all corners of the United States. From a young age I listened intently as they told stories of where they grew up, of far away places that they had traveled, where coconuts grew and alligators were the critters to watch out for.

As a young man I journeyed from California to Washington State, finally ending up in Florida where I worked on Useppa Island, a resort island off the coast of Fort Myers. It was love at first sight, the exotic plants, boating, fishing and vast amount of sea life that surrounded me was unlike anything this prairie boy had ever known. After two years of working in the sun, I decided to enroll at the University of Minnesota, where I obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree. During my third year I spent three months as a foreign exchange student in China, and went on to visit Thailand for two more months. After graduation my friends and I traveled to the Amazon jungle and various locations throughout Brazil for two months, experiencing their culture and lifestyle. These travels and my experiences in college had a profound effect on they way I view life. We live in an incredibly diverse world where rich cultural stories tell the tales of ancestors and a love of their land. As an architect, I seek to bring “green” design into the mainstream. As an author, I strive to entertain as well as leave a thought in the reader’s mind that the world is full of beauty and it must be preserved.

I live a simple life with my wife, Sandy, on our ten-acre ranch, complete with a meandering creek that flows next to the house. It is along its banks that I wrote the poem that eventually evolved into my first book.