Melonie Veenstra, a Kingston potter made a magical mushroom for Tiny House Ontario. The Gnome gang stole it when I wasn’t looking. They have been partying since!
This is the story I am sticking too.
You have to find your own humour when you live in the woods.
I got a couple of wonderful tumblers from my favourite potter – Nick Prouse of Prouse Pottery and Soap Company. Thank you Nick! He and his spouse will be having the grand opening of their business on May 4, on Ottawa Street, in Hamilton, Ontario.
I was also gifted some beautiful spring pussy willows from my friend Guillaume when I set up at the market.
I am not normally a big fan of stuff, but with art and nature I make an exception. When I put these two beautiful things together I thought they looked so pretty that I want to share them with you. Friends, art and nature, what is not to like?
Thanks guys!
What I loved the most about my dad was his deep and thriving love of the land. He was a farmer who lived not too far away from the place in which Tiny House Ontario is built. He dreamed of owning expansive property where he make a living ploughing straight long furrows into the earth and filling them with seeds.
This love of the land is one thing where my dad and I found common ground. I absolutely love the earth! I love the sky, the soil, the rocks, the trees, the critters and every single natural thing that sprouts from the Mother Earth. I am the sort of person who could spend a day looking at a tiny mushroom and marvel in the wonder of it.
Too, like Erazim Kohák, I find that the former human interaction with land puzzling and I feel strongly connected to this as well. An unexpected human thing left behind and out of place in the natural world leaves me with thousands of questions. On my land, about a half kilometre from THO, there are many small and random stone cairns which draw me back to them time and time again. They are quite curious because they are way up on the top of the escarpment far away from the low laying fields. My people, farmers, would never have carried stones for futility, so they came before the Irish parts of me settled here 150 years ago.
Here, in a crescent of stone, is my beloved cousin S (son of my father’s twin); he is also drawn to and fascinated with the cairns on our historic family land. The pull of them on us, is strong and magical; we are connected.
Did you find our gorgeous little M who is hiding?
On September 8 2012, I was at the Sand’s Mud Bog which I wrote about earlier. This morning my cousin T sent me a photo that I think is great so I wanted to share. Better late than never, am I right?
Here I am with a few of my fabulous cousins. Good times!
Makes me wish I was home right now.
The feral cat colony is not totally homeless now. As a matter of fact they have wonderful insulated Tiny Houses thanks to Hj, O and I.
After googling and googling, I found a few great ideas and sort of developed a plan based on other people’s ideas. We got some coolers at Canadian Tire, punched holes in the sides with a drill and then jig sawed the holes (EASY) then we put in a section of a stiff plastic plant pot. These pots were free and are thin enough that they flex to fit the imperfect holes I cut. After I pushed these in tight, I caulked them in both inside and outside.
After this, we bedded them with straw, put in some fresh catnip and treats to encourage them to come in and closed the lids. We then brought them over to the location, placed them up on rail ties, put on some roofing material and another rail tie on top then covered this with sticks and debris.
Hopefully this is enough for the colony to have dry and warm homes this winter. It is supposed to be a long hard cold winter according to the farm almanac, and this might save them from preventable suffering.
We also had a great bonus! O caught one of the cats! A gorgeous orange boy. He is part of the colony but not a feral, rather a more recently abandoned and absurdly skinny boy. She just lost one of her beloved pets to old age so this lucky boy she cuddled right up to and took him home so that he will have the experience of being loved by a human being who really cares for her pets.
So, there is one less cat to house and to worry about! Thank you O for being so kind to animals.
One of my husband’s (two) best friends and his wife are visiting from Germany. A few years ago I was not able to attend the wedding because of work reasons so Hj went alone. Hj goes regularly home for business but I have not been to Germany in nearly 10 years. Sadly, I have not seen M in a long, long time and I never met K until yesterday. The time together was good. They are bright and interesting people with lots of wonderful stories and ideas: it has been a real delight, but an ever too short visit.
While they are here for only a short window of time, we wanted them to see a couple of special spots around Hamilton, so here is what we did.
We drove around a bit of the waterfront, past the Dundurn Castle which is a National Historical Site, into the huge graveyard across the street (graveyards are very different there than here). We stopped to see a couple of Hamilton’s waterfalls. Then we took a short drive to visit Her Majesty’s Royal Chapel of the Mohawks which is another National Historic Site and it is located not too far from here in Brantford. We also visited the Woodland Cultural Centre which sits beside the notorious Mush Hole. We stopped and had a bite to eat at a local Indian Buffet. Then we split for a bit, K went to Yoga: M watched soccer: Hj and I attended services for the late great Lincoln Alexander who lived very near our house a few years ago and who died on October the 19th.
After this we all got together again here at our small house, where we chatted until a few minutes ago.
For Lincoln Alexander, I thought it fitting to add a few apt words which I believe the man lived by. These words are from White Elk:
When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
Today, October 18, 2012, I venture off the topic of Tiny Houses to recognize my status as a PERSON in Canada. You may or may not know that women have been persons under Canadian law for only 83 years – since 1929. When my grandmothers were born, they were not persons.
I just wanted to holler out a huge thank you to the women that fought this good fight.
I also want to remind myself that well behaved people who follow every rule change nothing.
While I am speaking about the issue of challenging the status quo, I also want to holler out to Texas Tiny Houses who on their Facebook wall, are currently speaking out not just about the way that we live, the waste that we produce and offering people alternatives, but who also began to speak out about the legalization of marijuana. While, I am not a smoker myself; as a matter of fact I am nearly deathly allergic to all aspects of the hemp plant. I still believe that banning it is as silly as banning chamomile tea – BUT… it does not matter what I believe!
What I mean is that even though I don’t always agree with those who are protesting, and even though we do not always believe the same things, I am glad that there are people who stand up for change! I am glad that we (still) live in a democracy and I am really glad to be recognized as a person.
I can make this post and make these comments only because we have democracy here in Canada, and I want to be among those who care about protecting it.
Thanks again to these late great women who have changed our lives! xo L
“Never retreat, never explain, never apologize–get the thing done and let them howl.” ~ Nellie McClung
We arrived safely at THO at about 1:00 and shortly after, I had a visit from someone who played a more than significant role in my life. Kiki is the sort of person that we need in our life, who believe in you when you not exactly the greatest human inspiration. Who know how to inspire you to be better, even if it is a little kick in the ass that is required. She opened doors for me in a time of my life when it seemed that I only faced closed ones. It was just awesome to see her!
As a way of paying forward the kindnesses that I experienced all those years ago I made a fast stop to do a small pay forward. Getting through is not always easy for brilliant and creative people. It is sad – at least it is for me – our talented artists should be able to make a living from their talent! Do you agree?
After Kiki’s visit, I had to skip to Kingston after to pick up a few things and also stop to see Leo who is coming this morning to put up the eves trough.
We had a bite to eat and after dinner Tiny House Ontario was just starting to warm up so Hj and I took turns playing the McNally Strumstick (G). This is such a great little instrument! We are both not musicians and yet just like McNally promises you can’t hit a wrong note and right away you feel like you might be able to do it. The guitar I have only wishes I could play it as well!
What can I say, today at THO there was music of the heart.
Tiny House Talk a Tiny House Ontario article here.
We are really fortunate to have awesome friends and neighbours! Don’t you think?
Thanks for the opportunity Alex! xo L
This post is totally unrelated to the subject of Tiny House Ontario.
When I was in school one of the students (a distant cousin really) was hit in the head with a ball in gym class and suffered total amnesia. I remember how scary this was for her. I know that 400 -600 people will read here today and hopefully share the link on FB social media and so on. I know this is irregular and not what you hope to see here… but if you don’t read, Halifax or Toronto newspapers, you may not see it, and I hope this community can help.
On Sept. 5, a woman, who calls herself Linda, walked into a downtown shelter, but could not remember anything about herself. She has since been transferred to an east-end shelter.
She is described as white, 5-foot-7, 55 to 60 year old, 150 pounds, with shoulder-length, straight blond hair and blue eyes.
When she arrived at the shelter, she wore a dark-blue jean jacket, black capri-style pants, black slip-on walking shoes, a pink bandana, white ankle socks, light-brown glasses and a pink watch.
Police have released a photograph of the woman and are asking the public to help identify her.
Anyone with information can call police at 416-808-5400.
Update October 13, 2012 – five weeks later and still nothing.
Update November 23 – two and a half months later police wait for DNA to see if Linda is indeed Linda Hegg who is missing from Delaware. What do you think? Here are the photos to compare below.
Update December 18 – Linda Hegg is now at home with her family in Delaware.
