Monthly Archives: July 2012

My Self Shelf

Space is an issue at Tiny House Ontario.   I have read a lot of words from other Tiny Housers and they all have different strategies but for the most part containing yourself within a Tiny House takes some thought.  I am fortunate because I have a lot of time to transition because I own another home in another city but even so, living in and containing myself within Tiny House Ontario is my objective.

My strategy was to bring the things that I knew I would NEED and also to bring the things that I feel that my life would not be complete without.  Margaret Lawrence wrote in her book, The Diviners, something to the effect that she need not have kept it because her head was sturdy enough containment and I suppose she is right.  Even so, there are things that simply ground me and I guess they feel spiritually important to my person.  I have two shelves with just such items on it.  This contains:

 

A large photo of my family on Violet (grandma’s) side.

An oil burner from my trip to the Czech republic which is made by burning it under the earth in the old way.

The Black Maria pewter icon from Germany.

A Pope Joan tile from my friend Ginny.

A 75 year old mutant sheep foot.

A graduation gift from my friend Aaron it is the Queen’s shield on pewter.

Photos of my late dogs.

A Chutski from Professor Kobayashi who was one of my mentors.

Altar items such as my grounding stones, essential oils, a burning shell, tarot and medicine wheel cards, ritual oil burner.

A Tiny glass globe which makes me hope that everything in the world will become clear.

A sign I made from a slice of a tree that was removed for my driveway which says: Treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong. ~Julia Cameron

A yogi from Bali.

An inlayed box from BC made my the Haidas.

A few things that my son made for me when he was wee, as well as a soapstone carving he did when he was about 20.

Rosie the Riveter on a little black box.

A penny jar that says hopes and dreams – I put found change into this because I read once many years ago that found change has a spiritual significance, if you pick it up – it brings good things to you whereas if you ignore it, then you are throwing away your opportunity at good karma.

A photo of Violet and Bob taken near the end of the Great Depression when things were just starting to look up for them and others.

The Artist’s Way work.

Books that I am writing.

If you had only about 2 square feet to contain your favourite things, could you do it?

Categories: Family, Forest, Friendship, Laura Moreland, Materialism, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Tiny Bears!

Last evening when the dusk was coming on I realized I forgot to eat.  I put the kettle on for a cup of tea and a cup of soup and opened the bread bag but found that the bread had a green spot.  I put the bread out into the composter and  made my tea and a cup of soup, and got a few crackers instead.  I just sat down in the cloth porch to eat, when I heard rustling in the forest almost right in front of me.  It got louder and louder and I started to feel a little bit nervous, so I picked up my tea and soup and went into the tiny house, closed the screen door and watched.  I was relieved within a minute, when a baby racoon came out of the “prickly pear”.  I grabbed my camera and went out to take some photos of the cute little coon and the sibling that I could now see.  I tried to be really quiet when I slid the screen door back open but when I did this the baby coons ran up into the tree which is second in line behind the ancestor tree.  The other thing that happened is that Big Mama Coon ran toward the cloth porch.  She got about three feet away and stood on her hind legs, hands up and claws out.  She growled really loudly at me like a bear from a Hollywood film – she was sort of scary, to tell you the truth.  At the same time as this the other baby coons were climbing the trees and some were running toward the composter.  I counted 6 babies and Mama.

I tried to photograph Mama but the only thing that I got was shiny photos of the fabric.

I left the cloth porch and went out to the dog garden and took a few photos which also all turned out terrible and made me again wish that I had a better camera.  Sigh…

When I came back into the house and had a look at Ted Andrews book Animal Speak to see what some of his thoughts are on racoons.  I was not surprised to read that they are tiny distantly related cousins to bears after seeing Mama ferociously trying to intimidate me so that she could protect her babies.

The little bears worked at the composter until they got in and then the played outside the Tiny House for about two hours while I read from the above mentioned book and tried to watch them through the shadows of night.  Here are the rather Where’s Waldo sort of silly images.  These are the best that I could do with my silly crap camera.  Can you see any racoons?  I know where they are and I have a hard time seeing them.

What a great brush with nature, I wish I could share it better with you.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Food, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment

Tiny House Art Gallery

I just got my art work back from a show in Kingston when the men were coming to put up the steel.  There was a whole box of them, plus I had more here that I had stacked on a shelf.  Because there is not a lot of space at Tiny House Ontario, I decided to put my work up on the walls.  So, Tiny House Ontario is doubling as a Teeny-Tiny-Gallery.

I also have a new and wonderful painting from the Kingston artist Geoff Smith.  I have not shown it to you yet, because I have not yet decided on a frame.  None-the-less, if you come to see my paintings at Tiny House, I will give you a sneak peek of Geoff’s beautiful work.

I found it inspiring to have a home gallery.  So much so, that despite my having men there putting up steel, that I started a new painting which is sort of abstract.

Here is a sneak peek of my current piece.

Categories: Art, Cloth Porch, Laura Moreland, Magical, Ontario, Open your eyes, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Tiny House Ontario | 3 Comments

Tie a Yellow Ribbon…

My cousin Beth’s husband Paul is returning from being stationed in Kabul.  I thought, since Tiny House Ontario has a HUGE oak tree (named Bonny) that we would welcome Paul back home by putting a huge yellow ribbon on her.

At the store I purchased two-and a half inch wide, satin yellow ribbon, in a 12 foot long roll.  I imagined Bonny with a lovely big yellow bow to flamboyantly welcome Paul home!  It made me happy to think about and be able to do a little something to acknowledge the sacrifices that he and Beth make.

I went to tie the ribbon on, only then did I realized that Bonny is not just huge but something beyond huge.  So there was not enough ribbon left after going around her big trunk to make a nice bow.

Actually, there was not even enough ribbon to go all the way around Bonny!

Bonny is apparently 14-15 feet around!  So I tied a piece of red ribbon in there for the rest of Canada so that we could all welcome him home.  He will only be here for a short time before he has to return.

God speed to you Paul.

Categories: Family, Forest, Friendship, Magical, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Chocolate Coating

Leo and Kyle were back at work again early this morning.

First they got the West wall done.

Then they finished up the East wall.

They did not do the South wall over the cloth porch for two reasons, firstly, I neglected to order enough J-trim and secondly I did not buy fabric to recover the cloth porch which will need to have the ceiling cut out so that they can work.  Kyle is going to bend a piece of J trim, eves trough and facia panels for the in-house.  They will be back to finish the week after next and I will update you then.

These men never stopped all day.  Finally at the end of the work day in the heat and humidity, the father and son team cracked a well deserved cold one.  I hope it was yummy!

After the men left, I took a photo, as you can see Tiny House Ontario is brown and lovely like a big brick of Cadbury chocolate, perhaps I should paint candy canes on the corner and have my chainsaw artist friend Steven Kenzora (from Peterborough) carve me some large gumdrops for corner cornices so it looks a little like the witch’s house in the famous German fairy tale?

I am happy that it is done on three sides and also that everything is tidy!  If you visit after the rain, the blue chalk lines will be already washed away.

A huge thanks to Leo and Kyle for their great work!

Categories: Cloth Porch, Off Grid, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment