Author Archives: Laura

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About Laura

Laura is an Artist who lives in Guelph Ontario. She is interested in societal equality, beauty, architecture, philosophy, feminism, people watching, dogs, animal rescue, ecology, as well as the generational ties between people. Laura has always been interested in peace and because she loves animals she is vegan. https://www.instagram.com/atelieroflauraleemoreland/ https://www.facebook.com/AtelierofLauraLeeMoreland https://atelieroflauraleemoreland.com

Hamilton Change

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Laura

This post is very removed from my Tiny House.  It has to do with loss and change and Hamilton Ontario.  Have a listen while you read please.

Rap has to really speak to me lyrically for me to get it. The young singer Adam Lane, is from Hamilton, Ontario, close to where I stay when I am not at THO; I like the song because I am quite a runaway myself so I identified with it.  I am not sure if he wrote the stuff because he does not give any details, but clearly it is about the need for change and he is talented.

Speaking of rap, yesterday I saw a RAP van with a bunch of workers doing testing right down near where this video was shot.  I guess, both kinds of rap have something to say about cleaning things up.  I guess both these rappers are in some way wanting to see “Zero Discharge of Persistent Toxic Substances”… RAP I can really get into!

The thing is, that Hamilton is changing a lot.  There is a huge arts exodus from Toronto to Hamilton and this is clear on James Street North.  Tonight I will head out to the monthly Art Crawl and see what is new in the changing and growing Steel Town.  One of the newer artists to join the area is one I am loving!  Check her out: Julia Veenstra.  Clean up this dirty old town!

I love the Art Crawl events, and I was looking forward, but now I don’t feel much like going anywhere at all…  I think it is good to get up and off the computer, though… today has not been easy and I am (like so many millions of others) heavy in heart for my neighbours to the South.  I want to acknowledge the horrible events today in Connecticut, but there are no words that can heal this wound.  The only thing I can say is how sorry I am.  My heart is heavy for those who were victims of profound loss today and so I posted to acknowledge not just suffering, but also to nod my head to those who recognize the need for change, healing and safe communities.  I hope that from this horrible incident that at the very least there will come courageous change.

Categories: Art | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sew Nice!

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Laura

Okay, so the truth is, I have been holding back on you.  I can sew.  Please don’t tell anyone!  It is a secret because I find that if you tell people that you sew, they always want you to do their mending and hem their pants.  Truthfully, this is not the sort of stuff I like / want to sew and I have a hard time saying no because it really is simple for me… It is just that don’t enjoy it.

What I love to do is projects!  I like picking out fabric, making a pattern and sewing up something from my own imagination when the mood strikes me.

When I was first out of school I worked in a dry cleaner’s as a seamstress, so I was a professional seamstress at one time.  More than this, I can draft patterns,  tailor a man’s suit jacket and sew things as complex as a wedding dress.  I had very accomplished teachers!

Anyway, a while ago, my friend D mentioned that she needed a crate for her dog and on Sunday a rescuer friend L gave me a heads up about a crate for $10 at the Salvation Army, so I skipped down and picked it up.  I decided to pretty it up as a Christmas gift.  I made a cover, a cushion and two matching little blankets.

I think this beats a Christmas gift from the mall, hands down!

———-

As things turned out D did not need it after all, but there was a terrible fire on King Street and a woman named Jen lost everything including her dog crate.  Synchronicity?

I brought it over for her dog Riley.  On the way I stopped at Pet Value on Wilson Street in Hamilton to get a few other things too.  I told them what I was shopping for and they handed me a nice big bag full of treats and food!  Yeah Pet Value!  You really rocked the day for Riley and his mom!

March... Riley is enjoying his grate!

Categories: Dogs, Simple living, Sustainable living | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

Feeding the Birds

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Laura

Last year I purchased two bird feeders that were on sale for $5.  The first time it rained, I realized why they were so cheap.  The bases filled with water and the food on the bottom absorbed the water and turned into sticky goo which I had to dig out.  Gross!  Sadly too, pretty useless unless you have a covered patio, which I don’t… you know… rain happens.

This year because of the earlier drought I know that the birds suffer and will continue to suffer unless there is food put out for them because not enough stuff germinated and created seeds.  I had been thinking about buying a different feeder because I hate to throw the seeds out on the ground when we live so close to a feral colony here in Hamilton.  A while back, my friend O and I were at a greenhouse where I was admiring the practicality of $90 bird feeders and telling her about my terrible feeders.  She suggested that I buy a plastic bowl from the dollar store to cover them and drill a hole in the top (they have to be flexible plastic).  Yesterday, I finally got around to buying and preparing them and I already have a hundred sparrows chattering happily outside.  I am not sure if the bowls are large enough but  rain is coming so, I guess I will know soon enough if their food will stay dry.

DIY Covered bird feeders

Categories: Nature, Open your eyes, Simple living | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

The Sensual Stars

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Laura

Don’t you just love to read in bed on a cold day?  Particularly, if it is damp and rainy?  I do.

The cold outside made the windows all fog over, after I added a little heating.  This meant, I did not have much of a view upstairs, but even so, it was certainly bright enough to read.

Frosty window

It is always warmer in the loft than it is on the main level, heat rises.  Still it is nice to get right in bed and roll up cozy in layers of blankets on a lazy afternoon.

David's gift

The book is The Starry Room, a gift from my friend D, who is also a writer as well as an off-grid and Tiny House enthusiast. He thought I would enjoy the book in the quiet of THO’s forest and he was right.   The Author Fred Schaaf words are intuitive and sensual, as well as very much in tune with the sky and the ebb and flow of nature.  He writes,”we should not forget ourselves in our role as appreciators in these heavens we study.  There is no feeling of insignificance or meaninglessness for anyone who is an active participant in this appreciation, which not only involves us in the cosmos but makes us intimate with it as only friends or lovers can be.  And only through the medium of not just our senses, thought, and feeling but also through a sky we can have this involvement.”

He is not quite so lyrical as my hero Erazim Kohák, but even so he speaks to the issue of bonds and connections that we humans can can attain if we take a little time to understand.  I like this about the book, very much.  Connection to life, matters a lot to me.

“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Categories: Art, Forest, Nature, Open your eyes, Simple living | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Laura

This is from last summer but I was reminded recently about how it made people laugh. I thought perhaps some of you might like a giggle today, so I hope it works!
xo
L

Laura's avatarTiny House Ontario

I had just moved into Tiny House Ontario when my cousin Vernie, who is also a neighbour, called and asked if I could babysit his dog while they went to Maine.  I love dogs so of course this was not a problem for me.  He offered to sweeten the deal which was not necessary at all, I told him, I would take care of the dog without anything.  Still he said he would make me a recycled wood bedside table for Tiny House Ontario.  A pretty good trade; of course I said yes.

Vernie along with being one of the smartest and most interesting people I have ever known, is a carpenter.  Really more than that, he is a comedian and an artist with a capital A.  He probably never had a lot of money to explore his creative side, so he created art out of things that people left…

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Categories: Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment