Author Archives: Laura

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

This Morning

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Laura

This morning when I woke at Tiny House Ontario, it was not the forest, but the phone that greeted me. A call about my computer and then another call to meet my cousin Sandy at the family graveyard. I had never been there before, because no one seemed to know how to find it, but he had been brought there by my Great Uncle George when he was young and remembered vaguely. We met there this morning about about 9:00 am.

I won’t share where it is unless you are family and want to know, but I will share that it is a bit of an odyssey to get there. When we arrived there was just one stone visible and a little marker that says J McC. Sandy remembered that there were more and had a trowel so we checked under the moss and found that there were a number of bits. Here is what we found of our ancestors headstones as well as the ruins from the original house, well, barns, outbuildings.

The thread of belonging for this is: The McConnell’s married into the Hendersons who married into the Comptons, who married into the Rickards, who married into the Morelands. The former farm is on a Kingston escarpment where the water runs sulfur.

I think that these folks are my great, great, great grandparents – but am not 100% sure, Sandy will look at his notes. It will be cool to get them up on Ancestry.com because they will not exist there having been buried for the last 40 years or so.

Categories: Family, Kingston, Open your eyes, View | 4 Comments

Funny Drawers

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Laura

This Tiny space under the stairs has been driving me insane! It is about 4 square feet of floor space but only about 12 inches of not very functional (low) kitchen counter top. The thing is, that I knew if I could put drawers in there, that they would be totally wonderful because they would quadruple the space. It is a work in progress and eventually, I will inset a pull out cutting board right under the counter top. My grandparents house had these and they are super practical because they make more counter space by just pulling them out.

Cupboards would be easier and less expensive to build, but I enjoy cooking and to do this, one needs to have ingredients. Kitchen drawers are simply a lot more funtional than cupboards, particularly in a Tiny space.

I really did not know what to do, so I googled, Utubed and so forth until I found a super easy way to do it. Then I started a little bit at a time. I went to Rona about ten times to get stuff. The men who work there were really nice to me and cut everything perfect! The drawers run really smooth and when the front face gets on there none of the yucky understuff that I am showing you in these photos will show up.

Since today was the last day that I had the rental car, so I picked up the front boards and had them cut to size too, but I thought I would wait to do the rest in the morning because today I actually felt like catching up on my blog posts. Perhaps I will finish the job tomorrow or the next day?

Categories: Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

Junk in the trunk

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Laura

This is a boring utility post which has to do with living at THO. This is my garbage and recycling. I had a lot of it because of the steel application on the outside.

Since my computer went for a swim, I have not felt much like writing/painting/visiting/being creative, so I thought I would concentrate on the errands/and small jobs that I have been putting off, so I needed to rent a car for a couple of days. Getting rid of this, one one such errand.

I do not have garbage or recycling pick up and besides, I had a lot of steel bits that had to be dropped off at Kimco metal recyclers in Kingston. Everything else went to the recycling depot.

Looks a whole lot tidier, but I still have a pile of small wood bits which would be excellent kindling for someone who burns wood. If you do this, please bring an empty box and I will load it up for you to bring home.

Categories: Kingston, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

The Gift

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Laura

My Aunt Marion and Uncle Bob gave me $25 in a card for my birthday! It made me feel like a little girl but this was totally welcome and wonderful! I sometimes miss being little… I guess, because I live in house that is the size of a fort (in the woods) you all might have already guessed that!

I am also a very sentimental person… and I thought it would be nice to do something with the $25 that was permanent. I figured, I could do a little something at Tiny House Ontario which could stay, and I had, what I think is a pretty good idea.

So, I went to Rona, I purchased a peice of wood, I had the good men there cut it to size. I also picked up two knobs and two sets of hinges. Then I just drilled them on.

It looks seriously nice, I think… you agree?

I am grateful to have this little something… and will always think of them when I look there. They are important people as far as I am concerned and it is nice to have a reminder of them so close to me.