Open your eyes

Winter End Check up

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Laura
The sky is crying because it knows that THO is sad to see me go

The sky is crying because it knows that THO is sad to see me go

I was at Tiny House Ontario last week, but had a medical crisis and thus headed back early to Hamilton.  We had intended to stay until Wednesday afternoon, but due to my health, my husband had to pack everything up on Monday evening for us to rush back.  It was raining like crazy when Hj, the dogs and I pulled out.  Unfortunately, the medical stuff was serious enough that I was unable to fly to Memphis; but fortunately it is nothing terminal – just painful and annoying.  More than that though, it was a sad disappointment for me to miss my first ever tiny house event.  I strongly hope that any of you who had tickets were not even slightly disappointed by my absence.  The nice thing is that Deek (http://relaxshacks.blogspot.ca) has another iron in the fire, so hopefully I will be able to meet the community later this year and perhaps some of you as well.

I am sure that there won’t be a bit of snow left when I return but of course, there should not be anyway.  The area where the house is is under flood threat and a few people have asked me if the house is at risk, but it is not.  I am way up on a hill and because I am on well faulted limestone bedrock, the drainage is excellent.  I am 100% sure that THO is a dry.  The only weather condition that ever gives me any pause is wind.  This is because I have so many trees large surrounding me there and the ground is shallow above the rocks.

Now that I am feeling slightly better, I will head back up on Easter Saturday and stay there for ten days until my next medical appointment.  I really want to spend the Spring Equinox, Ostara, and Earth Day there in my woods.

Here is a painting that invites me to enjoy this season, I look it up at this time, year after year.

 

Also, I do have an other little update… During the three days I had at the house, I noticed that there were a couple of tiny problems that happened this winter.  You can read about this at Tiny House Listings.

 

 

 

Categories: Art, Forest, Kingston, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: , | 7 Comments

Housing and Social Justice

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Laura

Here is a long article here about a new community in Olympia Washington.  It consists of 29 tiny houses for the homeless.  It is well written and covers a good deal of the background detail.  I think, what they are doing here is great, and thought you might also want to read about it.

Olympia housing :-D

I hope that they have left each of the inhabitants a place to grow a little garden.  I also hope that many communities use this as an example and set up similar sites.

I have only two suggestions.  One is that they put in flooring, or even paint the plywood because it is not easy to keep raw plywood clean.  The other is that the build supplemental stairs since it does not look safe or easy to reach the bottom stair on these houses.

On the topic of handouts, yesterday I saw a video which pointed out some very interesting points.  I know it looks rather boring, but it isn’t.  Contrary to the way it looks it is one of the most interesting videos I have seen on the topic of poverty.  It also offers fresh perspective on hand-outs.

(((Clearly this video is done from an American perspective; however, it does not differ in any clear way from Canada that I could see.  I am wondering how it differs in other countries, if at all?)))

Categories: Community, Money, Neighbours, Open your eyes, Sustainable living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: , | 5 Comments

Finding Love

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Laura

Heart shaped stone

Today I saw a video that I think is very wise.

I thought this was a beautiful reminder of how we can invite simple blessings into our daily life.  Also, it reflects, on natural abundance.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/65097808″>Finding Love</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user612630″>hailey bartholomew</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Categories: Art, Magical, Open your eyes, Simple living, View | 2 Comments

The Wooden Horse

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Laura

Today it is Chinese New Year and we enter the year of the Wooden Horse.  The year is said to be the one of renewal in which we throw out useless ideas and purge ourselves of unnecessary attachments.  The Wooden Horse, I think is a perfect year for tiny housers, because along with this purging the year proclaims that progress, modernity and unsentimentality will reign.

According to this tradition it is a good year to clean out your closets, to work as hard as a horse and to advance.  Just my kind of mentality!  I have just been reading a little on the the year and it makes me hopeful that this will be the best year of my life.  I hope this is correct!

All these thoughts about how the year of transformation has closed and we pass into the year of moving forward, made me think about how this is reflected in my own little homestead.  Last year was the first time that I concentrated on the beauty of my home instead of the utilitarian function.   I think that this was accomplished with the addition of all the stone work.  Yet I ordered the stove in that year too and this will transform the house into a reasonably practical year around sanctuary.  The fact that I picked up my new wood stove yesterday and the plans to install it are moving forward this spring seem timely and meaningful within the context of this tradition.

What I mean is that installation will be a lot of very hard work.  The stove while tiny, weighs about a hundred pounds.  As well I do not want it in the house but rather in a box outside, so again next spring I am going back to work again in stone.  I know I have a lot of physically hard work ahead of me, but this will transform Tiny House Ontario into an almost fully functional home.  A simple tool for heating means a lot.

I am giving too much thought, perhaps, but I love that this year, the year where wood and horses intersect, that I will be doing the work of adding a wood burner to my home.  Somehow, everything just feels right.

Here is the box and a peek inside.  I did not take it out yet because it is very heavy and I because I still have to move it to the tiny house, I want to keep it packaged and safe.

The box A peek inside

Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View | 4 Comments

3 Legged Joe, A Show and Snowshoes

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Laura

I will leave for Tiny House Ontario tomorrow morning after rush hour.  I am going for a few reasons this time.  Firstly, I am picking up Joe the three legged street cat in downtown Toronto and driving him to his Foster Home in Kingston Ontario.  Poor old Joe was one of the disposable pets out on the street, due to his injury it was extra hard for him to survive.  He was rescued in cooperation with Annex Cat Rescue, Project Pet Rescue, and Kingston Animal Rescue.  He has been vetted, neutered and will be up for adoption once he is rehabilitated.  You can read more about Joe here, or if you are interested in making a donation to help with Joe’s vet bills or his care please do so with one or all of the agencies listed and linked above.  Perhaps you would like to adopt him or another homeless animal?

3 legged Joe

I am also heading to Kingston because I have a show in Battersea Ontario at the United Church.  They have invited local talent to come to show and sell their items.  The show will be on November 30 from 9-5.  I am excited to do this show because there is a lot of free and close parking so I expect a lot of my friends and family to be there.  For a lot of people getting into the downtown for market days is just too difficult and stressful, so it will give me an opportunity to show my work to members of my family, and friends who have not yet seen it live!  Art work is so much better in person!

Please do come to the show to see the local talent if you are anywhere nearby.  Admission is just $5 and I bet you will be able to find wonderful unique gifts for a reasonable cost there.

My most recent work Grandma’s Gift will be shown for the first time.

DSCF5472

I am also of course visiting my house and I am very excited about this!  We have snow in Kingston now so I will bring along my snowshoes!  My cousin Tracey took this photo this morning and allowed me to share it.  I look forward to getting out into the magical forest and seeing the changes that Mother Earth has undergone!

Tracey's photo

Categories: Art, Family, Forest, Friendship, Kingston, Laura Moreland, Magical, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments