Tiny House Ontario

Fall Drive

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Laura

My husband arrived in the night with four very happy Tiny dogs who made sure I was totally wide awake before they settled in to nap themselves. This morning we enjoyed a nice bit of cuddling together and tummy rubs before getting up for the day. I miss the fuzzy babies when they are not with me. We took a quick jaunt over to visit my sister and niece Violet and then went for a little drive around to see how pretty the world looks in colour. I love the fall!

Of the images I share below, there is only one photo which is Tiny House related. The photo of the plane with corn with the hill of trees behind, is actually the escarpment where THO is built. You can’t see the house of course. It is about a half a kilometre back into the tree line.

We don’t have any plans for the weekend and this year I am finding it difficult to plan any sort of special meal for Thanksgiving due to a recent diagnosis of gluten and dairy intolerance. I am, I guess, now more vegan than I am vegetarian, but I can’t totally commit to the new title because I won’t throw out my leather footwear or protective jacket for bike driving.

I am not sure how we will spend our day today, or our weekend either. Hopefully we will find something holiday terrific to eat and to do.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! xo L

Categories: Erazim Kohák, Forest, Kingston, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | Leave a comment

Pleasure

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Laura

A famous quote attributed to Katherine Hepburn is: “If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased. I think that this is a very accurate statement.

Myself, personally, I have always been an outsider. I know full well what it is like to be the only person in the room who thinks about things in the way that I do. I suppose that living my life as a veg*an is a perfect example of this, so too is living in a Tiny House, being a feminist, being a writer, (having been) a single mom, being a person who for two years does not “work”. It is not unusual for people to lack the ability to put me into a neat little box and this has always been the case with me. Even when I was the kid I was visibly (in)different. It is not my goal to be like this, I think it would be far more comfortable to fit in sometimes. But it is rare enough that when people find themselves in me, that I find it exciting to think… perhaps this year might be the year that I get to blend in a bit. It just seems so much easier to blend.

Different from the norm or not, there are things that are important to me: loyalty, gratitude, friendship, family, being creative, living in a democracy and also being able to just take a moment out of my day, no matter how full it is, to take in something beautiful. Right now, Ontario is extra gorgeous. Today, I was North of the city on Montreal Street. I had a full day of driving my cousin around, discussing politics with one of the Prison Farms protesters, doing some volunteer work for a person with limited literacy, researching the Hinton train disaster, writing, missing a meeting to discuss fund raising for an agency in Kingston (rescheduled for tonight) and also spending an hour visiting with my sister and Tiny Niece Violet, it was not exactly a slow day. Still, these refresher moments are so important. Not just for artists, but for everyone.

The point is, I stopped just for just a few moments to witness the peace and beauty that was offered up to the multitudes who just drove by. Even though I don’t “work” I think that I needed this. I hope you took a moment today too and if you did not, I hope that my moment has enough breath left in it to be shared with all of you.

Categories: Kingston, Magical, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View | 2 Comments

Autumn

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Laura

Beautiful isn’t it?

Categories: Forest, Magical, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | 2 Comments

Terrific Tiny Touches

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Laura

I finally bought and put up trim in the bathroom. The trim was on special for $1.98 a piece and I needed only four, so it was a cheap fix.

I was visiting Vernie yesterday I got him to cut the last board which fits under the patio door. The board under the door was in my pile of lumber already but had to be cut into a wedge 1 and 3/4 inch on one end going up to 2 and 1/2 inches on the other. Of course, it fit first try, like everything Vernie does.

These are such Tiny details that they are hardly worth mentioning but despite them being Tiny, they look so much better.

Sometimes Tiny things make such a huge difference.

Categories: Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

The Kitchen Update

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Laura

I started building drawers a while ago, so when my guests were unable to come today, I jumped back into them. I will refresh by letting you know that I had no idea how to do this, so I googled and figured out the easiest way. Then I drove back and forth to Rona in Kingston depending on the stage I was at. The men there were super helpful with the cutting so that I did not have to do it manually. They have a very accurate sawing machine there.

I did not get the fronts on yet because I needed custom sizes in width, so I brought the lumber down to my cousin Vernie’s shop and he cut them up for me. Perfect, first time! I always love to have an excuse to visit him because he has a memory like a steel trap and has always got a hundred interesting stories, along with a lot of skills. The man is a real life MacGyver he knows how to do everything and can build anything out of a pack of gum and a stick of wood, I bet if I brought him straw he could weave gold… no joke you should see the stuff this man has built! It blows me away, how handy he is.

The drawer fronts all fit perfectly but there is a small problem with the way that I (not Vernie) built the top drawer, because it does not slide easily and I can’t figure it out so next time a handy person comes by I am going to ask what I did wrong. Maybe I can even talk Vernie into coming to have a peek at it? Suggestions as to why a drawer on rollers wants to raise up? Despite the curious weirdness with the slide I decided that to go ahead and install the knobs, so I could start using them. The kitchen is well on its way to being done.

I left a little space open in behind the drawer front so that I could hide the aluminium foil in there. On the other end of the kitchen the useless skinny cupboard is now the perfect place for the recycle, garbage and BBQ tools. No acrobatics required to reach in and get things from this deep narrow cupboard. It is a perfect size and shape for this.