Hi Folks,

I must admit, it’s hard to know where to start when it’s been six months since my last real post.  As you can surmise from the title, I am living in the tiny house I dreamed of and built. Hooray!  I’ve been living in it since Dec. 8th, 2012, though I took a two-and-a-half week vacation over the holidays.  I moved in before it was completed and at first (til Jan. 28, 2013) was living in the warehouse district across the railroad tracks from the Martin Drake Power Plant where I got locked inside a chain link fence with barbed wire filigree on top every night.

That first night I cozied into my cushy bed from Ikea with down comforter on top of its bright red storage box and gloried that I had a place all my own to lay my head and I saw that it was beautiful.  I called my daughter and my sister and a friend or two.  The constant whistle and hum and chug-a-lug of the train was romantic.  I didn’t have my radiant floor working in the beginning so I borrowed a space heater and I was plugged into “shore” power so it didn’t matter too much that my electrical systems weren’t working properly yet.  I was also still without running water in my house and couldn’t use my composting toilet yet so I had to make use of the warehouse’s facilities.

The night I got locked out of Gyrtle and had to spend the night on the floor of the warehouse I was especially thankful for warm place to sleep and I felt considerable compassion and commonality with the homeless people just outside the warehouse gates.  The following morning I had to go down the street in my PJ’s to find a phone to use to call a locksmith – a humbling experience.  Similarly, when I got locked out of the warehouse one night and couldn’t use the facilities I had an adjustment of my perspective when I went to the 7-11 in the morning to use theirs and found that I couldn’t have used them between 10pm and 6am.  What do the down-on-their-resources people do?

On Jan. 28th of the post 12/21/12 year Gyrtle and I moved to a glorious new home.  Thanks to the generosity and curiosity of my friends Laura and Tim Spear we have a space in the beautiful setting of Forest Edge Gardens.  Tim and Laura have been gardening and loving this land for over 20 years.  They originally had 5 acres and about eight years ago added the adjoining 5 acres.  Here we all join our creativity and sensibilities to live in harmony and playfulness with the earth. Gyrtle and I will be here for awhile – not sure how long.  I will continue to make other journeys.  It is clear that I won’t be moving Gyrtle casually.  Moving her is nothing to take lightly!

TTFN (Ta Ta for now)