Lilac Window

we’re back.

You may have wondered what happened to us. We were driving the past two days, and before that the internet connection failed us. So I wrote the posts and put them up today. I figure I can do that, I mean, your not paying THAT much attention…are you?

We drove all the way from Chilliwack to Calgary yesterday. We arrived really late at night. We are tired. We re-arranged the furniture. We have yet to unpack.

On the drive we stopped at the enchanted forest. It was something the husband had driven by a thousand times as a kid, but never got to go in. So we made a point of it. I actually had a great time checking out the little buildings. I found as many – or more little projects that were so sweet and interesting, I should have been taking notes. The green-roofed brick building from the three little pigs may have been my favorite, but the Swiss Family Robinson style tree house was great too. Wood, used in its natural shape was used for furniture, doors, stairs, railings. It was lovely. You never know where inspiration will hit!

so. upon arriving home.

I think re-arranging the furniture is very important upon returning home from such a momentous trip. It signals a change. That we have learned new things, and that we are ready to live in a new way. 

The whole second half of the trip I was dreaming about changing the furniture around, making light shades, curtains, futon covers. We got so inspired by all the amazing spaces we were in, we wanted to bring some of that home with us. So there it is. Our dining room table has been moved to the living room, and the futon is in the eating nook.

A little different? rebellious? fun? exciting? lots of sticky rice in the rug? yeah. its going to be great.

some things I dont want to forget.

Marcel’s fascination with “Timrin’s market” – a imaginary place that he is always talking about.

The boys playing in the tent together, and in the front of the car, and with the rubber mallets at Rivendell, and under the boogie-board at long beach.

The fact that I did five for five awesome boogie-board runs on long beach. I think Im ready for that surf board.

Marcel turning to me this evening and telling me he had a sad day. I asked him why, he said because I threw his green string in the fire. I told him we’ll find him another string in the morning, and that I understood it was important to him. 

He said, “Yes, Very important.” 

I asked why it was so special. He said “because it was green.” 

I said, “OK, we’ll try to find a green string tomorrow”.

 He said, “OK and a book. A small book…because you threw my string in the fire.” 

I said, “Is there anything else you want to say?”

“yes…can you sing me a song? I want Speed’s song.”

So I sang him “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane until he fell asleep.

The way Marcel calls Emery “brother”…and even better – when they are playing and Emery cries – Marcel says “Are you OK brother?” that kills me.

and of course, chocolate cake… made over the fire… eaten on the beach… at sunset. I will never want to forget that.

Here in Tofino I feel intimidated by the art of it. Its a complex feeling, but so intense its hard to ignore.

I wonder how others feel when presented with profound natural beauty. Awestruck? Mystified? Emotional? I feel all these things, as well as a surging impulse to take it in, to process it and to create. I want to stay, meditate on the lessons to learn, and to make things that describe my response. I want to think about all I know, and my way of being, and see how this incredible gift of beauty informs it, changes it, and sheds new light.

We have been witness to such incredible landscapes on this trip, and yet I have so little time to ponder and reflect. I want to record it all, and yet I know that as soon as I move on, or go home, the intensity of it fades.

Part of me wishes I could forget obligations, and find a cabin on some rocky shore, and hibernate for a winter, writing, painting and creating… don’t you? You might. 

I believe making things is a magical expression of human nature, which is to know and worship the Creator of all things. 

We visited Roy Vicker’s art gallery today, and some others. I cant also help but feel saddened and intimidated by the fact that I will never get close to describing the mystical or divine, or even get close to some of the achievements of other artists. I know that self-consciousness kills creativity, and the spirit, yet it seeps in. I am so fundamentally aware of the inadequacy of my attempts. Its a sad and beautiful road, to create. Sometimes I almost don’t want to be inspired, because then I know I will feel disappointment in not realizing that dream. But angst and despair are not for me.

Let us celebrate in the glory and immensity of all we cannot achieve. Its a lover’s pain, and a seeker’s steed. Unity comes after knowledge, and contentment is before nothingness*. 

Let’s be artists…I need to make time to get mystical.

(*I’m referring to Baha’u’llah’s Seven Valleys. A mystical sacred text which references Sufi mysticism.)

I would say that, one good piece of learning has been that it is a good idea to have your vacation, after you’ve already had your vacation. That is because it takes a whole to sort of, get into vacation mode, to develop your rhythm as a family, to find your pace, and to feel relaxed. We have been able to do just that, and this time in Tofino is so much more special because of it

I do realize that vacations after vacations is sort of a impossibility most of the time. I mean, (duh…of course its better to have two vacations instead of one…uh, tell me something I don’t know please?) perhaps there is a way to take a bit of this vibe into everyday, have mini vacations all the time, so that when we get a chance at a good one, we can make the most of it.

Actually, when talking about vacations with kids, I mean, especially camping with kids, its not really what one would call a typical “vacation”. I tend to prefer the word “adventure”. There really isn’t much rest going on, and we may be making life more difficult than staying at home, But man, this is fun! 

Some of the benefits have been the amazing way the husband and I can deal with stuff these days. I mean, traveling and camping can be hard on young kids. They get tired, hungry and feel displaced. They cry a lot, whine more, and are simply extra needy. Happily, recently we have been quick to the mark on all these things recently. We pack the car like pros, we can change a diaper together in seconds, we can calm a crying baby in the woods, we know all the tricks – baby in bike trailer, timing our days around naps, getting dinner ready for 5:00, so bed time is happy. Yeah, we’re almost hi-fiveing  eachother. (I said almost…)

I hope that this means we’ll take some of these skills and life at home will now be our vacation. I just have to find a way to spend more time in the surf….in Rundle….

wow, I don’t have any idea what day of our trip this is. I have totally lost track. I’ve also lost track of what day of the week it is, what time it is, when I am supposed to be home… I just hope it doesn’t come too soon.

Now, I have to make a pregnant pause. An important, soul inspiring pause. 

Because the news I have to share is BIG…

OK, Hold on…

WE ARE IN TOFINO!!!!

AHHH! we made it!

The ocean, the sand the beach, the sun, the trees, the camping, the babies, the mac and cheese, the sea weed, the mist, the salt air, the heat, …oh, everything…its all here!

We are staying at Bella Pacifica campsite. I was apprehensive as it is not a provincial camp ground, but it is lovely. We are a couple hundred meters from MacKenzie beach, and near the town of Tofino. I thought perhaps this beach would be all rocky and we’d be at Long beach every day, but this one is so amazing, we may not be heading over there hardly at all. 

Leaving Rivendell was hard. We had a music jam last night, and were so peaceful and full when we left this morning. The drive was shorter than we thought, and we made it just after noon. We had enough time to set up camp and spend time in the surf before buying groceries and making dinner. 

This trip to Tofino is really the icing on the cake of our adventure. We are going to soak up every minute we are here. Open those pores and let that ocean seep in!

one last sweet day at Rivendell. We are packing up to go on to the last phase – Tofino. Today was so sweet, visiting, making quiche, playing croquet, splashing by the river.

All the ideas and wonder of being here are hard to digest. I am not sure what I will bring home, I want to bring everything! We have ideas about how we want to rearrange furniture and make changes in our house. The most inspiring thing about being here, and especially yesterday at the pioneer’s house, I saw how ingenious people can be when they have to be. Its too easy to go to Rona or IKEA and just buy what we think we need. Instead I want to make stuff I need, or go without for a while, or find a way to really cherish what I have. 

I have to rearrange the basement for my school, and I want to fix up my studio. I want to produce more art work and Mark has been so inspired by the music here. He wants to find a way to bring more music into our lives. So, there will be changes and things to think about. We are excited to be heading back soon, which is a really good sign.

I visited another little settlement today, and saw so much that I admire and want to learn about. Two little families have carved their life into this piece of land. I visited today to see their light-clay buildings. I shared stories about homesteading, living on the land, and raising a family in a rustic environment.

This little building is almost a shack but has been made cozy by life. The little toys, wood stove, kitchen, and eating area is shared by two families. It is also the bathtub, which is situated behind the wood stove. The hot water pipe is wrapped around the stove and warms the bath water. Baths in summer, and solar powered showers in summer. 

There are two light clay buildings there, and both were built by the families. They are in the process of building a third home as one of the current homes is pretty tiny. Its another true lesson in pioneer lifestyle. Its amazing to meet people actually living the life others talk about. Mark stayed at home with Marcel, so he missed seeing the hand-made coffee roaster. That would have been his highlight. Instead, he drank the coffee and loved it.

We have been visiting and marketing today. Its been so nice to catch up with a few people, and hear about their life out here. We heard stories about farming, raising animals and keeping them  alive.  The weather, food, disease, and predators are real challenges. The idyllic vision of small scale farming is brought to a sobering reality for me.

In light of all that we watched a little DVD called “Island on the Edge” about Vancouver island food production and it was very enlightening. I would recommend it to anyone, as I think it applies across the range of agricultural worlds. In it there is a young woman who is starting her own little farm. We met her today at this market and enjoyed hearing her stories. If you can get your hands on the DVD, its worth it.

This little market is really just as charming as it looks though. People bring crafts, little animals and food to sell. Its meant for locals, by locals, so its small, pretty and everyone knows each other. (Not that you cant go and partake…its at the red church at Cowichan Station every wednesday 3-6pm.) I am so excited to give my money to these people who are working so hard to make the world better.

kids and moms at work.

I just want to put this little toast for the joy of work out there. We all know this little truth, but it gets forgotten, that work is sacred. When life somehow trashes our work, it is so draining. We dont treat work well – we push ourselves too hard, we work on things that we feel are not important, we extend ourselves when it isnt needed, and then we fall exhausted, and miss the important details. Yeah, well, I do anyways.

The joy of a really long vacation is that you can actually get to a point where you are itching to work. Thats a good sign I think. Its a little different for me, being a mom, I take my work with me everywhere. And even though we share the work evenly as mom and dad, its my husband that has felt excited to get back to work.

So, thats actually why we left Courtenay. The bliss of the quiet was left behind, so that we can feel that we are contributing here at Rivendell. While I was visiting friends with the kids, Mark weed-whacked, moved logs, pruned, and helped around the place. Tonight he’ll build the Marimba band a website, and fix the scanner. Such things are a joy when given with love. I gotta remember that.

we are back down south.

It was like time moved so slow that I was scared it was going to disappear too fast. We are all pretty tired, and really we maybe should have stayed in Courtenay another day, we decided at the last minute to pack up and head south again. So here we are, back at Rivendell. 

We have four days here, to prep for our trip to Tofino. I feel like that time in Courtenay was a gift to us, a quiet time in the middle of our busy holiday.

We made big plans, talked late into the night, thought about re-arranging our house, cooked yummy treats, played in the garden, played board games, made ice cream, watched “The Royal Tannenbaums” and forged multiple business ideas. Its amazing how many things have to be aligned for those sort of quiet and thoughtful moments to happen. Im cherishing every last minute.

so, I was right. There was a little burn out going on. Marcel woke up with a runny nose, and a cough. Luckily we are staying in a house in Courtenay where we can just vegetate for the day, and let the little guy rest up. So, thats just what we did.

While the bodies were resting, my mind was going a hundred miles an hour. I’ve been stewing over a little idea, and I gotta share some of it.

Frankly I’ve been a little overwhelmed about my career. In my experience there is a big obstacle when it comes to architecture and thats the fact that buildings are big, and expensive. So many people may have great design ideas, and never actually see them in the world because they just cant ever get someone to build it. 

There are many reasons you dont see lots of great archtecturalized homes out there. Its not just that architects are expensive, and people dont value design…its simply the time factor. Most people will only ever be able to afford one house and one mortgage at a time. If they want to design a unique home, they have to pay rent, or hold a second mortgage while its being built. Most folks just cant do that. Thats why developers can build the crap that they do, and it still gets bought, because the product is offered as a complete package. Developers put the cost upfront, and most designers, or architects just dont have the money to do that.

The other issue I have been thinking about is that most natural build methods are high in labour and time, and lower in material costs. This scenario just doesnt work in the traditional construction industry. Time costs more than anything, and there is a race to get things done as fast as possible. This means great sacrifices in design, and in product. It also means things like cob, and light clay would never make it as a profit making solution.

I also am interested in the resource that stay- at – home mom’s offer. Being one myself, I know how difficult it is to consider going back to work, when you cant find child care, but also how hard it is to be at home, its lonely and you also want to help you family financially. I also find you crave a sense of community. 

So, I was thinking of a scenario where a tight knit group of stay-at home moms, pool their resources, to look after children, and “renovate” or recycle a house. They could split the mortgage payments, and when it is resold, they could split the profits.

In this scenario there is no individual sub-trades who come and go from the site, but everyone sees the project through to the end. Which means the product is better and there is more joy and pride in doing it. Also the learning is greater because everyone sees the whole picture.

Also, the advantage that the women have is that, they can work without seeing the money until the end. In most cases, there is a huge upfront labour cost that is prohibitive. (though understandable… everyone needs to eat…) In this case you have a group of people, whose basic needs are met by their working partners. This way, they can put their time in, and receive a large sum of money in the end. Also, there is no insane deadline to meet because the longer it takes, the more the mortgage is paid, and the more people will get back in the end.

It also means that there will be a greater product to offer. You can sell a home that is stronger, more beautiful, and carefully built than anything offered in the suburbs. Its completely finished, and hand crafted, yet because it is a recycled building it is not at the edge of town.

I got lots more ideas, about it – in decision making, planning, design, financial outlines, scheduling, sharing cooking and childcare, and in marketing and selling the finished house. But I think thats enough for now. 

There are plenty of houses in Courtenay that would be just perfect…

well, I dont know if we are burned out from the beach, or just traveling, but we are all feeling pretty darn tired tonight. The boys went to bed in record time, and Mark and I are jelly fish on the couch right now. Perhaps two beaches in one day is just too much fun…

The day involved sun, two beaches (one rocky one looking for crabs, the other one sea-weedy sand), fish and chips, a bike ride for groceries, berry picking, lazing by the blow-up pool, and general summer time relaxing.

We are staying in an old post war house, that has been renovated by my friends. I have been day-dreaming about buying one of these tiny houses, dismantling it piece by piece, restoring the foundation, building light clay first-story walls, and reassembling the parts of the original house on top for the second story.

I know that sounds totally labour intensive and headachy – but it would have many major cost benefits, and would result in an incredibly efficient, well-built, recycled home. You would get the benefits of light-clay, be able to purchase something in an older neighborhood, recycle lumber materials, and reduce excavating and concrete costs. So price for materials would be relatively low – but labour and time, very high. But it would be really sustainable, and create a wonderful new home…remind me of this idea when I want to move, in  a few years. Please?

Hey all.

I have had to come to terms with the reality of traveling with two kids and being over ambitious about my own goals. We are doing so great and today is a perfect example of that.

We decided to go to Quadra Island today. We ate breakfast, made a batch of pancakes for the road, packed our to-go bag and hopped in the car, all before Emery’s first nap. That is a routine we almost have down-pat. (If you ignore the accidents, the one-handed pancake flipping because your holding a baby, and the tragic drama show about the lack of cereal to eat for breakfast…) We drove to Campbell River, and caught the ferry just in time for Em to wake up.

That made us feel like Super-parents.

The ferry was so nice because its such a short trip. And it was warm out, so we could stand outside and discuss things like terminals, ramps and cars that drive onto the boat. Those things are very important to Marcel right now. 

Then we hit the town for a little shopping with Em on the back. We had a little pizza at the local snack bar, and I oogled over some wool. I tried on a dress that I didnt buy, you know, the usual. Of course we also hit the local bookstore and asked for the non-existent graphic novel section. Then we headed out to Rebecca Spit, for a lovely swim. The water was amazingly clear, warm and perfect. Marcel played on a  piece of driftwood. We were back in the car just in time for Em’s second nap, which we used up buying a coffee from a local roasterie and driving around the island, seeing the sights. We actually made it back to the ferry just in time to drive on, and Em to wake up. We had dinner in Campbel River at the local snack bar, and I got a bathing suit at the local consignment store. We sang really loudly in the car so that Marcel wouldnt fall asleep, and made it back to Courtenay in time to have a shower, and eat the home-made ice cream we made. Its now 8:00 and both kids are fast asleep. I’d say its been an incredible day.

When I planned this trip I thought I would be spending this time researching local sustainable buildings. I truly wanted to explore the island, follow up on contacts I have from the Cowichan valley and bring you some great articles. Instead I find that keeping my family in the groove, and everyone hitting their meal and nap times while on the road is something to be proud of. So Im sorry I don’t have an article about the amazing buildings on Quadra. Instead I have two happy, sleeping babies. And thats pretty sweet.

I think the best decision we made was to figure out how to put the bikes on the car. It was not easy, and we had to fit the bike trailer on the roof, but it has so been worth it. I would even venture to say that the best times we have had as a family on this trip have been when we were on the bikes. When all is new, and the kids are tired and you just can’t sit in your campsite, or in someone else’s living room, or in the back yard any more, the bikes are awesome. They are such a great way to explore a new city, without having to get in the car…. again.

Today we took the bikes and rode around town. We found the local water park and as we pulled in Marcel exclaimed “Its beautiful! I love it here!”. We rode along the beautiful river valley, stopped at the comic book store, the local library and then the ice cream shop. Thats my idea of a good day together.

I have to say that small town life is definitely conducive to days like today. It makes me think about our car-centric world. I think even if I lived here, there would be so many days I just take the car because its easier. Ideally I would build a bike-port, so that its actually easier to take the bike than the car. Bike paths, places to access by bike, and pedestrian friendly roads sure help too.

I’ve got lots of images for new paintings in my head, and ideas for designs for houses and urban spaces. I also have ideas for my classes, and for ways to re-organize my house so we can feel more relaxed at home. Im still all tingly thinking about light-clay buildings. Though it may be a while before I can do anything about that…

so, its been a while.

Driving up here I had so many memories, of the ocean. Spending time with my friends family in Sointula, Port Mc Neil, At Ferries, Camping in Tofino, The islands, New Zealand, yeah, so many memories, and Ive been aching to spend time by the ocean recently.

And now. Here I am.

We spent a couple hours with the kids today looking for crabs under rocks, making new memories, dragging kelp up the beach, eating packed sandwiches, talking to the locals.

Is this ocean craving thing just me? Sometimes I feel a little over-the-top sea-crazy… is anyone else out there like this? Did you grow up on an island too? Are you now living, land-locked in the prairies? If so, I can relate. Let me tell you…I truly can relate!

Anyways, enough of all that. We are half way through our trip. A few more glorious days in the north part of the island and then back tot he Cowichan valley before heading to Tofino.  Marcel got a bit too much sun today, due to a strange turn of events that lead to a miss communication where three adults thought that the other two put sun block on him. That sucked. Thankfully, he has his father’s skin and not mine – or else he’d be toast.

Im thinking a lot about my art school when I get back, and day dreaming about light clay buildings. I tell you, light clay is something you have to experience to understand. I want everything made out of it. It defies your whole idea of comfort in a space. And, as far as I can tell, it has yet to be really explored as a design medium. 

OK, heres the deal. I need a piece of land – with lots of trees, water running though it – preferably some ocean. Then I need some clay, some willing helpers, a little extra cash for things like roofs, and cement mixers… and then – oh – lets say 5 to 10 summers. We’ll have buildings and designs and ideas that make earth feel like heaven… I’ll make a house for you then too.