Category: Bricks & Mortar
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The Sounds of a House
I’m in bed and Husband’s downstairs making coffee when we hear a jangle of keys and the turning of the front door handle. A young man lets himself into the house and is startled to find it occupied. He hastily explains that a neighbour told him that the house was empty and it was okay… Read more
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Night Wanderings
I’m sweaty, Husband is coughing and hacking, and I can’t sleep. But this is a large house and there are empty beds upstairs. In the blackness of our unfamiliar bedroom I shuffle across the floor, toward the spiral staircase and a sliver of light. The stairs are stone, wedge-shaped, five hundred years old and lack… Read more
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French Architectural Eye Candy
There’s little point in snapping pics of Marco and Rod’s house here in Noyers-Sur-Serein, Burgundy, France when there’s a ShutterFly page crammed with great photos. Not a bad shack, I think. And here’s a sneak peek at the greater village. Read more
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Winging Away
I realized that it isn’t obvious I’m away for the summer. Husband and I have taken all the squids to France/Italy, returning in September. We spent five days in Paris, moved on to Normandy and have just arrived for an extended stay at my brother-in-law’s house in Noyers-sur-Serein. After, we’re off to see the rellies… Read more
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I Say A Well, Septic and Smart Meter For All
As we’ve sweated through day after day of 30+ weather and the Rideau Canal slides into a Stage 2 drought, water is at the forefront of my mind. I’m writing a house manual for friends who are staying here over the summer and the lead paragraphs focus on water conservation and energy use. Until we… Read more
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re:THINK(ing) Affordable Housing in Vancouver
And on go the thinking hat(s)…… “As part of the work being done by the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability, re:THINK HOUSING, an open ideas competition, is being launched to generate a broader discussion of possibilities for Vancouver’s affordable housing crisis. Aimed at everyone who has an interest in affordable housing, from the general public, to… Read more
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Adaptive Reuse (and Reuse and Reuse) at the Grey Nuns’ Convent
Not all those who wander are lost. – J.R.R. Tolkien Choosing a mini-adventure over a late afternoon nap, I laced on the mocs and headed across Esplanade Riel to Le Musée de Saint-Boniface. While the museum is filled with fascinating objects, including the half-burnt coffin of Louis Riel, the principal artifact is the building itself.… Read more
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Part 1: If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home – The Kitchen
One quick Google search of the word kitchen yielded this smart, funny and well-paced BBC series about the history of our homes, as told through four key spaces: the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room. Historian and presenter Dr. Lucy Worsley is Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces. She pretty much gets to time travel,… Read more
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A Carpenter’s Life: As Told By Houses
I was encouraged by my elders to “follow my heart.”…Would not our world be a better place if we all followed what our hearts tell us to do? People with heart won’t fight senseless wars, they won’t strip-mine a beautiful mountain, commit genocide, pollute our land with toxic waste and chemical fertilizers, foul the air… Read more
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The Oracle at Lee Valley
Yesterday morning Husband and I had one of those insanely stupid thirty-second flash arguments, this time about the best way to sharpen the garden tools. My rule of thumb is he/she who actually does the work has absolute sovereignty – including the last word – over the purchase, maintenance and use of tools/systems around that… Read more