What have I been doing?

Painting my new, previously dark purple bedroom.

household without a house

trying to buy a house is the worst thing on earth, so i am just going to think about nice smelling things like lavender rosemary...

Nothing but soap/scrub naturally

my new Flagstaff buddy makes these reusable dryer sheets to aid in the war against trash, and the smell is divine and almost strong enough to cover the old-man odor emanating from the vacation rental we have been hiding in...

found on Good Eggs facebook

and i have been buying up groceries with no place to go, bags of bulk hopefully labeled but i doubt i am that sharp so everyone can use this chart (and Good Eggs has a good mission!)...

listening to The Deadly Syndrome - Demons

...and here is to good tunes: here here! or anywhere, because home is where the smells, food, and music is. at least for now.

ghost town

as my husband and i venture into the land of homeownership, seeking out a sustainable old house with character (surprisingly hard to do in Flagstaff)...

following 3 photos by ME, Wupatki

i have been hanging out at some ruins...

finding remnants of lives in the dirt...

learning to read this desert again and thinking about coexisting minimally with what is here...

meanwhile, the constant pressure of populations, politics, poverty pushing and pushing...

Shipping container home in Jakarta

and just trying to balance selfish wants with what is fair and right.

Obimama contest on Risaroo's Facebook

Wishful thinking checks it out...

Risaroo's facebook

plus, the fabrics are pretty.

durty

love getting my hands dirty...

Brooklyn to West

love the dirty work and DIY ethics of the Brooklyn artist Ariele: "I find or make pretty much everything"...

maija-louekari

and i love the clean work by Marimekko designer extraordinaire Maija Louekari...  

Brooklyn to West 

 and Ariele's mud-cloth print upholstered chair is my dream chair (mud cloth gets hands dirty and ends up with clean designs)...

maijs lourkari

 and i like how the clean, pretty aspen trees in Flagstaff have evil eveballs--photos soon!

nesting

since i am still separated from my crafting tools, i have time to focus on other obsessions...

Patrick Taylor House, 1832, Australia

visually, my favorite historic building technique is hands down wattle and daub...

Speke Hall, 1530, UK

and maybe its the combination of woven sticks and sustainable building materials that is so appealing to me as a process...

Lavenham Priory, 1400's, UK

but, as much as i like to be a purist, i will probably forego the dung and thatched roof... 

http://www.squidoo.com/wattle-and-daub

but keep the exposed wood lattice (half-timbering...fachwerk) and protective white lime plastering which are my favorite parts...

Waltrop House—Germany, 1400

but the timbers don't have to be filled in with sticks...

Moot Hall in Aldeburgh, UK, 1650

it can be stones, brick "nogging" (often replacing the plaster and sticks to add support to a sagging stucture), whatever...

did i mention i am volunteering with a historic preservation crew? this project looks SO fun.

but the exposed timbers were found to last longer (probably in damp climates) if they were completely plastered over (pargetting), a precursor to stuccoing) and i dont have to go far to find beautiful stuccoed architecture...

Colorado, off-grid construction

while not historic, the off-grid communities are doing wonderful things with building materials, and in living in general: "While Rolland does happen to be a rocket scientist, he says it doesn’t take one to invent your own technology. 'It’s buried inside all of us,' he says. 'All you have to do is leave yourself room to find it. I think most of us don’t realize it because we’re barricaded from it by regulation and fear.' His personal building code—no plywood, no plastic, and nothing that smells bad when it burns—is the only creed Rolland adheres to.'

Read more: http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=3180&tag=solar panels#ixzz21vmBmnzq

Flagstaffin

bike friendly Flagstaff, with trails and friendly people...


Free bikes live on


and a DIY craft fairs at anarchist community centers...

and, best of all, we are back in the beautiful Southwest.