Victoria pays tribute to British Columbia’s original people with Thunderbird Park, right in downtown Victoria. The present totems were carved by master carver Mungo Martin in the 1950s, chief of the Fort Rupert branch of the Kwakwaka’wakw (commonly referred to as Kwaikiutl) tribe. My friend, artist Godfrey Stephens, hung out down at the park with his childhood friend, Tony Hunt, grandson of Mungo Martin, and it was there that he (and Tony) learned to carve.

Mark is one of the original founders of the North House Folk School, and yesterday afternoon I hung out with him  in his shop, wood fire burning in stove. A working shop is a great place to hang out. There were spiffy models of boats and canoes hanging all over. Mark seems to be able to design and build just about anything (including 26 birchbark canoes, mostly in North House classes).

   I wanted to see photos of a number of mobile things he’s built. Since he doesn’t use a computer, I downloaded 381 photos from his camera and suddenly I have a passel of well-designed and well-crafted things for our next book, Wheels and Water: van, sailboat, shed, tent-in-snow, yurt, toboggan…

  I’d been noticing these little carved figures and asked him where they came from. Well, he carved them. More to come from Mark…

This handcrafted home just knocked me off my feet. Two creative, competent, and wonderful artists created this house (and outbuildings) out of driftwood, beach and river stones, home-milled lumber, all with exquisite craftsmanship.

  One of these years when we do another non-tiny (or non-small) book (like Home Work), this will be the star of the show.

  The owners  said they had resisted any photography thus far, but liked our books, so it was OK if I shot photos. It was like discovering a rainbow.

    I’m going to think about this one for a while.

Lloyd House was the featured builder in Builders of the Pacific Coast. His skill and ingenuity and joy in building were stunning, as shown in more than a dozen homes in the book.

   Lloyd left his cliffside compound on the west coast of Vancouver Island a few years ago and converted a 1992 Econoline van into a 70 sq. ft. home and now lives on Hornby Island. There are photos of it by Michael McNamara in Tiny Homes.

   I dropped in on him as soon as I got to Hornby and on a grey, drizzly afternoon, we got reacquainted. I love the company of Lloyd and my friend Louie, both a few years older than me; we grew up in a different world. Did I want dinner. Well yeah-uh. We had chard soup and a big salad with greens from Barbara’s thriving greenhouse. 

The band of windows brings the outside in. It’s an exquisite space. 10′ × 7′ = 70 sq. ft.

 Here are a few photos from the SFO International Airport this morning. They have fabulous exhibits there.  There were 3 exhibits: Automata: vintage mechanical French puppet-like figures, some of which seemed alive; a stunning exhibit of vintage Italian motorcycles; an exhibit of  old microscopes.

Vancouver is one of my favorite cities, similar in many ways to San Francisco. (I’m in Canada for 12 days to do slideshow/book signings and interviews. Schedule is here.)

  I got into my hotel too early to check in, so I’ve taken one of their (free) bikes out and am touring around the Granville Market/West 4th St./Kitsilano area, checking out shops, detouring through neighborhoods which are strangely quiet. I like being plopped down in unfamiliar territory where everything is new. Serendipity abounds. Running across the unexpected. Stay tuned; ride shotgun  with me this next week.