Thanks to a tip (comment) from Anonymous a few days ago, I went to Jimmy’s on this, my last night in NYC. Down a flight of dark stairs and into what felt like a medieval tavern on East 7th (#43, between 2nd & 3rd). You know how you enter a room and everything feels right?  Had several glasses of Greenport Hoppy Stout and excellent pasta dish and talked to 4 different people at the bar. There’s something intimate about NYC; you’re in such close proximity to people in public places. This is a wonderful pub, in a formerly Ukrainian

neighborhood, I recommend it highly. Their food is made with ingredients from local farms. They have many beers. NYC is an infinitely complex and deep city. It’s what you make of it and what you take of it.

Another Puyallup place where you couldn’t tell what it was like until you came inside. Score! Anthem Coffee & Tea (210 W. Pioneer Ave.), interior done in recycled wood and corrugated steel roofing, great coffee and a perfect almond/bran muffin combo, fast wifi (so handy for the on-the-road nerd), opens at 5:30 AM (I don’t even know a connected place in NYC that opens that early), cool workers and clientele.

Yesterday rainy morning, on my way to SunRay Kelley’s and Bonnie’s compound near Sedro Woolley, Washington, I’m hungry, and here is Mom’s cafe. Who can resist? (I’m a sucker for any cafe that says “Mom’s,” or “Home Cooking.”)

Great breakfast of scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, homemade corn muffin. I ask the cook, “Are you Mom?” “Yes,” she says, “but little mama runs this place,” motioning toward the young waitress. “Your daughter?” “Yes. I just do what she says.” Smiles all around.

Mom is Linda Hanger, daughter is Jess, and she’s lovely. Doesn’t know it either. Radiant smile, kindness in face, sparkling eyes. There’s substance here too, and humor. She’s 22 and lives, it turns out, in a tiny home on 22 acres in the hills and practices permaculture. There’s something about the 20-year-olds these days. Children of the boomers. A whole new breed. Hope in this battered world.

Off the Clock I ran — well, ambled over — the Dipsea Trail last week with my running buddies. I started real early. It was the first time in 20 years I’ve run the (7+) mile course without a certain amount of stress and a definite amount of pain. The upside, of course, is the beauty of the trail and the lore and romance of the race. We all had fine dinners at the Parkside in Stinson Beach (they have a knockout inky black porter on tap), gemütlicheit of all these healthy people.

  I was forced to quit by knees that would no longer take the hard downhills (where I had to make up for being a slow uphill runner). Being forced into racing retirement has huge benefits. Running, if I do now, for the joy of it. Off the clock. No hurry, no need to train, hey, there’s a lot of other stuff to do!

Look Where You Want To Go This is what a pro mountain biker told me. Meaning when you’re say, going fast downhill in rough terrain, look at where you want your front tire to go, don’t look at the immediate foreground. Look ahead and your body will make the adjustments and get you there. Same principle in life. Focus on where you want to go and by golly, you’ll usually get there. Athletes know this.

Our Next TWO Books I’m starting on Water and Wheels: Tiny Homes On the Move as soon as I get back from this (my last) PR road trip. I’m going to start the book with mobile units by one guy — tent, dogsled, umiak, sailboat, birchbark canoes, road van — all created from scratch by Mark Hansen, a prolific and remarkable builder living on the shores of Lake Superior.

  The second book, due to a flash yesterday, will maybe be on Small Homes, say under 1000 sq.ft. We’re starting to collect info, so if you know of unique home in this category, please leave a comment with yr. email address and we’ll be in touch. It’s either a book like this, or a second tiny homes book. Just have to see what shakes out.

My Last Tiny Homes Roadshow Trip I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Seattle, renting a car, hoping to both go to a somewhat remote hot springs and then to SunRay Kelley’s Sedro Woolley compound to photograph his latest works, if time, out to Anacortes, to check out aluminum fishing boats (in the 15′ range), then drive to Puyallup to do a slide show at the Mother Earth News Fair at 4 PM on Saturday June 2d, then Sunday to NYC for the annual Book Expo America and a slide show at the v. cool Spoonbill and Sugartown bookstore in Brooklyn, Wed. June 6 at 7 PM. I’m so excited to be going to NYC; it’s been a 40-year love affair. When the cab hits 2nd, 3rd avenues my pulse starts racing. Absolutely station central. I’ll be blogging up a storm from there.

“When I am asked ‘What will the inside of your new bus look like?’, I always reply ‘Just like the inside of my housetruck, only bigger.’ For most people this is answer enough, but for those of you in Netland who are curious, I provide this photo essay to spark your imagination.

Inside, the living space is decidedly non-automotive. In planning the interior, I toured motor homes, travel trailers and yachts, and found the latter to be most appealing, although the end result would never be considered “nautical”. “Early Twentieth Century Studio Apartment” would be the most accurate description. Nearly all of the furniture, fittings and fixtures are collectables. Wood, brass, natural fabrics and leather predominate. Use of plastics is almost non-existent. A Vermont Castings ‘Intrepid’ wood stove keeps away the winter chill, and multiple skylights illuminate my daily activities.…”

https://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/sharkey/sharkey.htm