I love being in other parts of the world, but I hate getting there. The indignity of airport security, the air in airplanes; the stress level.
Left: the Bay Area as we approached the airport
I almost feel like kissing the ground when I get back to San Francisco (have in fact, on occasion). The smells of the ocean, of my own home. And wouldn’t the moon be spectacular as I got to town…
Well, I was nervous. I was, ulp, the featured speaker of a 3-day symposium on sustainability and to tell the truth, I’m more comfortable with a lower profile. Plus this was a bunch of competent people. By the time the room filled up, there were 100 people, and I’d say that just about every one of them could build and/or grow and/or create wonderful objects with their very own hands.
Plus the the MacAir, as it is mysteriously wont to do, was not speaking to the Epson projector (in a language the Epson could understand). I was sweating it. Helpless with the complexities of the digital world. (Doing slide shows with a Carousel projector back in the day was way less risky. Slides in slots. I could see them, etc.)
We finally got rolling, with some tech advice from the crowd. “Hit option-command-escape.” Well OK.
It was the 12th slideshow I’ve done now, and people all over the country seem to be interested in tiny homes. I told them something that has occurred to me lately,that it’s not necessary for everyone to live in a tiny home. The message here is to go in the direction of smaller. Rather than larger.
I’m doing a talk at noon today on communication, how I get pics and info into regular books, e-books, newsletters, and blog posts. Methods, materials, techniques. Photography and interviews and email communication. Then back to Duluth and home sweet home Monday. What a great trip this has been!
I am having lot of fun! I did my seminar on the small homestead today and am the, ahem, featured
speaker of this 3-day conference on sustainability. I’m doing my Tiny Homes slide show and answering questions tomorrow night at 7:30 (brick oven pizza being served). I got interviewed on the local radio station today and it sounds like a local web TV outfit is going to film it tomorrow night.
“Beaver Flicks” are fishing lures invented by these guys. They have hooks of various sizes and flicking metallic tails. I bought a bunch of them to try out in tide pools. Guess why they whited in the “I.”
Maybe a quarter of the way from Duluth to Grand Marais, yesterday, in a drizzling rain, I stopped in at this place (5797 N. Shore Dr.), and bingo! The trading post is filled with stuffed animals, old tools, guns, and skins on the walls, plus a ton of trinkets, moccasins, Native American-oriented stuff, what have you. I talked to one of the owners, Bill Weckman, about a bunch of things and we were on the same page, as they say. After a while, he said, “Have you got 10 minutes?” “Well — yeah,” and he took me out in the back where there are a number of buildings with old logging tools, a blacksmith shop, a sauna (Finnish loggers), all giving you a clear idea of what life was like right here back in the day. Also a beautiful flock of chickens and two mystical black llamas. Below are some pics. (Wish I didn’t have to do this kind of dumb layout; such is the fate of a non-programmer.)
The Big Horned Sheep was huge. As was the buffalo; look at the mystery and majesty and power of that head. Cattle are so lame by comparison.
The horse contraption holds a horse immobile while it is beings shoed. That’s a wooden (horse-drawn) school bus.
I set off from Duluth around noon, after a jet-black pint of oat ale and a smoked (local) trout salad at the pub, and it’s taken me 4 hours to make a 2 hour trip to Grand Marais, due to all the interesting stuff I ran across. Highway 61 (yes the very one) all the way and it runs along the north shore of Lake Superior (which, by the way, and unlike say, Lake Michigan, is cold all year). Good music on radio all the way.
“…But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on Highway 61.”
I was home from Canada for a day, then got up at 3 to catch a 6AM flight to Chicago. I’m doing presentations at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on the banks of Lake Superior this coming weekend. It’s an institution I’ve always admired. (Check out their classes.)
I had to catch a flight from O’Hair to Duluth and we landed late, so I ran with luggage about a mile and got to the gate just as it was closing, last one on plane, phew! A friend from a past life (in Baja), Peter Kohlsaat, lives in Milwaukee and has a cabin in Duluth, and I was invited to dinner. I ended up staying at the Fitger Hotel and Brewery, which is in an ancient stone building on the lake; the brewery dates back to the 1850s. For an extra $10, I got a room looking bout at the expanse of Lake Superior. I had an hour to kill before going to Peter’s, so got a Hempen Ale (among the ingredients are hemp seeds) at the bar. A guy down the bar said “Are you Lloyd?” I mean here in the middle of Minnesota. Turns out he is Peter’s fishing partner, and we had met in Baja in years past.
People are really friendly here. It’s a relief to get away from the Calif/NY coasts, to get a different perspective. There’s an America out here that I still love, in spite of — well, you know…
Had a great dinner, including a killer Key Lime pie, with Peter and Cindy. Who, it turns out, have a house filled with vinyl records, and we had a lively conversation, with music playing, of music and musicians we all loved. Including Duluth’s own Bobby Zimmerman and, factoid of the day: I took Minnesota Highwy 61 to get to Peter and Cindy’s…
I’m looking out the hotel window at this vast (and clean, I’m told) lake, getting ready to go shoot some photos in Duluth. I saw some beautiful buildings yesterday, stonework like you don’t see out west…
The reason for this flurry of posts is that I have a 4-hour wait for my flight home today, and also that I seem to be accumulating an ever-increasing bunch of photos and cool info.
This is my new mode of luggage for air travel. No more sweating it at the stinking baggage carousel. The larger one is a Rick Steves carry-on backpack. No wheels — too heavy. I limit myself to what I can fit in these two bags. Much of the weight is electronic gear: 11″ MacBook Air, along with DVD player, backup hard drive; iPad; iPhone; Garmin GPS; lightweight Epson digital projector PLUS cameras: Canon Powershot S-95, Panasonic Lumix G-1 with 3 lenses, and a Sony Cybershot panoramic camera.What a nerd, eh?
I get home tonight and then take off early Monday Morning to do some teaching at the North House Folk School on Lake Erie. They’ve got me a cabin on the lake, and on Thursday I’m paddling a canoe in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and I’m pretty excited about that.
I met these guys — Blake O’Brian and Thomas Soucy — on the ferry from Denman Island to Buckley Bay day before yesterday. They were on their way to the Snow to Surf Relay Race on Mt. Washington (Comox Valley, Vancouver Island) on April 29th, with their ultra-light canoe.
Denman Island Statistics:
-Population: 1,016
-People at Tiny Homes slide show last night: 101
-# of copies sold, Builders of the Pacific Coast, by Abraxas Books on Denman Island: 223
Photo at left after show. Mom had me inscribe book to her guitar man here.
Sent from the China Moon B&B on Denman, where I have just had maybe the best breakfast dish ever (yes, I’m given to superlatives) fruit, local organic apple juice, local eggs done hollandaise on cornbread and a croissant. Excellent coffee. This is a great place to stay. Plus good wi-fi out here on this peaceful homestead.
I’m doing a bit of writing now, then heading to Victoria for the next phase of this adventure.
