Once again, content way exceeds output here. Deek and I had a great time, building his tiny house, talking to hundreds of people. We did 2 presentations together that went over well. It was a total seat-of-pants operation, both in an unexpected building project (borrowed Skilsaw from hall maintenance guy, ladder from ladder display guy, tape measure & combination square from polypropylene panel guy) and dual slideshow/talks. Fun! We agreed that it was actually good the building wasn’t finished. It gave us something to do. Better than just sitting around all day.

   I ended up liking Charlotte a lot. Good vibes everywhere. Good people. They’re relaxed. It’s what I expected. There’s a big part of America out there in between the Almighty Coasts. And you know what, I don’t wave the flag, and am appalled by a ton of things America and Americans do and have done, but underneath I love this country and Americans for the good stuff (did you see Gracie Gold skating in the Olympics — wow!). A lot of kindness and simpatico here in North Carolina. I have a ton of stuff to report from the Home & Garden Show, but it’ll have to wait. Actually, I just got the idea to do a YouTube slide show with vocal description of this trip. “These two little buildings, abandoned, neglected, behind an abandoned house, both perfect in proportion…architects should study country buildings…”

 Once this new book is launched, I plan con making a bunch of videos, boy am I excited about this. Suddenly I realize that a lot of my compulsion to communicate can be done via vids.

   It’s Monday morning, am at a Starbucks. In the land of fast-food and characterless and interminable malls, a Starbucks can be a haven. (Had to come back to mall-land to get a motel last night.)

   After this song finishes, I’m heading out on some back roads. I took an extra 1-1/2 days to hunt and shoot (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, mighty fine little camera).

Blues and Rock 'n' Roll by Sean Chambers on Grooveshark

Dave is a creative writer who lives inside the iconic Astor Place Cube in New York City. The cube’s 8X8 panels add up to 64 square feet which adds up to 512 cubic feet. For Dave, who is 5’8″, that is plenty of space to move around, write, cook, sleep, work out and even play guitar. Dave uses a bicycle generator to power up the lights and a handful of electronic gadgets.

Deek Diedrickson and I are here in Charlotte, North Carolina to talk to people about tiny homes. Deek is the affable host of Relaxshacks, also the maker of over 100 YouTube videos, and author of Humble Homes,  Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages…Deek desiged a tiny home for the show and it was supposed to he ready when we got here. Surprise! It wasn’t, and we’ve been working on it the last few days. Had to scrounge up tools, fasteners, polypropylene sheets. Borrowed a ladder from the Little Giant Ladder Company (fantastic ladders — see here — and have been running back and forth to the service room to cut plywood.

  Here we are this morning. More posts to follow. This is great town and this is a great show.

“Julie Olson needed a traveling home for her mobile dog training business. With no architecture training, she drew up plans for exactly what she needed and sent them to Jason Dietz of Molecule Tiny Homes Over a couple of months he built her home to her specifications: a fold-out porch, storage stairs, 2 lofts (1 for sleeping, 1 for storage or 2 sleeping quarters), a slim closet, and a bathroom with tub, composting toilet, tiny sink and escape window/door for viewing nature.” – Kirsten (Dirksen)”

Click here.

I did an an interview last night with Kevin Kelly on the Google+ “hang out” feature. I used my MacAir laptop with the camera and was a little nervous, but it went OK. Kevin, whose latest book is the sensational Cool Tools, guided the conversation. We talked about tiny homes, owner building, gardening, chickens, the myth of self-sufficiency, what you can do in cities, the Whole Earth Catalog, what I would do if I were building a new house now, the fact that I don’t like shipping containers or Earth Ships or domes or A-frames as homes, and the virtues of self-publishing. The video of it is here…Next week I’m flying to Charlotte, NC, to talk about tiny homes at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show. Deek Diedrickson from Relaxshacks will be there as well, and we’ll talk to people about the subject out in front of a tiny home he designed; if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello. I’ll be handing out mini Tiny Homes books (2″ by 2″, 64 pages) and have proofs of our latest book, Tiny Homes on the Move…In praise of real books and bookstores: I’ve read a few books on my IPad, and it’s fine for reading on airplanes or trips, but in my reading for an hour or so every night before going to sleep, I don’t want the electrons; I spend enough time at a computer screen as it is. The publishing business is obviously in turmoil, but books like our building books, although we’ve done digital editions, work best as hold-in-your-hands physical objects. And there’s nothing like a physical bookstore. Sure, Amazon is cheaper, but money ain’t everything. One of my very favorites is Bookshop Santa Cruz; it makes me happy to be there…Tiny Homes On The Move: Just about there. Yesterday Rick, Lew and I sewed up a lot of loose ends. About 3 knotty problems in design worked out. Often we’ll start working on something with no idea how to fix it, and as we go along, things fall into place. Like I told this guy in the interview yesterday about building house: just START. You’ll never get anywhere if you wait for everything to be perfect. Get going, and things will work out as momentum carries you along. When I was about to start building my first house in 1961, I asked my friend Bob what to do, and he said “This,” and picked up a shovel and started digging the foundation trench…Spectacular sunsets of late, this shot with iPhone last night; tonight’s the full moon, ow-wooo!