Surfer’s shack built by Bruno Atkey on the “Wild Coast,” about 40 miles by north of Tofino (reachable only by sea–no roads), on the west side of Vancouver Island. We went in Bruno’s 17-foot aluminum fishing boat, with 50 HP rope-pull-starter outboard motor), stayed there a couple of nights, fished, surfed, drank whiskey, and took a driftwood-fired sauna when I was shooting photos for Builders of the Pacific Coast. Bruno was one of the first surfers on Vancouver Island.

• From @lloyd.kahn’s Instagram

April 6, 2020

Dear Lloyd,

A photo of our daughter’s house

I have been reading your books for years (and have given them to my kids) and, more recently, your blog. I studied architecture in college (in the 70’s) and when your Shelter book came out I wore it out reading it. It has influenced the last forty years of my life as a builder/carpenter.

Ours is a relatively sustainable and self sufficient lifestyle, and one our kids have adopted as well. Our daughter has been living for the last 5 years in a 7′×10′ house she built, with no electricity or running water, and is building a traditional Washington County peapod (a double-ended wooden rowboat). Our son is currently living in a 42″ wide × 10′ long shelter he built to live in, while building a tiny house for a college acquaintance. before that he was living on a 36′ sailboat he fixed up and sailed solo across the Atlantic to the Azores.

We are preparing to sell the house in which our two kids were born and grew up, and on which we have worked for the last forty years. My wife created a website so we can sell the house ourselves and I thought, perhaps, you might like to see the photos of the house.

Here’s a link to the website richmondmainefarmhouse.com

Thanks for all the inspiration — just wanted you to know that you’ve had quite an impact on our lives.

Best wishes to you,
Joe Stanley

Building by Jack Whitfield on the North Shore of Kauai, near the Na Pali Coast.

Sent to us by Tillikum Redding

Just ran across this photo from a blog post in 2013. It was sent us by Island Woman MJ. She wrote the photographer (whose name we didn’t get), who replied (Google Translate wasn’t that good 6 years ago):

Hello

Thank you like my photos

This little house in a green park

The park is located in Yilan, Taiwan

Taiwan is a rainy island

After the rain from upstream many Driftwood

There are several college students using driftwood and some abandoned building materials to build a small house

This cute little house is now the Green Park show

Taiwan is a mountainous and river country inhabited by friendly people

I hope you have the opportunity to travel to this country

(Subtitle: 46 Years of Building & Gardening)

You know, it’s Thanksgiving morning, both boys are off for the holiday with spouses’ families, and Lesley and I are working on our separate crafts. What a difference with no phones, no email, no business necessities, no one else around. Witness the fact that I’ve hardly blogged at all lately. Gonna have to get one day a week here with no distractions. A right-brain day!

The unbound pages came in from the printers a few days ago. What a thrill! The book’s getting bound (in Hong Kong) this week, shipped and will be available in early March, 2020. When we get it together, we’re going to take pre-orders.

I’m still getting used to the book. After covering hundreds of builders over the years, this is the first on my own (and Lesley’s) work.

Stay tuned.

These photos shot with iPhone. We just got these early pages.

Music de éste día: The Gilded Palace of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers, 1969
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUeFJ7QIRbE

Here’s how I make books:

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