Gypsy Wagons...

Maybe we could put wheels under the shed...

Shared by our friend Nona Parry.

Spring is coming!

 

And we're thinking about our mini-nature sanctuary!  Our friend Keith used to have a garden center and nursery, so we asked him for advice about our very-shady lot where the shed is.  I want to maintain an illusion of wildness, since it HAS largely grown up in the years I've owned it--the shed feels a lot like it's in the country, right here in town.

I specified things that would look natural, offer privacy, and that the birds and butterflies would like...

Mostly I want a crabapple and a couple of red-twig dogwoods right now...we'll start slow, what we can afford and what won't take much maintenance--both of us have bad backs and I've got arthritis, so hoping to have really hardy, mostly maintenance-free plantings, shrubs and perennials mostly.

Here are some of Keith's suggestions, many of which I wasn't familiar with, so I'm browsing the 'net and checking out what these are.  (You can click on the image to see it larger.)  Blue Muffin Viburnum is COOL, and the birds agree.

Sooooo...we'll see how much we can afford, and go from there!

Late winter wildlife

The shed collects more and more bird feeders, and they seem to attract a wide variety of critters.  The new woodpecker feeder takes a combination of peanut butter and pieces, and the raccoons have cleaned it out twice in two days. 

I love raccoons, but I think we'd better find someplace else to hang this thing!  They climb right up the little redbud and feast!

I have a new peanut feeder and a finch sock, as well, and we're going to be planting some shrubs and things that the birds will like...fun planning!

(And yes, that IS still the ugly blue insulation on the ground under the shed.  SOOOOOON.)

Video setup du jour

I still wasn't getting quite enough light in the video setup I wrote about last month, in THIS post.  It was nice, and works, but I think I need photo-flood lights.

It looked like it should be light enough, but still...not quite.

Putting the camera in front of the big French doors helped...you can see the video I just shot on the Artist's Journal Workshop blog, HERE.  I'm still no Spielburg, but we're getting better...

Now all I have to do is remember #1, to turn on the camera, and #2, not to knock the tripod over. 

So far, though, the shed works great for videos, because there's no telephone and not much chance of a noisy interruption.  I don't have a red light on the door!

Perceptions can be deceiving in a small space...

When I first got my comfy chair for the shed I thought "wow...um...it's BIG."  But so infinitely more comfortable, I figured it was worth it.

Then, I wanted my husband to be comfortable, too...and once he'd sat in my chair a few times, he finally agreed.  One of the main uses for our little space is a place to dream, read, rest, make music, meditate, and sitting in a folding camp chair just wasn't conducive.

Soooo...we got him a comfy chair, too.  Bought it the same way we did mine--hit the secondhand stores and antiques malls, and let him sit in everything they had.  When that beatific smile spread across his face--a twin to the one that lit mine up when I sat in the crazy rose chair--we knew it had to be his.

Of course if ONE overstuffed chair seems to fill a 10-foot by 10-foot space, imagine what TWO of them do.

But you know what?  Both of these chairs SWIVEL.  You get a panoramic view, instantly.  You can look out the French doors, then swing to the back window and check out the feeder birds, then look up the hill, each time with a different view indoors, too.  I can reach my desk, the kitchen corner, and the bookshelves, instantly.

I was astounded.  It's like the space expands, exponentially.  You're not trapped in a big old chair pointed in one direction, the space just opens up.  When I walk around in the shed, there's room between them.  If I need more, I swivel one out of the way.

Sure, if we wanted to have a barn dance, it might be a bit snug. (We don't!)  If  I had planned a bed and shower in there, it would be overcrowded    But there's room for a bedroll against the wall, if we want (currently one is rolled up under the bottom shelf behind my chair), and a shower's right out anyway, since we didn't put in any kind of plumbing other than the big copper cistern at the bottom of THIS post.  (Since we now keep the shed in the 40s at night, water doesn't freeze except the cat's water on the floor, so there's always water.)  The house is right next door, so that's not an issue...

It's working beautifully...AND comfortably!