It HAS been a while!

So, more of a photo essay, for now!  The shed continues to be be loved and used, though it's anything but the simple Zen teahouse I originally envisioned.  Knowing me, that was a strange idea indeed!  I love rocks and bones and interesting pieces of wood, plants, artifacts, crafts and their necessary tools, books, art supplies, cats and more....

Belle still hangs out at the shed--it's her home base, for sure, and she sleeps there at night.

The ivy seems to want to come in for the winter...

Belle loves her pets...

Afternoon light...

The shed's settled in to its surroundings

Falling leaves...

And gorgeous color...

 

The shed in winter...we're still loving it...

We burned the fir wreath on Epiphany...

Bird feeders are always busy, though the birds were camera shy today...

I love how it looks in the early evening, with a light on...

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season and now, peaceful and quiet in the depths of winter...

Shed of the year voting

http://www.readersheds.co.uk/index.cfm 

And yes, it's the UK, but what a lot of fun sheds to look at!  

And the Shed Gets Around...

Kerri Fivecoat Campbell fatured the shed in her Living Large in our Little House blog, thanks, Kerri!

http://livinglargeinourlittlehouse.com/2016/02/living-large-reveals-a-tiny-backyard-studio/

Watch for her Tuesday feature, the next one will be a repurposed caboose!

Sonoma County small homes...delicious!

Another lovely link, coming into my inbox via Shelter Blog site...yummy!  These are all from Sonoma County...

http://realestate.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/14265/living-large-in-small-spaces-the-grandest-tiny-homes-of-sonoma-county/

Winter at the Shed

It's been a while since I added new images here...but I spend part of every day in our little sanctuary, sometimes alone, often with my husband, and it is precious to us.  Peaceful, beautiful, close to nature...magic.

January snow...there's nothing like that warm, inviting glow against the chill of oncoming night.

Almost night...and worth getting snowy boots to capture...

Art supplies and cups of tea in my handmade mug and the company of tiny bears...I sketched them soon afterward!  This is Cocoa and Sebastian...

A place to meditate and read and create...carve stamps, journal, enjoy the gifts of the earth and be grateful...

Our infrequent, shy visitor, the female flicker...

a downy woodpecker male...

brilliant cardinal and blue-shadowed forest...

LOTS of gorgeous cabins...

http://cabinporn.com/

Fairytale Cottage

Oh my...check out the link, this IS magical...


http://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/house-tours/a3872/fairie-door-english-cottage/?mag=hbu&click=c1_article_articles_yr_1

Our Old Cabin

Our old cabin I've mentioned here before was featured in this article by small-house dweller and writer Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell.  Thank you, Kerri, nice job!

The photo is from a recent visit out there...fire on the deck, candle lanterns, delight...

http://communitytable.com/396035/kerrifivecoatcampbell/tiny-retreat-in-the-woods-a-real-treat-for-writerartist/

Shed of the Year Slideshow

It's always fun to see the nominees for the shed of the year competition...what great creativity and imagination!  The one above is soooo appealing to me. 

Check 'em out here:


http://www.shedblog.co.uk/2015/05/18/shed-year-2015-finalist-revealed-public-voting-opens-decide-category-winners/

Full, Juicy Spring at the Shed

GREEN.  We've had lots of rain this year...

We moved the old chairs around by the fire pit...niiiiice...

...and proceeded to enjoy it!

Morning, coffee, fire...LOVE it.

Look who is back!

Sweet Cecily

Honeysuckle

Gooseberries...

The path behind the shed...

Columbines

Lambsquarter

April at the Shed...

Sunset through the back window...

My herb tea mixture...

Old, old yellow tulips planted before my time...

We made a new seating area around the seldom-used firepit...I suspect it will see a lot more use now.

Happy!

Looks like it's in the midst of a forest rather than between two houses...

LOTS of violets...

Pepi helps me read Grandma's wildflower book

Belle at the door

They're back!

Hotei seems happy!

Sweet cecily...

Amazing build...

Well, THIS is pretty amazing...this 16 year old girl built this tiny house...for the homeless! The inspiring story is here: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20150216/santa-cruz-woman-builds-tiny-house-donates-to-homeless

Brava, Kendall Ronzano!

Woodcutter's Cottage is SO COOL

http://tinyhouseswoon.com/woodcutters-cottage/

Unfortunately this is another one that I can't share images, so go take a peek, too cool!

Our Old Cabin in the Woods

This was my first effort in building...it's 14 x 16, electricity but no water, and still very close to my heart if not as close to my back door as the shed!  I did the sketch last fall...

And this is the book I got to write about that process...I was 20+ years younger then, and did about half the actual construction myself.  WOW that is hard work...

The other shed...

I don't have one of these at the Shed of Reality, it's just a few steps to my own back door and a nice warm bathroom, but I lived with an outhouse for 7 years on our farm, and we have one at our old cabin where running a water or sewer line was not an option.

We've had vandals, wildlife, falling tree limbs and more in the 20+ years since I built this little backhouse--it just recently got a new roof, and Joseph seems to have solved the wildlife problem...

Sometimes a shed needs a shed, too...

So it was fun to run across this link on the Shedworking blog!  http://www.shedworking.co.uk/search/label/Thursday%20Outhouses