Small Town, Big City

One of my favourite things about summer is the opportunity for weekend trips away. As a kid, I was jealous of friends who had pools, and as a teen I was jealous of friends who had family cottages. If I was lucky, I'd get an invite to the pool on really hot days, and if I scored an invite to a friend's cottage it was like hitting the summer jackpot. These days, summer means daydreaming about weekends away, day trips, BBQs, gardening, softball, and hanging out in backyards.

The photos below are from a recent trip to Matt's small hometown of Chatham (left) and the start of summer in Toronto (right). I like this comparison between the two sides of summer, and hope to do more over the coming months.

All of these photos are also posted in my Instagram account. My user name is alittlesojourn there too if you feel like checking it out.

Busy hands

A quiet blog is usually the sign of one of two things: 1. The dedicated blogger is no longer so dedicated, or 2. Life got a little hectic. For me it has been the latter, but between exams and work I did find time to experiment with some new things, too.

Since January I've been taking ceramic and woodworking classes, and have become a little obsessed with them both. Each of them are so satisfying, but so different. With ceramics, it feels like I'm dealing with a malleable material that you can squish, form, and create textures in with ease. It's misleading, though, because once the clay has had enough with your experimentation it will tell you so by cracking, caving in, or just by looking pretty sad while you stare down at it wondering where you went wrong. It's a really individual process, like woodworking can be, but so much more quiet and messy messy messy.

As someone who has a strong aversion to loud noises, woodworking was a bit out of my comfort zone, but the amazing smell of a wood shop more than makes up for the occasional flinch when someone starts up some crazy loud piece of machinery. Where clay has a time limit, you can really take your time with wood and figure out what you want to do before you make that cut. I marvel at small pieces of furniture when I'm in cafes or restaurants, now. I stop to examine abandoned pieces of wood on curbs, trying to figure out how I can lug them home while I lament over the fact that I don't own a car. I'm so hooked.

There are so many amazing artists and creators out there that keep me working on getting better when I get frustrated, but here are a few of my first attempts that I'd like to share with you.

 



a little sojourn: Badlands

A couple weekends ago it got really warm out, so Matt and I packed a picnic and decided to finally see these Badlands we had heard so much about. It was just what we needed after staying put in Toronto for the past few months with our heads down, focused on work, school, and other projects.

After taking a million pictures we left the Badlands and had a great day trekking through mud, driving along small back roads, and looking for the perfect spot to eat lunch. It's amazing how just a short drive can take you somewhere that feels so far away from the city.

summer goals: part II

About a month ago I posted about this summer goals blog that I had recently stumbled upon. I loved how it exemplified the excitement and anticipation I feel for summer each year, and I ordered the book shortly afterwards. After poring through the book, I felt inspired by the collaboration of photos and lists of summer goals, and I asked a few friends to share their own goals with me. Once I started receiving photos from my friends it was hard not to steal some of their dreamy sounding ideas, but I resisted their influence... for now. I'm pretty certain this is first time I've ever written a list of things I hope to do over the summer, but I doubt it will be the last.

Thank you to Sandi, Danielle, Matthew, Petra, and Tim for participating! I love how each entry is so different, but represents each person so well. I can't wait for summer.


Sandi Falconer - deadweight and falconwright



Danielle Wright - Caboto and falconwright



Matthew Richmond

Petra Cuschieri



Mine.



Tim Smith



spring fever

Happy early Spring! I hope you're enjoying the warm weather as much as I am.

little free libraries

Back in September, my friend Marta shared this link about the Little Free Library organization and I was immediately smitten. I really like the community aspect of it, but even more, in a time when our city is threatening to shut down already existing libraries I like the idea of bringing these ones out to the public in places where they already go.

So, when Marta said that she hoped to start creating Little Free Libraries in Toronto I quickly told her that I wanted to help out. Since then, a small group of us have formed an LFL Toronto sector  and have planned to build two little libraries to go up in Dufferin Grove Park, and one for a smaller park nearby. This past weekend we started building the first of three, and we were all pretty excited when the first tiny house started to take shape.

How to wear a little library

The next ones will be for children's books and gardening books, respectively, and then we'll start filling them up. We are hoping for them to be in parks early this summer, so please keep an eye out for them and borrow a book to read at home or to enjoy while you sit in the sunshine on a park bench.

Until then, Flavorwire recently wrote a great article on tiny libraries all over the place. LFL is number seven, but I think my favourite is the phonebooth-turned-library in the second picture.

a little wander

It is no secret that I am a cold weather coward, so I shouldn't have been so surprised on Monday when I picked up my SLR camera and saw that the last time I took photos with it was when I was planting garlic in the fall. So, I took a look out my kitchen window and decided that I should go for a walk. It took some convincing to get Matt to come with me, but once we stepped out into the sunshine it was impossible to deny that it was a perfect day for a long stroll.

Although there were no flowers in bloom to admire, there was still a lot to see. We looked at overgrown gardens in peoples' yards, collected some sticks in the park for a small project of mine (and got our boots good and muddy in the process) and found a great little chair that I'm excited to fix up.

 



It's funny how new interests and hobbies can change even small things, like what you look at when you walk around your neighbourhood. By the time we got back home my hands were full and Matt was carrying a chair over his head. I'm sure it looked like we were on our way back from a bizarre shopping trip, but I would call this a real stroll success story if I've ever heard one (which I haven't, but still!).