ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

hammock

Rainy Day Catch Up

mock oranges and the hammock Anyone who has been paying attention will probably have noticed by now that I'm backlogged on blog posts. Partly this was due to technological issues. Check out forthcoming posts Getting Smart About Phones, Planning Around Obsolescence, and Everything but the Photos for more on that. Partly it was because  I've been awfully busy with school recently as I'm on the home stretch for my master's degree.

But it's also partly because it's been awfully pretty out so I've been playing outside instead of sitting inside blogging. Check out Cooking Al Fresco for more on that!

This weekend has been rainy so I'm catching up on getting posts actually posted. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a photo of the mock oranges blooming next to my hammock so you can see why blogging hasn't taken priority lately!

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Hammock Time!

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hammock time We've had a rather convenient weather pattern of gray weekdays and sunny weekends. There's a joke around here when you have lovely days in the spring followed by another gray day. People start saying, "Don't worry. It will be back. We'll have another nice day in July or August!" It's enough to keep people hoping. Portland is like Seattle in that they don't get dolled up in their nicest weather very often but when they do they're beautiful and everyone gets outside to make the most of it. Glad I was able to soak up the sunshine while I did.

Today my friend Marti who was here for a contra dance festival came over for a picnic lunch

Happy May Day: Christmas catcus in bloom

(complete with lemonade!) Afterwards I hung my hammock up and lounged in it while I read a book for the paper that's due today. I've been enjoying reading on my kindle, especially after I figured out two tricks: 1) I can load my articles for school onto it, and 2) I can highlight and bookmark. It's especially nice for reading on transit or outside because I don't need to have a pen or a notepad with me. The pages don't rustle in the breeze, I don't get that funny ache in my hand from holding the book open, and all the paperwork I need is right there on my slim, portable reader.

In this lovely weather my Christmas Catcus finally decided to bloom. That is a nice May Day treat! I think it likes its new spot dangling from the tiny house's ceiling near the skylight.