Trailer and Bikes

The Daisy Knows

Disparate Thoughts

Be the bee.

My motivation to finally "bee-come" an artist and writer has just increased ten-fold! 

You can expect to see more of my work in the coming months and links to where you can purchase it soon. (I gotta eat and pay the mortgage, too!) And even if you aren't able to buy...I'd love to hear what you think of my work, how it affects you and ideas of your own I could translate to photographs and words for you.

All images and text copyright 2014 Margaret Pearson Pinkham.
Some work may be used by permission, please contact me.

Our own vintage trailers

We are the proud "parents" of two vintage trailers! Our latest is this 1964 Aristrocrat Lil' Loafer. She's all of 9 feet long (12 with her hitch) and can sleep 3 as long as nobody is too big or too tall! I'll post more pics as we redecorate her into the Shabby Chic "Lil' Cutie" that she is to be! Imagine a blue and white paint job and soft blues/whites/pinks inside. Here are a few of our inspiration pieces. I'll post if she gets her own blog! She's ready to camp, no restoration needed, just a redo on the color palette.

Here's a bedspread we already have...

 

And  a small throw...

 

Material for curtains we liked...

And these adorable spice tins I just ordered off Etsy. I already had a similar rack I can use.

And the Princess...

Princess Aquatini (a 1959 Shasta Airflyte-16) may now get a new name since she will become The Man's trailer. He's working on the restoration and she doesn't look too pretty. I'm afraid she had more rot than we thought. I think she'll still go a nice aqua color when we are ready to paint.

Vintage Campers and Trailers

I got turned on to this whole idea from a professional organizer colleague. This is fascinating and I can't wait to join the ranks of these folks. What beautiful little spaces have been created that YOU CAN TAKE WITH YOU! Anywhere!

Please take a moment to see the beautiful photographs at these blogs:


The Nora Pearl

 Enjoy Cupcakes:

Bargain Hoot

I seem to gravitate to the campers in the teal colors!

More great info at:
Vintage Campers.com

Tin Can Tourists

Vintage Camper Trailers

We're looking to buy one, so if you have one for sale in the Northern CA area (SF Bay Area and north), let us know!

California Poppies

California Poppies, Bringing Back the Natives garden tour.

Blue and White Kitchens

I'm really hoping to turn our kitchen into a white cabinet and blue wall beauty like one of these. Maybe by this summer?

Brewster Flats

A view of the Brewster Flats at low tide from the beach near our rental cottage. Be sure to visit
Pretty Picky Properties
if you'd like to spend some time on this quiet, safe and private beach, steps from your deck.

http://www.prettypicky.com/

Brewster Hydrangeas

The ubiquitous Cape Cod Hydrangeas.

Dreamin' of Brewster, Cape Cod...

Photo Copyright 2010 Margaret Pearson Pinkham

Ignite! and Jay Shafer

I attended the Ignite! event that Jay Shafer spoke at in Sebastopol. It was a really fascinating night and I loved that each speaker only had 5 minutes. Since I live in a very "leftist" kinda part of the county anyway, I'm really curious what other Ignite! events were like and what the speakers talked about.
Still can't wait to get my hands on a tiny house!

Jay Shafer, Tiny Houses

From Jay Shafer of Tiny Houses..come see him in Sebastopol, CA on Wednesday, March 3, 2010...

Wee Shall Overcome

 
It has been nearly 14 years since I started, what I like to call, my aggressive pacifist's campaign to make the built world a smaller place. To date, my approach has been to pretty much just live my life in a small footprint and hope that my example might inspire others to do the same.

On Wednesday, March 3 at roughly 7:00pm at the Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol, CA. I'll be taking a somewhat more active approach. Ignite Sebastopol 3 is part of Global Ignite Week. Roughly a dozen speakers from the Bay Area will be given just twenty slides and five minutes each to present their subjects. I will be using my time to rip America's system of imposed excess a new body part. My distain for the building codes that restrict how small a house can be is no secret. On March 3rd  I'll be making my position all the more clear. All presentations will be recorded and posted for international viewing.

We're expecting a full house (~130 inside, and others watching the live feed to a screen in the outdoor Beer Garden), so get your tickets early.

Click here to register for the free tickets http://www.hopmonk.com/music.html
Learn more about Jay at his website and blog:
http://tumbleweedhouses.com/green/home.html 
http://tinyhouseblog.com/
Photos Copyright Tumbleweed Tiny Houses.

Norm Darwish Photographs

I found two beautiful hand-colored, signed and numbered prints at a local thrift store yesterday. I looked up the artist and found his website. I encourage you to visit his online gallery. A very nice, soft, dreamy, cottage-y look. Here are some of my favorites. The first one is similar to one I found, it just didn't have the figure of the woman in it.

Norm Darwish Photography

Happy New Year!

My resolutions this year for this blog?

1. Finish my novel "Beadboard, Sea Glass and Driftwood" about restoring a Cape Cod Cottage and post excerpts here on Trilogy Cottages.
   
   
2. Resurrect my Eco-Innovator of the Month.
   
   
3. Photograph some great little cottages and bungalows here in Sebastopol and get some fun artsy pictures of them up here and on Etsy.
   
   
4. Take some classes that will get me one step closer to my dream of restoring cottages. (I'm thinking of the Woodshop for Women at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in May)

Margaret

Cute little Christmas Bungalows

I discovered Walnut Court in Santa Rosa, CA the other night. It's a tiny street with some cute little bungalows and a couple of bungalow-conversions that are not so tiny anymore.

A little about Yosemite

It took me years to really appreciate the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. I had long considered it just a playground for the rich.

But the entire hotel is open to any visitor and it is very definitely worth a look!

I'll be brief in this post--I could write for days about the grande dame of National Park Hotels.

One of my favorite rooms is the "Mural Room" just off the Great Lounge. Cozy and warm, it has a "painted tapestry" on the walls and a shiny copper fireplace.

"The renowned painted linen mural of The Ahwahnee's Mural Room is typical of fifteenth-century style known as mille fleurs. Painted by Robert Boardman Howard in 1927, this toile peinte, or painted tapestry, depicts the park's native flora and fauna." From Yosemite Gifts Online

You can see more photos of the hotel at http://www.historic-hotels-lodges.com, where I found these photos of the Mural Room (also known as the Writing Room).

Oh how I wish they would make a tapestry replica of these walls I could hang in my living room. The next best thing is some beautiful cloisonne boxes and ornaments that depict some of the scenes from the tapestry.

This isn't from the tapestry, but it's an acorn (one my favorite things!) with the Ahwahnee logo.

Another favorite historical place is the Wawona Hotel. Why not have one of these cute little deck chairs hanging on your tree this winter?

This, and so many other cute cabin/bungalow type things are available through Yosemite Gifts Online. (No, I do not get a kick-back!)

Just in time for Christmas!

Beadboard, Sea Glass and Driftwood

Hey, I've entered the National Novel Writing Month! The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in November. That's over 1,600 words a day.

You can track my progress at my homepage on the NaNoWriMo site. If you sign up yourself to write a novel (it's not too late!) make me one of your "buddies" and we can give each other pep talks.

I'm posting this on this blog because I have decided to write a mystery novel with the main characters renovating a cottage on Cape Cod. It's the first in the Trilogy Cottages Mystery Series and is titled Beadboard, Sea Glass and Driftwood.

If you would like to show up in the story, please send me a name you'd like me to use (not your real name) and maybe what kind of character you'd like to be.

I'll post excerpts now and then on the NaNoWriMo site.

Margaret

The Gamble House, my pics

 

The Gamble house (designed by Greene and Greene for the Gambles, of Proctor and Gamble fame) is a premier example of Arts and Crafts architecture in the US.

I wasn't at the house at the best time of day for the best light for photography. But the tour is incredible. Photography was not allowed inside the house.

The house is in Pasadena, and is owned and operated by USC. It was only lived in for about 50 years and made so well that there hasn't been much they've had to do it. Most of the original furniture is in it, also designed by Greene and Greene. I won't go into too much of the history...you can find that on the house website. The tours are a mere $10 and led by very knowledgeable docents, and last an hour. I was there mid-week and each tour seemed pretty full, and they were started every half hour.

A tid-bit I learned? Each year, two architecture students get to live in the house (in a room that is not shown on the tours), and they may have family over at Christmas. The original kitchen is not used, but the basement (also not shown) which houses the staff, has a full kitchen which the students use.

This is the front door. Much more impressive from the inside with the light shining in on the stained glass.

The house is rather dark inside (it stayed very cool on this warm day). Its original lighting, still there, was 16 watt light bulbs. Yes, very dim.

The Gamble House

I'm down here in LA this weekend and my friend and colleague took me to Pasadena so I could tour the Gamble House. I'll post pics when I get home since I forgot to bring a cord to download my camera. Wonderful tour, incredible house!

Visit their site and learn more....http://www.gamblehouse.org

Margaret