My Zen Garden

my stuff

I've never been a very big fan of coffee tables. Sure, I like being able to put my feet up, if you're allowed, but generally, I find that most empty surfaces tend to get cluttered. Coffee tables are the worse for that: books, cups, pens, toys, notes, keys etc... I try to contain the stuff with containers. I use a big tray.




My husband had this habit of putting his stuff on the fire mantel which would drive me insane, so I gave him a tray too. (notice how much smaller it is..not sure if that was intentional). I think it made me insane because the fireplace is usually the focal point of a room and the junk, sorry, the stuff, seemed highlighted there. I put his tray up on our living room sideboard to protect the fireplace and designed the mantel as my zen garden aka no clutter zone.

his stuff

Up until recently, I've been growing my "back yard": 3 pots with grass. Today I took them outside for some fresh air and decided to refresh my zen garden. While reading "Simply Imperfect- Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House" by Robyn Griggs Lawrence in my quest to continue adding some wabi-sabi to my life, I reread the chapter on uncluttering made easy. Two items stood out: allow only three items on each surface and keep windowsills clear of knickknacks and potted plants.

Okay so I was going in the right direction with having only 3 items, but not with the potted plants. So here's what I've come up with. My favorite school chair, a mini pumpkin and a river rock. So when the floors get covered in toys, counters spewed with dishes and stairs with shoes, I just have to look up for some zen.

My wabi sabi zen garden

Kitchen Play-Act 2

Just finished the first coat of paint on the play kitchen yesterday. It's starting to look pretty fancy- dancy if you ask me! I used some leftover gray and beige paint from our storage and spruced it up with an orange front. I still need another coat of paint, knobs, doodads and the backsplash- ohh la la! On va cuisiner comme des vrais chefs! I sure hope my Babe digs this kitchen as much as I do- he might just use the oven as a garage for his cars, and if that's the case, it's all good.

I've been on the look out for kitchen accessories and scored today in China Town and at Value Village! Yes, I know, I know, I can hear a collective gasp from mothers out there thinking "What about the BPA?" Children toys generally do not contain Bisphenol A- so I think the plastic veggies are okay. We will probably end up replacing them as my friend Meggie felts some for us. (hint, hint.) As for the few spatulas I bought, as long as we don't microwave them or suck on them a lot, I think we'll be fine. So I'm super happy. We're almost there- stay tuned for the final reveal!

I got a huge bag of food for $3. Once I discarded the french fries, potato chips and donuts, I was left with lots of fruits and veggies and some cans. I did find something curious. The flash on the camera gives it that "mysterious" look doesn't it? Can you guess what it is?

1606 East 15th Ave

Thomas Bell House

As promised, I am sharing some of my new findings about our neighborhood, Cedar Cottage. It turns out there is a man by the name of James C. Johnstone who makes his living as a house historian (cool job eh?) who has researched the history of over 800 homes in Vancouver. He is also Chair of the Friends of the Vancouver City Archives Society and of the Strathcona Residents' Association. He has researched one Cedar Cottage house on the corner of 15th avenue and Fleming and if you've ever walked around Clark Park you would definitely notice it, the Thomas Bell House.  In his blog "When an old house whispers.." Mr. Johnstone shares some really interesting findings and photographs about it.

This beautiful home was built sometimes around 1906 for retired sheet metal company owner, Thomas Bell just across from John Fleming's house, a Cedar Cottage land owner and house plasterer (hence Fleming Street-neat!). Thomas Bell, born in Ontario, lived there for a while with his family until 1918 when it was bought by the Peden family and then by the Scottish-born lithographer Frank C. Smith and his wife Margaret in 1919.


Frank and Margaret lived there until the later '40s. After his wife's death, Frank remarried, but willed the house to his housekeeper Pearl Dixon upon his death. (oh, scandal!?) She lived in the house from 1954 to 1960 and married Roderick G. Mackenzie. When Pearl died the house was willed to the Catholic Church and was run as a home for children. In 1974, the government took over and from 1985 to 1996 in was operating as a group home. Luckily, the Thomas Bell house survived possible demolition since then and the current owner has lovingly restored it.

That's Pearl in the yard and the Catholic Church in the back.

Autumn Treasures

Walking around the neighborhood with my camera gives me a chance to look around differently. Today I pretended to be a squirrel. Here's what I saw.

Where are the gnomes?

Family of hedgehogs?

Watch your fingers, it bites!

Tangled

Fireworks

Soaking

Neighbor's garden

Paper, Paper, Paper

The Pile
I've always thought that I was pretty good at containing and purging all the paper that enters the house: bills, receipts, cards, pamphlets, newspapers, flyers, bank statements, paper bags etc... but I was wrong. How do I know this?

The Realization
Last month, my husband and I started to clean out a large wardrobe (which we used as a place for junk) to make space for a desk. Aside from 3 staplers, oodles of pushpins and piles of picture-less frames, there was a mountain of papers. Piles of hydro, phone and gas bills, piles of bank statements, tax papers, investment statements, receipts, and warranties all with our personal information and account numbers printed all over them.

The Task
With the fear of identity theft we decided to shred everything. At some point we inherited a mini envelop size shredder, I think meant mostly for receipts. As I began shredding the piles, one paper at a time, as it clearly warns on the shredder, it became very clear that I needed one of those big shredding trucks . Most of the papers were not pre-folded to fit in so, I started to fold them, then I got super dry hands and paper cuts. And then I said: F***K! this is going to take forever. I guess it's payback for hoarding for so long.

I decided to take the pile down to the tv room and deal with it every time I watch a show which meant I had to ditch the shredder 'cause it was too loud. To save my hands I started to use scissors to cut out our "top secret" information. The pile got smaller and now it fits in a basket which I hide under the couch. (It's still there- I promise I'll get to it)


The New System
1. When one bill arrives, I pay it and throw away last month's.
2. I deal with each piece of paper on the first floor so that piles don't spread throughout the house.
3. I bought a small portable filing container where all our important documents live.
4. My husband and I get one shoe box each for back taxes.

So far so good. One basket to go!

17th and Knight-ca 1908

Wow!  The Vancouver Archives is a great way to see what Cedar Cottage looked like  more than a 100 years ago!  Click on the links to see more photos. There's a neat photo of houses and cars in the 80's which to some of us feels like more than a 100 years ago!

Cedar Cottage east of Knight [Road (Street)] and 17th Avenue

Cedar Cottage southeast of Taylor [Road (Welwyn Street)] and Fleming Road [Street]

[Houses along East] 11th Avenue at Victoria [Drive]

Cedar Cottage October 1909-Vancouver Archives

Cedar Cottage- a bit of history

When I first decided to move to Cedar-Cottage Kensington in East Vancouver, I couldn't find any information about what it's like to live here. Up from "The Drive",  I live in Cedar Cottage which is located North of Kingsway to Broadway, between Clark and Knight Streets and Nanaimo Street.(Kensington is located south of Kingsway to 41st Avenue, between Fraser and Nanaimo Streets.) I live on Commercial street which is really neat. Neat how? I think it has to do with the history.

Almost anyone who gets lost because Victoria Drive curves all of a sudden near 18th avenue (curving streets confuse us Vancouver grid drivers) says: "Oh, what a neat street! I didn't know this was here!" It's surprising to see a wide tree-lined street with businesses, even though some seem abandoned and graffitied when you expect rows of houses. Right away you wonder why and what this street was like before.

In 1888 , Arthur Wilson bought 16 acres of land near Knight and Kingsway which became known as the Cedar Cottage nurseries. He also purchased land around Trout Lake for farming. In 1891, the link between New Westminster and Vancouver brought more farmers and business to the area and especially around the tram stop at 18th avenue and Commercial Street. Lord Selkirk School, at 1750 East 22nd Avenue, was designed by W.T. Whiteway and built in 1908.  By 1910, there was a bank, 40 businesses, a school house, and a post office. You can still see the history of Cedar Cottage if you look carefully, although it's slowly disappearing. I was sad to see what seemed like a creepy farm house at 3845 Dumfries being completely gutted and squeezed by 3 new homes. It was the somewhat famed Wayside Inn, a place to rest before cars took over the Vancouver landscape in 1910-20's and slowly drew away business away from the neighborhood and toward False Creek and the city center.

There's always more to discover about the history of the area. The longer I live here, the more I hear things through the grapevine. I'll post more "insider" information as I come to learn it, but if you need general information, the City of Vancouver website posts good information about our neighborhood. Keep on reading!