Sustainable Me - Space for Creativity and Backyard Bunnies

I left my heart in Scotland - and I cannot wait to return again.  I have made two life changing trips to Scotland in the past five years.  One in July 2013, and one this past Christmas break of 2017 and into the New Year of 2018.  I have been fully certified as a teacher by the General Teaching Council of Scotland, and my certificate qualifies me to teach Secondary Art and Design.  Attaining this certificate was a two year process - and I was more than thrilled when I received my certificate this past November of 2017.  I also received a provisional certificate for teaching Primary - all subjects - if I wish to pursue that.  It has been uppermost in my mind - when do I try to go to Scotland?  When is the best time?  I will be taking two members of my family with me - so it is a decision that affects all of us.   I really didn't know if I wanted to pursue this project of an art studio and garden in light of leaving it in the somewhat...

I have been thinking about my studio planning, and I realize that I also want to include the backyard space as an extension of my studio.  I think that the whole back yard and a garden can be a source of  inspiration to me, and it has always been important to me to have that.  I am sure that the backyard bunnies will enjoy it as well.  It is just that I am beginning anew, in a new place, and starting over so to speak.   I walked out in the back yard and realized that we have quite a few black ants and large ant hills - even right up around where the mission fig tree is growing.  I have also noticed some wasps, and a bee hive in a tree in the front yard.  So, I think my first challenge is to decide how to handle these issues.  Below, I have posted some photos of what I'm thinking of for the space so far.  I really like this stone circle and firepit and the adirondack chairs.  I would like to have a space like this to the left of...

 Well - Amazon and FedEx pulled through and this was sitting on my porch when I arrived home today!  It is pretty heavy!  I managed to drag it carefully into the house, but will have to have some help taking it to the studio and setting it up!  I may can get it down there by using the dolly - but it would be wise to have help.  I don't want to damage it just trying to get it in there, and I think I want to wait until the work on the walls and ceiling is finished.  Installing this can be the piece de resistance! Best gift of the day!!  There is hope and new life from death!  The Mission Fig tree was not looking good this winter, and I thought maybe all was lost, but I see new growth!  I hope that it grows tall and strong this season.  it will be several years, before figs are produced again - but I love this tree, and am hopeful that we will have figs again someday.  And the bunnies are happy today as well.  I saw two of t...

Moving Day for house contents was May 1st of 2017.  I hired some movers, and they did an awesome job of moving the large things.  My daughter and I did the rest with carload after carload.  The garage filled up fast with boxes, and I had to put what I thought I wanted in the studio and just get it in there however we could.  The movers were super nice to move things into this space into the backyard along with everything in the house and garage.  They earned every penny that I paid them!  My daughter Jennifer and I worked super hard too!  As soon as school let out for summer break, I managed to get the inside of the house mainly organized by July.  The rest of the summer and part of the fall was unpacking and organizing what was in the garage and moving things around this space.  Some things were moved to the garage, and some things in the garage came to the studio.  I still have a lot to go through in the garage - and some of it rela...

This is one side of the house.  I was thrilled to see that we have some bluebonnets.  This is last spring, and I haven't seen any come up this year.  I hope that the mowers didn't cut them too soon last year.  And I'm hoping that they will come back. This is the back porch and the fence closest to the side road.  I had to hire someone to take down a portion of the fence so that the storage building company could move the building into the back yard.  And then of course, have the fence placed back up after the moving was done.  So there was a lot of coordination involved and I was lucky to have a friend's husband that was willing to help with the fence part of the job. Photo Credit:  Ashley Vera The day that the storage building was moved on to the property was very exciting for me!  I was so glad that everything went smoothly.  This photo shows the back of my house, and how the yard slopes down towards the studio.

To begin at the beginning!  Last spring our family decided to make a move to a different home.  We are still renting, but this new place has more room and is surrounded by a greener environment.  There is a park near by - one street over, and a privacy fence and not in an industrial area like our last home.  So we don't have to listen to the steel plant banging and screeching noise at night, and we see more green instead of an ugly beige industrial building in our backyard.  It is very much an improvement from where we were living. When this move was in the process - I decided that I needed a back yard art studio.  And after looking at Pinterest  and researching the internet, I realized that I could make do with a small storage building.  My grown daughter and almost grown son live with me in our three bedroom two bath duplex, and there is no room in the house for creating art.  The kitchen table stays pretty occupied with us gathering a...