Saturday, February 10, 2018

Inspirations and Oddities - Second Friday Post - February 9th

It's time for Inspirations and Oddities, my monthly, second Friday post.

I am hoping you all are well in Blogger Land! I look forward to catching up a bit more on my favorite blogs in the coming weeks. A busy time ahead for us that culminates with a train trip home for me in March. I love the 2-day cross country train experience. This may be the last time I do it though (time/cost etc) so I am going to make the most of every moment!

So on with the oddities and inspirations for this month!

From the book world I wanted to recommend "I Kill Giants" which, I just found out is being made into a movie! This really caught me by surprise. It's a story was originally told in graphic novel form and it was a story that really touched me. I am such a fan of comics and yet I am still amazed at the difference in the genre from my own childhood. More and more are being turned into movies and shows it seems and this one will be wonderful I am sure.

Here is the trailer for I Kill Giants

What I like best, having read the graphic novel, is that this trailer gives away NONE of the true depth of the story but still looks pretty amazing!

And this is the graphic novel cover. The art inside is all black and white and borrows from the Manga style quite nicely while still being very original.



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Nature never lets us down. . . Perfect for almost any story where you'd like a bird to be used a snitching plot device, I give you Australia's Superb Lyrebird (that's the actual name, I'm not giving it extra praise with the addition of superb, but it earns it I promise you!)

The Lyrebird of Australia

And one about beautiful and mysterious Lichens!

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Ok, and lastly, an odd inspiration for sure. . . I have mentioned before that Sofie and I are always on the lookout for that perfect, magical place/house/cottage to buy. We can't afford many areas of the country and we are picky, only wanting to do this once in our life. . . all of which have pushed us to widen our search. Even if we aren't planning to move to many of the places we may peek at, I have to say they can be very inspiring. There is a lot of enchantment out there. A LOT! And, of course,  we're in no hurry as we love where we are at but the dampness is proving to be a bit troublesome for finding home that isn't affected by it. Also I'm starting to feel the lack of snow and it's making me nostalgic as I'm still a Northeast, 4 distinct seasons kid at heart.
Finally, the cost of housing here is making us both blue. When the perfect place comes along, we think we will just know. It helps to be able to do what we do from anywhere just as long as internet is available and a post office and decent grocery store are within reach.

Some of the towns we have put on our watch list are:
Elk Horn, Iowa
Otttumwa, IA
Berlin, NH
Weiser, ID
Burns or Baker City, OR
Wiscasset, ME
or just about any town in NH, VT, ME really as we both love old farmhouses :)

But really, almost anywhere that is not too near a major city and where the weather is not too hot for too much of the year and the houses are truly affordable. And, of course, it must be magical. . .

Anyway, the first house I posted here, the one in Tennessee, already sold!

In it's place I've decided to post one that likely will not sell but that gives you our ideal of "charm".

We like to call it the "Witch House", and it's more than a bit out of our price range. . . and it's in a remote part of Idaho in the Sawtooth mountains where the last 40 MILES of road to the town is gravel soooo, yeah, that wouldn't really work either!!

But who wouldn't want to live in a Witch House?

This one in Crumpler NC almost fits the bill. we would just prefer a large work space instead of all the small rooms but that scenery!!

Our priorities for a home are: a large workspace that's well it by natural light, access to nature (if not our own land), garden space and charm.  Also, a shop/garage space would be great to allow us to try some of the creative ventures we cannot do here like soldering/jewelry, casting, high temp firing, acid etching, wood burning and more. We've little to no concern for entertaining, putting up guests and the like if it means sacrificing any of our creative desires. Besides, we still want to have that "fortress of solitude"feel around us as we do now :)

Well I think that's it for this week! Back to a post on packaging next week and then world-building/mapmaking the following week!

XO

Nicolas



8 comments:

  1. The movie looks amazing!! I love it!
    I love the house Nicolas! It is so precious! I agree, change the statue with a fairy! Actually, you could put a fairy and gnome!
    It's nice you're going back home!
    Have a great week! Big Crow Hugs!

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  2. Hi Nicolas :) Oh I used to love riding on the train! It was always so much fun and I got completely lost in the scenery! :)

    That house in Tennessee is CUTE. I really like hot and humid though! It's been on the market for a while, you might be able to make a better offer! We're just like the two of you...we only want to do this once. It's going to be a big deal when we find our own home too.

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    1. Hi Rain! It's funny but what I love most is the separation from everything in my world for two days. It goes so quick and i spend it writing usually but it's so odd to have nothing to do but eat and watch scenery go by. :)

      I know you both will find the perfect place too Rain! We are in no hurry at all. Our situation where we are now is really quite perfect even though we rent. It will take a perfect place to make us want to leave! Just a bit more space would be nice some day. :)

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  3. I read your post before your cottage sold so I saw that one as well as the two new ones. All so charming. I love the witch house. Plus I checked out the lyre bird and lichens. All such interesting finds. Then I started to check out some of the towns you mentioned as Dana and I are still searching for our retirement home, but I got sidetracked in writing a long comment that got so long it will have to be a post and not a comment, all about the towns in NY that I love, because you didn’t mention any NY town that you were considering and there are so many charming towns here in upstate NY. And in this area the home prices are very low... in the foothills and near the finger lakes. The problem is jobs are also lower paying but as you take your jobs with you that shouldn’t be a consideration I assume. Off to finish that post....

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    1. We thought of you for some reason when I posted the one in Tennessee! I just thought you would appreciate it's beauty too. :) Well now, consider that area of NY added to our list! All these areas we found and are now looking into have been surprises for the most part that we stumbled upon one way or another. Here's an interesting thing: Midwest and NE houses, 90% or more of them, be they 150 yr old victorians or farmhouses or just little neighborhood homes, all tend to be SO well kept! We are amazed because out here, people try to sell decrepit, unloved hovels and seem to have no pride in the appearances or upkeep in photos where as say, anywhere in Iowa or Wisconsin, every single house seems to be so well maintained and tidy. I'm not sure what I'm saying there, just making an observation really. And Iowa surprised us in so many ways. We think of it as flat farmland and not much in the way of wild nature but each county in the state has a conservation board and land trusts for natural areas. Yes, we feel fortunate that our job says the same everywhere we might go! So it makes sense for us to look at the cheapest areas housing wise. When we see houses that we could buy that would actually reduce our monthly bills significantly, its a very encouraging thing. To be able to work less and put more time into other ventures. . . that's the dream! : )

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  4. Here’s a cute link in Avoca, NY, not perfect for you but cute.
    https://www.trulia.com/p/ny/avoca/9651-olmstead-hill-rd-avoca-ny-14809--2013558985

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    1. OH that one is SOOOOO CUTE Andrea!!!! Well, we have always said that we would be fine with a smaller house and land to built a yurt or barn studio. :) DO send along any houses you find that you are inspired too. You never know!

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