My ultimate dream, the fantasy that is always on my mind, the thing toward which I’m always working and striving, is to build a small strawbale cabin on my parents’ land (or rather, the piece of land that will be mine one day). This will be kind of a vacation home, but we plan to make it entirely self-sufficient for all seasons, and hope to retire there one day. I spent a couple of years choosing the site very carefully – taking into account sun, wind, slope, drainage, water, visibility, view and more. We have no planning done on the house yet (well, that’s not true – I know what I want for the floor plan, most of the features, rooms, and so on – we just haven’t met with a designer or started anything concrete), but I go visit the site a few times a year to experience it in different weather, at different times of day. Ideally, I’d like to put a temporary shelter – even a shed or something – on the site so I can camp there once a month for at least a whole year.

Over the holidays, we hoped to snowshoe back to the site. However, it’s been very warm and too much of the snow has melted. So instead, we hiked. Here are some photos from our hike (followed by a photo of my Dec. 28 Dressember entry).

A pretty willow tree in the middle of winter.

On our way to the site. The sun was setting behind us and the light was fantastic.

Grandma and Neko hiking up one of many big hills.

See that light? And that, my friends, is what we call the Magic Hour.

This will be the view from our living room window at winter solstice.

The creekbed (for the spring) in winter.

I didn’t take a photo of the actual site this time out, as it doesn’t look like much more than scraggly grey brush this time of year. However, this gives a nice idea of the look of the land. The thing that I especially love about the site, and was kind of unexpected, is that it always feels about 2 degrees warmer than out on the road. The wind is always lower, the snow doesn’t drift there, and it always feels calm, sheltered, and warm. This is amazing! Such a peaceful feeling there. The creek (spring-fed) runs past the house, just down the hill through the woods, and a grove of poplar trees offers shade in the summer while letting the sun through in the winter. There is a perfect tobogganing hill just a few metres away. The slope of the hill that the house will sit on is perfect to dig into for a root cellar. I could go on and on!

Oh and of course, my Dressember photo for December 28! We are at my parents’ place, so I thought it would be fun to grab an old babydoll dress (from when I was 13!) out of the basement. This is genuine Courtney Love/Hole era!  It looks ridiculous without the belt, but with the belt, I quite like it!