I've had offensive cultural appropriation on the brain for a few days now. I've been wanting to make Sebastian a little tent or hide-out for Alex and I's attic room and the garden for a while, and thought about make a little teepee-esque structure. The teepee is an ingenious invention. I have slept in many-a-teepee throughout the summers. We had a Teepee Village at our summer camp growing up where kids would spend the entire month or two living, fire and all, instead of in a cabin. It didn't even occur to me that throwing a teepee up in the yard for my kid could be offensive to anyone.
The other day I was on Apartment Therapy (as crucial to my day as email, coffee, and oatmeal) and lo-and-behold, there was a tutorial for making a kid-sized teepee that they could colour on. And then there were about fifty comments following, the majority of which expressed horror that AT would support this offensive act of "culture appropriation." I was shocked and fascinated. I toiled over the comments, sifted through all sorts of other teepee-related designs and crafts that they had featured over the years (including a cardboard teepee cat house), none of which received nearly as much of an outcry. By the end of the day, the post was flat-out removed. A part of me thought, "Cowards!" Another part of me wondered what I was missing. I ended up at different sites dedicated to cultural appropriation, and was kind of blow away by the heaviness of seemingly-innocent mainstream allusions to First Nations culture seem to have on a lot of people. I learned that dressing as an American Indian for Halloween is racist (not saying I would do this, because it seems in poor taste, but I didn't think it would be considered racist). I'm still confused about why some acts of appropriation are racist and some are completely acceptable.
Even after all my reading I wasn't convinced that something like a child, or anyone, making a teepee-like structure with no ill-intent was still offensive, appropriation or wrong. Maybe I just don't get it. But I'm going to ask just about anyone I can for a while, First Nations and otherwise, because I'm really interested in this.
Yesterday, I was up the road at our friends' place while they prepared to renovate their basement. There, amongst a pile of thrift-store bags and old toys, was a beautifully crafted teepee-like tent my friend made for her son when he was younger. It was precious and thoughtful and, without hesitation, I took it home. If anyone has a problem with it, I'll happy engage.

Good riddance, April. I did not care for that month at all. 

Here are the things we have done in the last thirty days: I finished my first year of grad school, we moved, I started training to run the old taco stand this summer, Alex returned to full-time work, and we planted about two hundred seedlings in the garden.  It doesn't seem so impressive when I write it all down, but rest assured, we're sufficiently wiped and are still waiting for that time when things will get back to "normal."There are endless projects to do around the new house. We've moved from about a 650sq suite to a 1700 sq house all to ourselves, plus a basement, plus a 100 sq cottage in the garden. It's awesome and overwhelming. We have all of our furniture in the house and it still echoes a little! Ridiculous, I know; we're a little embarrassed. However, it's such a lovely place that we plan to be in for years. I have been a bit slack with the picture-taking because I can't remember where I packed the camera charger... 

Even though our house is ridiculously more "grown-up" than our last situations, I think we're all feeling a bit more grounded and rustic here. We heat the house with an iron stove, and have been splitting wood under the deck each evening to get it all stacked and organized before the winter wood starts coming in. I've been out mowing the lawn with our push mower and getting a significant workout between the two chores. There's something so satisfying with having a space all to our own, somewhere we can put real thought into, take responsibility and just be left alone to live our lives. Sebastian and I are outside all day in the yard, watching the plants grow, digging in the dirt, looking at the bugs. We don't have to worry about an irate landlord charging through, or about being in anyone else's space. It feels good, really. 

And there is so much to do, sometimes it's easy to forget that we actually have all the time in the world for most projects. 

Upcoming projects:

Garden gate (I've had to rescue a ball or two from the road)

More planting, more weeding, more seedlings

Hang curtains (tricky because our ceilings are so very high, poor us)

Someday-soon-projects:

Cold frame for seedlings

Bookshelves (our books have been packed for YEARSandyears)

Entrance-way bench/contraption for shoes, coats, keys etc... 

Tentative projects:

Chicken coop

Greenhouse

Sebastian and the "baby plants"

Sebastian recently informed me that he's a "gurl" and has a baby in his womb. I don't see it.

This little bear just came into our house and started pretending to chop our firewood. 

Sebastian and the new yard.

Part of the yard and the cottage.