Tag Archives: lifestyle

Au Petit: aka Artisan’s Cottage/Golden Lane, or, how we managed to stay married all these years

Posted on September 24, 2017 by smallhousepress

Eons ago–in the early 1980’s–a miniatures columnist wrote that Noel and I looked “slim in our jeans,” a term which still makes us laugh. We, indeed, lived in jeans, in our studio, building mini houses as fast as we could … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Madama Butterfly and the Toy Theaters of Siena: The Davis Theater, Pt. 2

Posted on November 27, 2015 by smallhousepress

The illustration is of unknown origin. I have borrowed it from The Museum of Everyday Things website, an adventure not unrelated to toy theaters, and worth exploring.                       museumofeverydaylife.org             The … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Frosty Malt Shop: Part I

Posted on August 14, 2013 by smallhousepress

Started soon after the Greene & Greene was delivered in 1989, the Frosty Malt Shop was completed in late 1990. The months while Noel and I built counter stools and neon signage in miniature, the newly launched Hubble Space Telescope … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Fish & Fries, 1988: Kitsch on the Line

Posted on March 17, 2013 by smallhousepress

1988 was a leap year, and the year we took a leap of faith on how funky a project our students would sign up for. Noel was always pushing the edges of the miniatures world, while I was trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Memoir, Teaching | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Learning Aloha: Tradewinds Fruit & Veggies

Posted on December 30, 2012 by smallhousepress

About a year into our work on the Greene & Greene house we had to take care of some other assignments for our teaching schedule. The first was a project for the NAME 1987 cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Minis, Knitting, Rocket Science–When It’s Over, It’s Over, But Then It’s Never Really Over

Posted on December 7, 2012 by smallhousepress

“I can’t believe you were actually able to part with (the Greene & Greene house) after all that.  Do you ever go to Tucson to visit it?”– Question from Kathleen after my last entry. Thanks, Kathleen, that’s one of those big … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Miniatures | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Why Miniatures?–Uncle Cecil’s Wheelbarrow

Posted on June 17, 2012 by smallhousepress

The other night I was eating out with friends in Portland, people I have known for years through my life as a poet. They had another friend along who was visiting town, one of those people who thrives on asking … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

The Whittier: Travels & Tales in the Black Ambulance

Posted on June 2, 2012 by smallhousepress

Starting with our 2ndmajor miniature show, Sarah Salisbury was an eager and repeat customer—she was open to suggestion, and introduced ideas of her own. Her enthusiasm for our houses had a lot to do with our ability to keep making … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Memoir, Miniatures | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

North Cove Kitchen: Geek-to-Geek

Posted on March 28, 2012 by smallhousepress

It’s always startling to discover which world-changing events whirled past while we were holed-up building miniatures. The construction of our second project of 1983 coincided with the introduction of the mobile phone, the creation of the internet, and the release … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Kaboom!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by smallhousepress

Our biggest event of 1980 was the eruption of nearby Mt. St. Helen’s on May 18—not exactly in our back yard, but close enough. At around 8:30 that morning a plume of molten rock blew 80,000 feet in the air, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Houses, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments