On the Road – Colleen Friesen
Maybe it’s because every day our ‘front yard’ is another amazing vast landscape.
Or maybe it’s because we get asked almost every day about our ‘cute’ trailer. As the conversation goes on, it becomes very apparent that the word they really mean to use isn’t ‘cute’.
It’s ‘tiny’.
So, yes.
We’re living in a very cute (aka tiny) home surrounded by a great big world.
This tends to mess with one’s head. Or, more correctly, it tends to mess with my head. I didn’t realize how much my perspective had truly changed until an incident about two weeks ago.
It happened just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I had spent the previous ten days in Cape Breton and then flown to Halifax to meet my friend Mary. I planned on hanging out with Mary and her husband Robert for about four days before heading back to the West Coast.
Mary and Robert live in a place called Port Mouton on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. It’s about two hours west of Halifax. We were getting close to their house when Mary pulled over, “We’re just going to stop in at Bob and the Boys to grab some produce.” She pulled into a cool little roadside market that was full of veggies, fruit, funky baskets and other great looking stuff. It looked like the kind of market I would love to visit every day.
“Look,” she said, as she rifled through a pile of some cotton wove rugs, “I need a new mat for the back porch.” She found one that measured about 3′ x 5′. It was a lovely blend in seashore colours of blues and browns, “This,” she declared, “is perfect.”
Meanwhile, I had found a different table of rugs. These oval beauties were heavy sisal and woven in the classic braided colours of red, gold, tan and olive. These colours were perfect for our trailer. This was the rug that I’d been searching for…and…it was the perfect size.
Plus I knew I could slide it into my carry-on bag for the flight home.
Winner. Winner. Chicken dinner.
I flipped it over to read the price – $7.49!
It just kept getting better.
And then, I read the item description:
In nice black letters it read, ‘Placemat’.
Colleen you crack me up! I just love reading your blog!
Ha! Glad you found it funny too. I nearly fell on the floor when I saw it was a placemat. I really had no idea.
But it really is the perfect mat to wipe our feet before we crawl into bed…
I snorted
Thank you for the splendid howler. Everything about it is perfect. The build up, the timing, the rim-shot. Love it! Thanks for cracking me up. (I need more laughter. Lots.)
Terry. A snort a day is better than any apple.
Glad to have delivered a little laughter into your life Lynda. Hope you find more each day…
Awesome.
What a wonderful lesson about perspective, and “need”.
Thanks, Colleen.
Hilarious!
Thanks Glenn. We are really enjoying our little ‘rug’.
Gwen, I laughed so hard at myself when I realized what I’d done. And, funny thing about a placemat/rug, it really did fit perfectly into my carry-on bag 🙂
Thanks for the huge laugh, Colleen. Those tiny trailers will make a small condo feel like a mansion!
You’re most welcome Shelly. It’s going to feel strange whenever we move into a ‘real’ place.
Thank you, Colleen. Now I’m beginning to wonder what you can do with a dishrag or a coaster. It brings to mind that wonderful children’s book The Borrowers and the way household objects were pilfered and creatively repurposed.
You’ve got me thinking Lynda. The possibilities are endless…
Love it and I love the scale Herb and I move into and how even in our RV (not so tiny) that we never lack for anything. Must admit though that my placemats are on the table. 🙂
Thank you for the lovely photos and perspective!
Ann
Hey Ann. Glad to know we all shift our perspectives a little 🙂 You might want to shake up your placemat placement – I’m thinking I could have bought two more, sewed them end-for-end and made a hall runner 🙂
Ha!
Ha ha!
You sure take amazing photos. Love it and keep em coming!!
Thanks Mary and thanks for taking me to Bob and the Boys 🙂