Transforming the Yellow SubmarineI'd always thought it would be cute to have a little house at the end of my garden. It would look like a hidden house in the woods, but also be practical for housing things like the wheelbarrow, the lawn mover and pots. 
The second year we lived in our semi-detached house in East York, Toronto, we went to the annual Garden Show, Canada Blooms, and found a vendor who eventually came to our backyard and built this pre-fab house in a day.
Into it went all of our shovels and hoes and the weed whipper and hoses and potting soil. However, within a month our 21 year old son had dragged an old harvest table in there and then slowly, over the years, added music, guitars, candles, and posters. 
Although this wasn't its intended use, the 'shed' became a centre of creativity, and also a hang-out for our son and his friends. It was Greenwich Village back there. They called it the 'Yellow Submarine". They jammed, performed rap and slam poetry, smoked cigarettes and more and talked quietly into the wee hours.
And quiet they were. I know this because my bedroom faced the shed. Why that picture above was taken from the bedroom. It was a comforting feeling to wake up in the night, look out of the window and see a candle burning in the little house. It meant that stories were being told, songs were being written and that my son was safe at home. When our son told his friends that we would be selling the house and moving to Nova Scotia, the response was "You mean we're loosing the Yellow Submarine?" A month ago, I asked him to take all the posters and clippings and souvenirs of 6 years off the walls. I had to remind him a couple of times and I don't suppose it was easy for him to do.
I decided to 'stage' it as a cottage/games area. As a nod to its former days, I left his first guitar there. That would be the one that was generously given to him by a former boss of mine who knew we couldn't possibly afford to buy one at the time. It must have good energy in because even though we eventually bought him a better guitar, this is the one that he uses to compose his new work. The monopoly game was a bit of an ironic joke to go with the sale and the hurricane lamp was a gift from Larry, in anticipation of our simpler lifestyle in Nova Scotia.  
The shovels and pitchforks found their spots again and it all looked a little more 'garden shed' like.
The space ended up looking quite charming, I thought.
Still, it's been 3 weeks and I haven't seen any candles burning at night and no guitar sounds have drifted into my open window either. Greenwich, East York is moving on to Broadview and Danforth. Long live the Yellow Submarine! |
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Hanna
Still, we hope that when we have a permanent house here, that we too will have a new 'yellow submarine' for our kid's visits and any eventual grandkids too!