Banal 3

Bar Graph:

Architectural flourishes

Just wanted to share a few shots of the mansion for your delectation:




This is one of three mantels for one of three fireplaces. I love the green and clear glass against the dark wood.



As you may imagine, the reading nook possibilities of this space had the same effect on me that Kren's window seats had on her.




The details like this doorknob feel SO Art Nouveau--and as if someone really lavished a lot of taste and love on the space. I can't wait for you all to see it--now that the boxes are done away with. We still have a guest bed and guests are always welcome.

banal

"fork."

From the archives

Guess who?

Smell the Teen Spirit

Just in case you were feeling youthful and full of energy today, the baby pictured on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album is now 17 years old. Heard him interviewed on NPR.

Oh, Kaaaaaareeeeeennnnnnnnnn . . . .

Remember Glasvegas (go here)? They now have a single available on iTunes and are signed to Columbia Records.

(Pictorial) Game of the Banal

Some time ago, Michaela and I invented a game called 'The Game of the Banal.' Perhaps we have told you about it before. Simply constructed, the game entails calling out words that have little to no strong connotations, neither negative nor positive. For example, lint is banal, but corner is not (you may have been sent there as punishment; corners can be sharp; corners are obstacles). Memorandum is banal; epoxy is not (it implies a permanence and the second syllable, POX, has a satisfying popping sound).

So today I present the Pictorial Game of the Banal. Banal words presented via photos. I begin:

Cardboard:

Princess Turnip and the Three Swedish Panels

No, it is not the title of some deranged children's story written my disaffected English majors, it is a quick summary of our weekend.

We went to the garden plot this morning and picked 1 head of lettuce, a million marigold heads for dyeing (ok, maybe more like 40), and 3 turnips. Here is Princess Turnip herself, keeper of the bountiful harvest:



















An a closer look:












And after gardening, we built three frames with fabric stretched across them to hang on our walls. We originally planned them to go above the bed to complement the blue paint, but there was a bit too much vibration between the three Swedish design patterns (bed spread, new closet panel doors, these panels). So we hung them up in the front room. You will just have to imagine them against a background of marigold once we get around to painting the room.












And here is their position in the room:

Time for our midlife crises

I think it is time for our midlife crisis and buy a farm.

Oh, and this is neither here nor there, but you will be happy to know that it is biker night at the Quaker Steak and Lube, the restaurant across the street from my Columbus hotel.

The Six Stages of Facebook

Stage One: Cool!!! Look at this! Wow, applications you can add to your profile...they let you do things like throw sheep at other people!! Or send them hatching eggs! Or flowers! Or buttons! Or...or....

Stage Two: Wow! Now I can fail miserably at pulling words out of patterns of letters that look like this to me:

QRXY
ZZZZ
ABCD
WTFX

Fun!

Stage Three: Hey, I wonder how that person I haven't talked with in 20 years is doing...maybe I'll invite them to be my friend.

Stage Four: Hmm...why do all these people from work want to be my "friend"?? I mean, there are three or four people at work that I'd consider "friends" but...a work networking tool? Hmmm. What do I do with all these friends who are people I haven't talked with in 20 years? Is it okay to friend someone and then not ever really send them anything?? Is this really more fun than the lunchroom in high school??

Stage Five: Ruh-Roh...five people have sent me Ben & Jerry's ice cream, thrown various objects at me, emailed, and started scrabble games...and I haven't done anything in return!! I am a Facebook Failure!!

Stage Six: Maybe if I log onto Facebook and just don't look at my requests and email I won't feel as badly about ignoring emails I don't have the energy to respond to just yet...

Let's hear it for Swedish Design

Perhaps because we missed out on JR/A's move, M & I did a bit of moving of our own. Actually, July has been declared "home month" and we are using our three day weekend to dive into the many, lingering home projects. That includes painting the front room (marigold milk paint), and replacing the mismatched bookshelves in the front room with a wall of matching units (the painting will happen another weekend this month). And, best of all, we finally have "doors" on our closets. Not quite doors, but lovely, sliding panels of fabric from Ikea. A visual:





























There are actually five panels on the bedroom closet--three of the patterned ones and two blue ones in between.

I Lovermont

After helping JR and Anthony move into their fabulously carved new home, Noah and I headed north to Vermont. We stayed in a different B&B every night, and they ran the gamut from rustic (the Black Bear Inn in Bolton) to modern and just plain weird. (Our room at the Woodstocker was clean and sleek with hardwood floors and deep red walls, but the red theme extended just a tad too far in the bathroom... which sported a red tub and sink made out of some odd plastic material that had lights imbedded inside of them, so that they could be made to glow eerily and pointlessly at will.)

Here are a few pics in which I try to capture the range of our Vermont experiences...

Moss Glen Falls:


Me and my new friend, at the Black Bear Inn:


The Scary Tub:


Wheee!!!!! We're on vacation!!!!!


I'm already dreading going back to work... we found many spots that would make for a good llama farm...

Organic Jersey City

An update on the community garden plot. We've eaten radishes, and we now have had four heads of Tom Thumb lettuce (each head is a good serving for one person):















The Detroit Red beets are growing slowly:


















And the turnips are out of control: