Terrible Idea Tuesdays: dog beds

Sometimes it's just as helpful to learn what not to do, as it is to learn what to do in life.  In that vein, here is the first in what may become a long series of Terrible Idea Tuesday posts.  First up, a dreadful dog bed:

You see, while using things you've already got in new ways is admirable, like anything it can be taken too far.  And here it has.  An ironing board is not a good ersatz dog bed.  The dog shown below seems to think it is, but she is mistaken.

Black raspberries

Best fruit ever:  black raspberries.

The very best way to eat them:  fresh-picked, baby.  But I would never turn them down in a pie or over ice-cream, of course.  And if you have some in your kitchen, waiting to be made into a cobbler, I will probably snitch some, and then want a few pieces of the cobbler, too. 

WASTE update

The sumac excursion, while poorly attended, was a raging success.  Many varieties of sumacs were found and labeled, and many trees, aspects of the central Illinois landscape, and items of personal history were observed and discussed.  A few fine photos, if you please:

"Tiger's Eye" Staghorn Sumac

Leaf and immature fruit of buckeye tree

Smooth sumac

Kyle Schlie of WASTE

Sassafras leaves

WASTE is a beautiful thing.

Sometimes it is, anyway.  For example, WASTE gallery.  Their first show was in May, and you can read about it here and here. 

Tomorrow morning, 25 June 2011, I will be joining WASTE for their second show, "Wandering, Anecdotes, and Sumacs: a Trivial Excursion," in East Peoria, Illinois.  We will host an exploratory excursion through central
Illinois in search of sumacs. I will be discussing tree identification, dimensions of memory, natural phenomena, and other random trivia related (and not) to the sumac.

I'm very excited, and I think they are too.  I'll try to post photos and links to more information (including a related publication to be made based on the results of the excursion) soon after.

Bicycles are swell!

It's true.  They really are swell.  Here's a nice turquoise one:

Chicory

Chicory flickery flock,
Blue flowers for Mr. Spock,
Old Spock, half man,
Half floral Vulcan,
Chicory flickery flock!

Look what grew in our yard!

What can I say? I'm a sucker for flowers.

Sharp Trash Safety Capsule

Do you live in an apartment building that has a garbage chute and/or dive-worthy dumpsters?  Do you occasionally throw away sharp objects such as toothpicks, plastic forks, old pins and needles, or broken scissors?  Are you concerned that someone might somehow encounter your trash and handle it in a careless fashion and become injured by one of those sharp things?  Do you drink plenty of soda from 2-liter bottles?  If your answer to all of these is yes, you may wish to construct a sharp trash safety capsule.  All you need is two empty 2-liter bottles, a pair of scissors (not broken), and some tape.  

Cut the narrow top quarter off of each bottle.   Throw the tops parts away.  Store one of the remaining bottles, and keep the other near your wastepaper basket.  As you have sharp objects to throw away, put them into the bottle instead of in the trash.  Keep this up until the bottle is full (this could take a long time, maybe even a year).  When it is full, get out the second bottle.  Turn it upside down and carefully fit it over the top of the first, full bottle.  Tape the loose edges firmly to the first bottle.  You now have a sleek, smooth, danger free capsule that you can throw in the trash with nary a care. 

The prototype shown below was invented and executed by a dear, thoughtful couple.  I love their ingenuity as well as their desire to look out for others, whether their neighbors, the garbage men, or dumpster divers.

Haiku: Catalpa

Northern Catalpa,
bean tree, flower carpet tree,
lost in Illinois.

Spring at last!

Spring came really really late this year.  But now that it’s finally here, hooray!  Spring!  And violets all over the backyard! And in a vase on the table!

Here's to unusual window treatments...

...and reusing circle templates.  Unfortunately I don't remember who made this.  I wish I could say it was me.  Alas, no.  It was somebody even more clever.  

Haiku: Dandelion

Dandelion blooms
you light up my yard like stars
in the green grass sky

Grass

Twirly grass, whirly grass,

Broomsticks made of sassafras,

Spiral grass, viral grass,

A horse that’s braying like an ass,

Blowing grass, throwing grass,

Watch the sky through an old spyglass,

Tall grass, y’all grass,

Siamese cats with bells of brass.