Mix things up with herbal lemonade. All you need is a little mint, rosemary, and thyme.
(via pbstv)
Oh I do love you, America. My compassion for you is like the love that someone feels for a destructive lover. Sometimes I want to leave. Sometimes, you do things that make me think I don’t know you at all. Sometimes I watch your news and I cry because you are too powerful and too naive. But, then there are days when you smile at me, and you reach for me with your big strong arms. You show me that I can never find a lover so thorough, so charismatic, and so strange. So to you I say, “Happy Birthday,” and I have mixed feelings about the fireworks that are supposed to represent gunfire and violence. But I watch them because it’s your way of telling me, in that American tone of voice, that you’re my home.
And, now I’ll let Allen Ginsberg & Tom Waits articulate my feelings. Happy 4th of July all you jilted American lovers.
(Source: youtu.be)
I received a tweet from Ze Frank today alerting me to his starring role. I found not just this fun video but genuine inspiration. Something I needed as the weeks of 2009 are rolling in.
I want to use this forum to talk about green issues. Issues that should be of concern to everyone who shares the living earth. I want to provide information and resources to help each of us make a difference by living thoughtfully.
I keep finding myself mired in the challenges presented to government. The obstacles generated by special interests, people with agendas not intended for the good of all. I get side tracked by stories of …. Single moms, lack of sex education, where should moral education come from, longer school days-less HOME work, resources for parents and students to lift them up. Counselors to fill the gap between parents, teachers and communities. PE, music and art departments supported to keep kids inspired with healthy bodies and heathy minds.
Schools are uniquely positioned to be able to tap into resources, internships, the business community to find inspiration. We nee to see the chance to create good citizens. Bill Cosby pointed out on Meet the Press recently that when a person gives to another person(or animal….) they get so much more in return. There is not only a physiological effect but there is a “pay it forward” effect. Kids and adults at risk - even those of us not so much at risk but under involved need to experience this.
Greed and consumerism has put us in a terrible state. I like Tyler Durden’s take on getting everyone back to ZERO. Big business and the individual. From zero we have what we need. We build from there.
I had the pleasure of having my new old patio furnishings featured on a truly inspiring web site. Katherine does some great work to get us all out to explore the second hand.
To recycle is devine. It benefits the planet and may bring items of great design to have another life. We didn’t have alleys in Portland, OR or Seattle. I was so amazed when I first noticed fantastic things discarded in the alleys of Chicago.
I have this weakness for chairs and coffee tables. I began to think of things I wanted or needed and they would appear in the alley. Not always exactly as I would envision but pretty close.
There was this tag sale at a local community center. I noticed a pair of chairs. Kind of Queen Anne, armless, elegant, golden brocade upholstery. They were marked $5 and set aside as sold. I notice that there were 3 more of them. The fabric in rougher condition, heck I would re-upholster any way. For $5. how could I go wrong? Well I didn’t have any cash. I was just walking Rose around the neighborhood, not shopping.
I told the woman I would be right back. I headed home, grabbed cash and the car. By the time I came around, not much time had passed but the sale was closed. I was so sad. I had stopped to chat with a neighbor, as I am prone to do. I pulled into the alley to turn around. The remnants of the sale were piled next to a dumpster. In this pile were the very chairs which had been marked sold. I didn’t care why they had been rejected. I would see to it that they would be loved in their new home. At this point, I have not chosen a fabric for their reinvention but I get closer all the time.
The reason I wanted to talk about dumpster diving, crusing alleys and generally looking to recycle stuff discarded by other perhaps more affluent lovers of beautiful furniture design is Katherine’s visit to my back yard.
She photographed this somewhat decadent purchase I made of a mid century patio furniture set. At the Mt. Sinai Thrift I was told with raised eyebrows that it is “Brown-Jordan.” We didn’t know why that should be signifigant. I knew I was getting a good deal, 9 pieces in all. I missed by just moments picking up two matching chaise lounges.
I am so very pleased with this acquistion. I want to share the link to Katherine’s photographs. Spend a little time at backgarage.com. If you are at all interested in things second hand or vintage furnishings Katherine does a lot of the work to get you to the right place at the right time. www.backgarage.com/?p=59
I am constantly challenged to love this city. There are so many strikes against it. The least of which is not the aldermanic system of city government.
I had some lovely people over to drink in the garden tonight. I have been drinking and my typing skills are suffering. I thin I will share this tale tomorrow, with photos - perhaps.
I am not sure how I wound up here, at tumblr.com. I just started clicking around from Aparment Therapy. I have always loved having a place I call home. Many of those close to me are rolling stones. Where ever they lay their hat…. I try to have the place they enjoy for a lay over.
Recently I have been working on the back yard. It is a lovely oasis in the city. I purchased a Brown and Jordan patio furniture set a Mt. Sinai Thrift recently. It inspired me to reclaim an area that had been neglected since the loss of two loved tenants in my building. It is a 100+ year old house which some time ago was made into three unique one bedroom flats.
We had enjoyed lounging about, entertaining and gardening together. It felt like we had intentionally created this group. One moved to D.C. He had finished his residency and it was time for bigger things. The other is one of those rolling stones. She is still around Chicago. She just likes a change of scene at regular intervals.
The acquisition of my lovely vintage outdoor furnishings has brought new life to this patio. I anticipate spontaneous entertaining, beautiful flowers and new friendships. Blogging in the yard about the yard. I am a huge fan of found items and they are in full effect. The wire dress form, a large convex security mirror and a mind mill are just some basics.
There is a front porch that is also in need of some love and care. The kids on my block are annoying enough that I had stopped having my coffee in my front garden. Now the landscape has become established. The Limelight Hydrangea is nicely large, providing a certain privacy to the entrance.
I have a wicker chair, found in the alley. I will move it to the front. I want to be certain that a coat of Granny Smith Green will not be an Antiques Roadshow “what a shame you painted it” nightmare. I dream of having a cocktail on a sunny afternoon. Listening to the kids playing way down the block or in their own back yards.
That is another thing I am passionate about, adult beverages.
