Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Bachman's summer idea house 2011.

Bed,













Bath,









Beyond (the media room).

Summer Kitchen

Bachman's summer idea house 2011.










A quick peek into the loo.

Summer Ideas House

Bachman's summer idea house 2011. Crammed full of inspiration for windows-wide-open easy living starting in the living room of course.




Wood shims make for a rustic retro sunburst mirror and placemats become wallcovering.




Baking sheets serve as artist's canvas and yardsticks as plate rails.




Louvered sashes create a backdrop for lounging.

Ahem...

It's been almost two weeks and either no one has noticed, or everyone has noticed and are being too polite to say anything about the giant summer boutonniere the house is wearing.




The other adult in residence did not catch on without some prompting, but, to be fair, he had been out-of-town for almost a week after it appeared.




The junior member of the household had noticed, but was probably hoping it would just go away. His comment when asked if he had seen anything different around the property lately, "You mean that big, goofy flower outside my bedroom window?"

Follow the Bouncing Ball

We found the link to this lively video at doe c doe where she also highlights the well put sentiment - "Yes, I know I can't sing. Yes, I'm going to keep singing anyway" from yes-butno . Here! Here!




We have memories of singing this and other songs with many verses (Down by the Bay, Where the Watermelons Grow) on airplane flights and long car rides and at bedtime to try to calm or lull restless little people to sleep. Love those meadow mamas and their little critter activities.

The book illustrated by Jill McDonald is available here at Barefoot Books.

Up, Up, and Away

Last week in the community garden preschoolers came to tend their plot, then donned wings and floated and flitted and buzzed around the pathways in an end-of-year-celebration like no other.




After some exuberant flying, the kidsects sat down in the beautiful sunshine for a story about going to kindergarten. Giving these little ones wings before they soar off to the next phase of their education is an inspired and wonderfully symbolic sendoff. What a nurturing, positive start they have had in the loving care of awesome teachers who go above and beyond to arrange for them to be in the outdoors appreciating nature, using their imaginations, and experiencing the miracle of growing food and flowers from little seeds.








Go teachers!

Garden Confidential

Secret backyard goings on revealed in macro view exposé.
















Waterlily (nymphaeaceae), slug (slimium disgustingus), cranesbill(geranium), cushion spurge (euphorbia polychroma), peony (Paeonia), allium, gnome (gnomus) through the ostrich fern (fernmatteuccia struthiopteris).


Photos: S. Plasch

What's My Line?

A button collector in our acquaintance owns a small business in another town. For some reason we thought it was a printing business. One day, while having more of a conversation than is usually possible in the brief time before or after button club meetings, we learned we were wrong. Really wrong. Her business is far cooler than that. What do they make and sell? Scissors. Big scissors. Really big scissors. Ribbon cutting ceremony scissors.

How do you find it? Go to ribboncuttingscissors.com of course.

Here is the round-up of (almost) all the scissors in the house. Our house. One house. We do like having dedicated scissors for every possible cutting job. Doesn't everyone?




Hmm...we wonder...Do you suppose the #1 rule in their employee handbook is: No running with scissors?

CSA

You've probably heard of CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, but have you heard about the other CSA? Instead of receiving boxes of veggies on their doorsteps this summer some CSA subscribers in Minnesota are getting deliveries that might look something like this.




Community Supported Art sponsored by Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul, MN.

A really great idea!

Field and Forest

Flora and fauna.














By definition, flora is a word of Latin origin referring to Flora, the goddess of flowers. Flora can refer to a group of plants, a disquisition of a group of plants, as well as to bacteria. Flora is the root of the word floral, which means pertaining to flowers. Fauna can refer to the animal life or classification of animals of a certain region, time period, or environment. Fauna is also of Latin origin. In Roman Mythology Fauna was the sister of Faunus, a good spirit of the forest and plains. - from Wisegeek.com for the wordgeeks among us.


Photos: S. Plasch

It's not Exactly Paris

But it does have its own exotic charms - Northwestern Wisconsin.




















Thank goodness we don't have to "Live Like We Mean It" anymore. In 2011 The Fonz is going to help us "Picture the Fun".

Super Market

If we lived in Paris we'd so be at Supermarket this weekend. Attending what looks like a pretty darn fun and creative two-day crafts event in one of the most wonderful cities in the world just won't be happening for us, but we can enjoy this groovy, stop-motion, animated promotional vimeo as a small consolation.

Garten Spiel

We crossed our fingers that no one else would choose the $1 auction lot of mostly grubby miscellaneous items that we had our eye on. Fortunately the treasure within was either too well hidden or of no interest to the other bidders. This beautiful 1954 vintage Ravensburg game got to come home with us.

Marienkäfer Puck, ein flug durchs blumenjahr (Ladybug Puck, a flight through the flower-year)















Ladybug playing pieces, ceramic dice, charmingly illustrated game board. Nice.