Whose bright idea was this anyway?

{Light bulbs, originally uploaded by Alastair Bird.}

I am not a fan of the eco-correct, mercury-filled, last-forever compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs). I have spent way too much time under their flickering beam in corporate America to want to live with them at home as well. Plus I took all that time and effort finding just the right paint colors for my walls; if I wanted puce walls I would have painted puce walls.

So I buck the trend and stocked up on some soon-to-be-outlawed 4-packs of the Reveal incandescent light bulbs at the Home Desperate tonight after work. In exchange for their low prices I endured the wrath of some CFL eco-freak who acted like I was beheading a kitten. I told her I was allergic to CFLs but I don't think she believed me.

For the record I do lead a pretty green life otherwise - recycle, reuse, walk to work, etc. But do I have to bathe my home in icky green light to be green?

These ain't no kindergarten scissors

{Impenetrable Castle (detail), 2005, by Peter Callesen}

I am so envious of artists who work in a medium like this, their skill, their patience. It's not like an oil painting, where if you make a mistake you can paint over it, or a dress, where you can rip out the seam. One slip of the knife and kaput! hours of work, ruined.

Peter Callesen, the Danish artist behind these creations, magically turns two-dimensional paper into three-dimensional images. He calls it "obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts."

{Cut To The Bone, 2007}

"Some of the small paper cuts relate to a universe of fairy tales and romanticism, as for instance "Impenetrable Castle" inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", in which a tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina, living in a paper castle. Other paper cuts are small dramas in which small figures are lost within and threatened by the huge powerful nature. Others again are turning the inside out, or letting the front and the back of the paper meet."

{Erected Ruin, 2007}

You put your left foot in...

I had a really stressful and busy week at work last week (huge project, plus juggling multiple little projects, Kelly the fab assistant out with lyme disease, insane condo board meeting, and no time to post or to catch up on reading all your fabulous posts), and this video cheered me a little. Except for the part about how I can't dance like that.

A Rainy Home Companion

I grew up listening to Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion every Saturday night. I loved the familiar notes of the opening song,* the goofy commercials for duct tape, rhubarb pie and Powdermilk Biscuits, the guy who makes all the sound effects, and the folksy News From Lake Wobegon. Although the show is taped live at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul each week, the majority of the audience is via radio. From time to time they take the show on the road; I've seen it live once at Radio City Music Hall many, many moons ago, and each summer it comes to Tanglewood for one show.

The BF and I were going to drive up to Tanglewood to see tonight's live broadcast, but alas, this is the forecast: thunderstorms, followed by scattered thunderstorms. Not conducive to sitting outside on the lovely Tanglewood lawn or under their metal and wood Music Shed filled with electrical equipment.

Sigh. Oh well, there's always next year...

*Well look who's comin'
Through that door
I think we've met somewhere before
Hello Love
Hello Love
Now where in the world
You've been so long?
I've missed you so since you've been gone
Hello Love...

New bird on the block No. 22

{Another Sweet Bird Tassel, by NestingPlace and available in her Etsy shop}

This may be the bird that breaks the camel's back, so to speak. When I first started these New Bird posts, it was a way that I could covet and enjoy all the little birdie things that catch my eye, without depleting my bank account. But this Sweet Bird Tassel, by Nesting Place, is divine, and may have to come and feather my nest. Nesting Place uses high end fringes, ribbons and trims to make "the prettiest things you'll never need." I love tassels and pipings and trims, they take your basic pillows, drapes, etc. to the next level. You can glam up the most humble Ikea linen curtains with ribbon trim or mini-tassels and an hour or so of straight sewing on the old Singer. And a tassel on a knob dresses up a door, dresser or sideboard nicely, while providing hours of enjoyment for the cat!

Many thanks to Julia at Hooked on Houses for leading me to The Nester's blog and subsequently her Etsy shop. If I buy all her tassels, I can blame Julia!