Every day is Earth Day

{aluminum oxygen tanks abandoned on top of the world become Bells of Everest}

Okay, I won't even get started on the whole commercialism of Earth Day, aka, the new Christmas. Ick. Is this really a reason for a sale at Home Depot? Or Best Buy? Or Bob's Matresses? I'm ashamed of our culture sometimes.

Here is one of my favorite executions of recycling: take something that is almost impossible to discard (because of the inaccessibility of proper disposal - read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air if you haven't already to understand the lethal beauty and futility of climbing Everest). Bells of Everest, located in Maine, collects discarded aluminum oxygen tanks and turns them into unique bells and gorgeous bowls. Even the scraps from separating the two halves get made into lovely ornaments. I love the idea of taking something so utilitarian and turning it into something beautiful when its useful life is over, rather than letting it forever litter the side of a mountain. If you can't make it to the top of the world, at least a bit of it can come to you.

{the bottom of a tank makes a stunning bowl, from Bells of Everest}

Black and white and I toile you so

{meghan fabric from Rubie Green}

There is something so refreshing about a crisp black and white print, especially when it is something unexpected like these pineapples from Rubie Green. "Rubie Green" is actually 25 (!!!) year old Michelle Adams, a former Domino market editor who left the publishing biz to pursue her dream of designing beautiful upholstery fabrics and producing them in an eco-friendly way.

{Country Life fabric by Waverly}

When I first moved to my current apartment I stiched up drapes and a duvet cover in Waverly's black and white Country Life toile, a pattern I have loved-loved-loved forever (and by "forever" I mean waaay before toile went from being "classic" to "the latest trend" to "ubiquitous" to "so passe you can find it at Ocean State Job Lot"). Now it seems commonplace and pedestrian. Thankfully the other side of the duvet is natural muslin, which looks great with the new natural muslin drapes and coffee-with-extra-milk walls. Someday I may feel the toile love again, and I'll flip the duvet over and rehang the drapes and be ahead of the curve. Everything old is new again, n'est pas?

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

If you have, know or love a cat (or an engineer) you will appreciate this video.

Form and function

Me, to neighbor, while digging through cabinet next to stove and moving utilitarian red fire extinguisher out of the way:


"Why are these things so ugly? Why can't they be prettier? Then I wouldn't feel compelled to hide it in the cabinet."

Well, the smart folks at Sweden's FireInvent have come up with a stylish alternative to the ugly red (but necessary) safety tool:

{form AND function. What a novel idea! by FireInvent Design}

Wish I thought of it first....

New bird on the block No. 8

{Luella Bartley "Robin" shirt for Tonic}

Now here is a birdie who looks good and does good too. Do-good e-tailer TONIC has teamed up with British designer Luella Bartley to launch a limited-edition line of organic tees, each of which benefit a different global cause. When walking to school, the last thing a kid needs to worry about is his or her feet. Along with Friends of Paradis des Indiens, TONIC is helping provide shoes to 2,500 children in Haiti to help them get to school and learn academic subjects and skills such as carpentry, sewing, weaving, agriculture and reforestation. Each t-shirt is an organic cotton and bamboo fiber 70/30 blend and provides 1 pair of shoes to a child in Abricots, Haiti.