library music

Flint Public Library, circa late-50s. Photos found/compiled by Mercedea [flickr]

kettle corn

Have you ever wondered how to make kettle corn? Neither had we until we stumbled upon a very easy recipe. All you need is some popcorn, a saucepan, sugar, salt, and vegetable oil (we use peanut oil). Put about a tablespoon of oil in the pan and heat it up over medium high. Put two or three kernels in the pan and cover. As soon as one of them pops, throw in 1/4 cup of kernels and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cover and shake the pan vigorously until the popping stops. Salt to taste (it takes more than you would think) and lo! there you have it. P.S. If you're making regular popcorn, just omit the sugar. You will never go back to microwave popcorn again.

nature-hide

These are my new "get tough" shoes -- dead-stock Dexters from the 1980s. They are either hip or incredibly ugly—probably both. I purchased them at a thrift store owned by a large man who refers to himself in the third-person as "Hollywood" (As in: "Girl, don't you know that when you try something on you're supposed to come out here and let Hollywood see?!" -- jm). The tag on them says that since the leather is untreated "you will notice briar scratches, fence marks and fat wrinkles." What am I supposed to be doing in these, breaking out of jail?

vintage sesame street

Here are some of our favorite Sesame Street clips from the 1970s. I remember being mesmerized by these songs and images when I was a kid. Watching these again as an adult, I'm surprised how disturbing and unsettling they are -- particularly the "Milk" short film with its gritty realism and haunting music. I also really like the third clip below, an animated short about what to do when you get lost. It's interesting how the kid basically trundles out into some sort of drugged-out psychedelic dreamscape, replete with a yo-yo-twirling pimp dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy. You'll see what I mean. Anybody else remember these as vividly as I do? bg

museum day

We went to a museum last weekend to see a Charley and Edie Harper exhibit, but they wouldn't allow us to take pictures. So instead we took a few objet photos of the fire extinguisher.



And these are photos of an interactive piece by New Yorker illustrator Saul Steinberg, featuring movable adjective magnets.





The Harper exhibit featured archival copies of Ford Times, a travel magazine distributed by Ford to promote brand loyalty. Charley Harper and E.B. White collaborated on several nature pieces, including a memorable one called "Feeding Station Birds." I couldn't take a photo of the exhibit so I decided to write down the accompanying text, which in this case was just as beautiful. Here is White's description of the slate-colored junco:

The Junco is the snowbird—junco hyemalis hyemalis, lover of the north and of hard times. He goes well with dark skies and bleak conditions; he likes Tuckerman's Ravine and your window ledge. He eats ragweed, thus befriending the hay fever sufferer. He eats berries, thus annoying the gardener. Like so many small birds, he is a masterpiece of beauty and courage, bringing joy to the world.

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cup of tea

a little home improvement

When we moved into our house, there were some pretty terrible window treatments in the kitchen. Mini-blinds = gross. So with the right equipment, we decided to turn things around. New curtains made from a very cute vintage print. Here I am, looking all Project Runway with the iron.



I would like to claim that the following is a picture of me expertly operating the sewing machine. But credit must be given where credit is due: Ben and I have been running a basement sweatshop staffed with Asian women. Small hands are the way to go, you know.



Just kidding. Ben's mom was our guru for this project and she did the actual fabrication. Thanks, Noni!



The final results were very pleasing and made a huge improvement in our formerly rather drab kitchen. Below is a close-up of the fabric.

green building

Change is underway, literally right across the street from us. Our neighborhood is undergoing something of a transformation, in part because of an ensemble of urban development projects aimed at revitalizing the area. The city of Cincinnati recently sold five plots of land ON OUR STREET -- all of them on our block or the next block over -- to the Cincinnati Northside Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation for a total of $1. The buildings on these lots have either been demolished or are awaiting demolition, and the sense that we get (from our plumber, no less) is that most of these properties were effectively repossessed by the City in order to "cool off" drug dealing and crime. Here are some photos of the plots nearest us.







At any rate, yesterday the City held a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of this initiative, which will eventually involve several green architecture projects on the sites in question. Here the efforts of the CNCUR will dovetail with those of the HOME House Project, recently featured in an exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center here in Cincinnati. The HOME House Project aims to develop affordable, sustainable housing (some of it mixed-use) for low-and-middle income families. I don't know too much about their building practices, but it seems they place a focus on recycled and/or sustainable materials, environmentally-friendly building practices and the like. Here's a sample design from the exhibition catalog.



The houses across the street from us will be designed by the winners of a recent competition. I believe one of the winners (or perhaps THE winner) is S. Flavio Espinoza. I'm not familiar with the architect's work, but apparently I will be soon as site-preparation is already underway. It will be strange having such beautiful green architecture across the street from us. I just wonder whether the neighborhood will absorb or reject these changes, especially considering their scale and pace. Seems like the ground is really shifting beneath our feet here, and I'm not just talking about the crumbling floor joists in our upstairs bathroom. It's weird watching this happen at such close range. bg

land of lincoln

Pictures from Labor Day weekend at the folks' in Illinois. These are prairie flowers at a sculpture garden in Urbana.






And here we are stealing my mom's sportscar.