These Swedish handmade metal combs are indestructible. Each tooth is individually hand machined out of high grade aluminum. No burrs, no frizz. And they meet the magic standard of a once in a lifetime purchase. I have had these two combs for at least 25 years, if not longer. And it was really only today that I noticed their extreme precision and good looks. I mean look at those radius corners! And then speaking of trademarks (yesterday’s post), Swedish Crown Combs was granted registration in 1968 and let it lapse in 2008. Which is really too bad, because these are very fine tools indeed. I think these are the same combs, but I can’t be certain.

I think my mother wrote shorthand. I remember her scrawling, at a breathless pace, what appeared to be unintelligible marks on stenographers paper. It was gibberish then, and it is gibberish now. But stunning in its economy and gesture. These two pages are a perfect example of Pitman Shorthand, popular in the UK, and second only to Gregg Shorthand in the US. Gregg Shorthand is far less compelling, and even a little boring, because of the uniform thickness of the line. For more information on the Pitman method, go here. Images from here.

I’ve made no secret of my love for the cigarette card collection at the NY Public Library. Here is a single painting broken into 45 parts. Click here to see the who and the what.

Nice patterns. Very fond of the All in One. I think the white plastic one is meant for grating daikon radish. I know the last one is for ginger.

The hardware store comes through once again! Spend enough time in there and I invariably pull out my camera. I couldn’t resist these wooden dowels and their constellation of colors and sizes. Thanks Callicoon Supply.

I am not proud of this, but I am scared of spiders. Not terrified, just scared. I don’t like that they can run like hell and then squeeze into the smallest space imaginable. It troubles me that they play dead. Seems to be an unfair advantage. But, I try to avoid killing them (even though my first impulse is to do so) because I know they are forces of good and are part of the increasingly delicate balance out there. But, give me a spider web and I am instantly their biggest fan. I keep meaning to photograph the webs that appear daily in between the rungs on our deck, but never quite get around to it. It was very foggy last night and Chris starting taking pictures of them with his iPhone. He showed me the absolutely stunning results and I immediately asked him if I could post them. He suggested I take some of my own. Anyway, these are my photos, but his lovely idea.

Wow, I stopped dead in my tracks when I rounded the corner at 2nd Avenue and 72nd Street. Construction on the 2nd Avenue Subway is going full bore, and these ducts overwhelm anything and everything else around. They are huge and imposing and just a wee bit scary. The “blasting” sign showing a stick of exploding dynamite helped with the fright factor. I am fascinated by pipes and ducts and wires and any visible indication of our underlying infrastructure. Note to self: bring real camera because the iPhone can only do so much.