Dave Gilligan (a very talented photographer and graphic designer) and his new bride were not your typical newlyweds. As he tells it, they didn’t want to go on a typical “sun holiday” so instead opted for a far more interesting honeymoon on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. These photographs of windows were taken in Irkutsk as well as around Lake Baikal. Apparently, all the windows are painted a shade of Green, White or Blue to hopefully ward off evil spirits. Each and every one seems to me like a small fairy tale. If something about these images grabs your imagination, there are two books on Siberia that I would highly recommend reading: Colin Thubron’s In Siberia, and Ian Frazier’s Travels in Siberia, which was released only just last year.

As a kid, my fantasy was to live in an RV. I was fascinated with the idea that everything had a dedicated spot and that there was essentially no space for anything extra. Dining tables converted to beds in the evening, and there were built-ins galore. Like a lot of people, my dream house has since morphed into a series of small sheds: One for sleeping, one for cooking and eating and relaxing and definitely one for working. If need be, I could easily combine both of the “non-studio” structures into a single unit. When I came across the Just Sheds site I found myself plotting some teeny future compound.

I don’t know about anyone else, but sometimes in NY I forget to look up instead of down or straight ahead. But the reward of training one’s gaze skyward needs no explanation. There is no trickery to the scale in that last picture. It’s of Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle Restaurant in Spokane Washington — well worth a detour for a crazy delicious burger served with hand-cut fries and some of the best milk shakes you can imagine. The thing is huge. And, crazy as this sounds, it’s not the only giant milk bottle in town. It’s actually one of two in Spokane, built by the Benewah Diary Company back in 1935. The other one is a Democratic Party headquarters.

I’ve been meaning for ages now to take pictures of my paper farm. I don’t have all the outbuildings anymore, but I still have the silo, the cow and a single bale of hay. I think these are meant to be colored in, but I love them just the way they are.

Found this picture on Lena Sjoberg’s blog. I do believe that I could happily live in this chicken coop. It’s definitely the nicest one I’ve seen. Once again, leave it to the Swedes.