On a recent trip to Europe, my husband and I missed our early morning connecting flight from Frankfurt to Nice. We had hoped that there would be another plane leaving within a couple of hours, but that was a misguided thought. The next flight wouldn’t leave for another 8 hours or so. Not bad in the scheme of airport delays, but long enough for a kind of boredom to set in. And that was mostly as a result of jet lag. I am one of those people who actually enjoy airports. Between reading and watching fellow travelers pass by, I am happy. Add to that some fancy ductwork and I’m really set. I couldn’t decide if leaving the ceiling exposed was a design decision or whether there were ongoing repairs happening. No matter…

A moderately sad roadside rest stop at exit 5 on the Palisades Interstate Parkway. I wonder why they didn’t bother removing the adhesive padding on the wall next to the Gojo dispenser. Though, I do enjoy the graphic on the pull down shelf.

Thomas Demand is one of my favorite living artists. He makes full-scale, three-dimensional paper and cardboard replicas of seemingly mundane interiors and environments culled from various press and personal photographs. He reconstructs the images, but always as a close facsimile to the original, never one that is exact. He photographs those installations and then destroys the paper sculptures. The first time I saw his work I was absolutely spellbound by both his craft and his vision. The line between invention and reality is intentional. Perfection is never his goal, and therein lies the brilliance of Thomas Demand’s work. For more information go here, here and here.

A few lovely old books.

Why are waiting rooms so unpleasant? I found an answer the other day when I was stuck at the veterinarian’s office with nothing to read.