I never did that well at physics in school. But, in hindsight, I think I want to blame the teacher for making a subject that is so fascinating and poetic into something utterly prosaic. These videos are super cool. From the folks over at Wanken.

The other day Swissmiss posted an item about Pantone Christmas ornaments. Someone commented that they thought the ornaments were fishing bobbers. I saw the rationale there, and then clicked on the wiki link provided by the commenter. This took me into the rabbit hole that is the internet. Within minutes, I knew considerably more about fishing lures than I ever thought necessary…although, I’ve always been interested in hand tied flies. Anyway, I found a  nice image of some old lures and one photograph which details the different stages of the making of a lure. Always a sucker for process. Photos courtesy of Fishing for History, Wikimedia (via commenter on Swissmiss), Learning How to Fish, Pehl Trading and Artist At Exit 0.

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 have a streak of nostalgia that runs especially deep when it comes to toys or children’s books. These balsa wood gliders, made since 1926 by Guillow’s, bring back a whole flood of emotion. Every summer my brother and I would end up with a couple of them. I remember my favorite one being the Sky Streak. The rubber band made the arc of flight longer and faster than any of the others. And the propeller added a third element into the design that made it feel not quite so bare bones. My only frustration was at how brittle the balsa wood was, and that if you were even the slightest bit impatient, there went your toy. The fact that these are still in production is good news.

It’s state fair season. And so it’s also the time of year when 4H clubs compete with the giant squash, and Aunt Bertie’s cherry pie and, best of all, the butter sculpture. You heard right. Up until today I had never thought about such things, but as I was going through a stack of old NYT, my eye caught a headline in the June 28th obits: Norma Lyon, Sculptured Butter at Fairs. Well gosh be darned. There she is, astride a life-size butter bull!!! She was known simply as The Butter Cow Lady. She looks pretty happy in all these photos. Just goes to show you… RIP Norma.