This is a video re-post from when I first started this blog. I don’t know about you, but I am proud to say that I have “almost” completely eliminated the use of plastic grocery bags. However, when you are faced with one, here is my friend Keiko’s very special technique for folding said item into neat little package for handy future use.

Peter Nitsch, photographer and designer, created this mesmerizing and intimate time-lapse video which captures the goings on at Madame Chusri Sripengsub’s Bangkok Hair Salon. The action takes place over the course of a half day. Take note of the incredibly fidgety woman who appears around the 1 minute mark. I think these images were first shown as still photographs. And I believe there even exists an iPhone and iPad app.

Millipede from Melissa Easton on Vimeo.

Up in the Catskills, when someone says they are going for a walk or a run, I like to keep an eye on the time. I am not an alarmist, but if they don’t return within a reasonable span, there could be cause for worry. So, on Saturday, when my husband said he was going for a run, I didn’t think anything of it until I looked at the clock. Why wasn’t he back yet!? Had something happened? Did that bear get him (really)? So I hopped in the car and zipped up the road only to find him standing over a millipede moving softly across the pavement. He was filming it. Over and over. Enter stage left. Exit Right.

I posted something awhile back about Cat’s Cradle, and since then, I have been thinking about all of the other childhood games that used to preoccupy me for hours. Jacks was one of those. Tossing a single grape up in the air and catching it in my mouth was another. I once caught 63 grapes in succession…in a single sitting. My proudest moment. Anyway, in the process of looking for a video of someone playing jacks, I came across this one showing off how to play Korean jacks, or Gongi. I love the motion and the sound of the jacks being tossed up in the air and then swept off the floor.

If you are looking for something fun and different to do this weekend, that doesn’t involve the subway, then might I suggest heading up to the lovely and hoppin’ little town of Callicoon…on the Delaware River. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the annual tractor parade, in which anywhere from 200 to 300, mostly vintage, tractors form a procession down the narrow main street for all to see. And cheer. The totally charming clip (to give you a sense of what you could be missing) is from an early parade and was filmed by the talented photographer, Charles Maraia, in homage to John Deere. But rest assured, there will be Fords, Farmalls, Olivers, Cases, Minneapolis Molines — you name it, they will be there — in all their shiny colorful glory! In the morning, there is a firemen’s pancake breakfast. There is a chicken barbecue after the parade which benefits the local youth center. And consider doing your shopping at the fabulous Sullivan County Farmers’ Market that runs from 11 til 2 right behind Main Street.