Beware Beauty

It was a few hours before the storm hit that the awesome designer called me over to see this handsome beauty hanging around the eaves


She had woven her web from overhang to overhang and trapped more than a few biting bugs in the process


Not far away another spider was patiently awaiting its prey. A reminder to us all to beware of beautiful, ruthless hunters - they have only their own interests at heart.

TV Table Hack

In an effort to ensure maximal viewing pleasure we executed a nifty TV table hack from a spare shelf in the corner unit and three legs left over from a previous hack.


The TV in the space before. A brilliant picture but a little low for us.


We used a redundant shelf that had just been resting on another shelf in the bookcase, three of the four spare desk legs we'd stored in the garage until we found a use for them and a few tools. As the shelf is the same laminate as the doors on the media center it isn't obtrusive.


Et voila, picture perfect. Time: 10 minutes. Cost: $0. Satisfaction: immeasurable.

Summer surprise

It's not been the best summer here on Long Island. It was too cold to swim in the pool on Memorial Day, too rainy on July 4th and and not warm enough for us on Labor Day either. Three summer holidays and not one swim party, that hasn't happened before. In fact we added it up and The Guy has only been in the pool seven times this season. I've done a little better but we just haven't used it as much as normal. Nor have we barbecued. Rain, hail, cold days, whatever. We look forward to summer all winter and then it's gone in a flash. This year it went in a flash of lightning and earth-moving crashes of thunder.
And yet, some things almost make up for it; like this annual impatiens from last summer that somehow managed to survive the winter (and my weeding and planting efforts in this corner of the yard). I walked out of the back door and saw this blossom amongst the dark glossy leaves of the holly. I guess it's protected back there and with luck, like the hibiscus on the other side of the yard, it will keep flowering until the first frost.

Playing Nice

Today's cute photo - Sadie and Cassis sharing a quiet moment.

Flat screen convert

We did it, we drank the Kool-Aid, followed the pack, joined the 21st century, whatever you want to call it - we bought a flat screen HDTV small enough to fit in the media center. In our fantasy world it looks something like this photo.
In the real world we don't sit staring at a blank screen so let me tell you this thing ROCKS. The sound is awesome, I can read the titles from across the room and the colors are so dynamic I sat and watched two movies back-to-back before I could get my open jaw to close. So this is what the digital revolution is all about.

Global warming?

Proof, if any were needed, that 2007-2008 has been a weird weather year on Long Island. This hibiscus, usually treated as an annual here, was in a pot last year but still blooming in November. I couldn't bear to just throw it out so I planted it on a southwest wall and ignored it. It did nothing except throw up some green leaves that got shredded in the various hailstorms we suffered in early August. This morning though something pretty caught my eye, three gorgeous pink tinged flowers on an otherwise scrappy plant.
I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Labor Day 2008

So this is where summer has been hiding.

Sadie the Stoic

We're having a quiet Labor Day weekend. Poor Sadie had another cyst removed on Friday, this time from her ear. Not that you can tell from this photo but she is back to her normal bounding self. She should also be wearing a cone (not a cone of silence, nor the cone of uncertainty but a regular old dog cone) but she looked so pathetic we just took it off. Polly would have scratched at the stitches until her ear fell off, but not Sadie the stoic. She knows that it would be foolish to touch the stitches, that it would hurt, so she will just suck it up as she always does. Brave puppy.

Fingerprint Design

Cutting edge technology takes designer Dan Yeffet's fingerprint and turns it into the Detail.MGX lamp. Originally offered in a limited edition of 30 large spheres, it's now available as a more affordable series of three mini pendant lamps. The lamps are produced using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), a 3-D printing technique that is becoming more widely seen in lighting, furniture and textile design. Detail.MGX will be one of the products on view at 100% Design in London next month.

Soko

OK, I tried to resist but this song is now firmly in my head. So I'm passing it on to you. Enjoy!