Kalmia Latifolia Means Lovely

Phillip Bouchard

While walking to lunch today I came across a gorgeous bush of flowering buds. I stole one tiny blossom and later googled "flowering red and white bush" thinking it was a long shot. However, I found the exact plant just three pages in. Technically called the Kalmia latifolia "Minuet", it is also a miniature Mountain Laurel variety.

The white blossoms are actually bowl shaped with no separated petals. They have red marks that seem to strike out from the middle, then a wide cinnamon-red band encircling the center, ending in white rimmed edges.

Looking at the large masses of blossoms, all I could imagine was a huge bunch of these in a white hobnail vase or a bouquet of these worn with a white wedding dress. Wouldn't that be lovely? Since they do grow as clusters on a branch, how simple would that bouquet be?

As seen in this illustration from the Project Gutenberg's Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers book by John Wood.

And if the plant was already in your yard as part of your landscaping, how cheap would that be?

The plant's blossoms flower from mid-May to mid-June. Other equally gorgeous varieties like 'firecracker' (seen near) can be seen here. More about this plant and it varieties can be found in Connecticut breeder Richard Jaynes' book, "Kalmia: Mountain Laurel and Related Species".

Images: Philip Bouchard's Flickr page, Pepiniere Botanique, Gutenberg.org, Mountain Shadow Nursery

Bottle safe

Well, I didn't get an order into Sigg before they sold out of the styles I wanted. However, my sister read my post and offered to pick me up the same bottle that she had just bought herself, the Better Bottle by Camelbak. I went to the site to check it out and found that it is also BPA free.

So since I received it on July 4, I've been using it everyday and everything is fine. You can fill it up from water fountains nearly to the top and it truly does not leak. I can open up the valve and flip it over and...nothing, no spills. It does have an ingenious design in that you have to bite the valve in order to drink. With your bite, the slit in it opens up and the water siphons up. With this bottle you don't have to raise it above your chest to drink and never have to throw your head back, so perfectly safe for riding a bike or driving a vehicle of any kind.

However, keep yourself hydrated because if you wait until exhaustion your jaw might not have enough power to get the amount of water you want in one go. If you're wondering what the valve looks like after constant biting...mine's a month old and there is not a scratch on it.

Shout out to Simplicity

I just went to check out who had new patterns (yes, I know I still haven't finished that easy skirt I was making! Patience, please!)

Well, I just want to give a shout out to the Simplicity pattern company for this:

Simplicity 2822

Simplicity 2822, a pattern for making storage accessories for wheelchairs and walkers. This is the first pattern I've seen of this kind and I'm sure it will be a welcome to many parents out there. So, good for you Simplicity!




Also seen, Simplicity 2806, for four different types of "green" tote bags and now that Jo-anns is selling organic fabric...

Getting my Sigg on...

the two top choices now.

I don't drink enough water anymore and I need to change that. We have a water fountain in the office but I need something to keep it in. Since I work in the archives; where we ask our customers not to eat or drink, it has to be beyond reproach if I'm seen drinking from it from behind my desk. So I'm going to get a Sigg, which I've been wanting for months. But have you been to their site, there are way too many choices available. I found (via Dooce!) this other resource, Swiss Bottle.com, for their products that seems to have narrowed the choices down a bit. This will probably be the way I go. Above are Circles Cinnamon and Tomorrow Blossoms.

Note: While I've been taking my infamous long time to make a decision a report was released stating that some polycarbonate plastic #7 bottles were leaching the chemical BPA. This caused a run on all stainless steel water bottles and has made SIGG products in this country very scarce. Hopefully, I can still get my bottle.

Think before you buy...

I wish I didn't feel that I have to say this...

If you already have a reusable tote bag, or two, for groceries and such, great!

However, do not buy any more.

Even if someone comes out with a cuter design.
Even if a high-end designer comes out with a bag.

Since everyone and their long-lost uncles are designing tote bags, if you already have all you need, do not buy another one.

It totally defeats the purpose.

Reusable; in order to reduce waste.

Clorox buys Burts's Bee company

Yes, Clorox, they of cleaning items containing chlorine bleach, which leaches into our drinking water...

They have purchased the earth friendly, natural, no artificial preservative-using Burt's Bees, maker of some of my favorite cosmetic items.

I don't know what I think about this yet.

ViaTreehugger

Two of My Favorite People

Amy Sedaris and Todd Oldham talking about a green lifestyle on Bravo.

Click the link and the video will start immediately. The 30-minute show is recorded in 6 segments, that will play one after the other. Enjoy!

Watch What Happens on Bravo.com.

Still need portable water?

An update to my post on bottled water:

Here is a comparison of the reusable water bottles available out there by Slate magazine (found via notmartha).

Reusable water bottles you'll actually want to use.

I'm thinking Platypus. How about you?

Aquafina is tap water!*

As it turns out Aquafina, the single biggest bottled water brand, is nothing but tap water, from a public water source. Technically they had been labeling it as (PWS) on it's bottles and had never said in advertisements that it was from a mineral spring. However, we were given enough images; like snow-capped mountains, to allow us visual closure in imagining it as pure spring water.

Of course, this comes the very day that I finish the last of my Aquafina 24-pack that I bought last week.

I originally started drinking bottled water at home because my apartment's tap water had a weird smell and taste. Months later I found that the weird smell was actually from the kitchen cabinets (Yeah, ewww!) I've since moved my glasses to my dining room buffet so I should try again. I became so used to opening up the fridge and immediately having a deliciously frigid long gulp of water. But I no longer want to pay for the same stuff that I could consume for free.

Looking into this:

Reusable water bottles **
Brita faucet or pitcher filtration system
Pur faucet or pitcher filtration systems

You should check out this cool PBS site on bottled water from 2004.

*Soylent Green inspired this title. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't miss out, rent it as soon as you can!
**Will also find reusable shopping bags there.

The Convenient Conveyance

BC-05 Deluxe Women's Beach Cruiser $135

I have already mentioned this bike. However, I was only thinking of how beautiful it was, not how practical or intelligent of a choice it would be to buy one. Of course, it would be best if you found one used and recycled it but if you aren't lucky enough to find one of these secondhand, I say try Chubby's One-Stop Cruiser Shop. I will probably buy my next bike from them. They have incredible retro designs in all the luscious retro colors, and their bikes aren't expensive at all, while Schwinn is now selling retro cruisers like this and this for $260 to $480.

Now, you may have seen this lovely lace-inspired bike basket all over the blogosphere. It's lovely but how serious is it for hard-core shopping. If you really want to use your bike as an alternative to your car you will need something larger. I suggest something like this:

a twin rear rack basket, popularly known as a newspaper carrier basket.

In college, I used to have an old blue Schwinn with a basket like this one. It was the handiest thing ever. I could ride my bike to buy groceries or do my laundry because I had a place to put everything. No matter the weight, if you had it equally distributed, the whole thing worked like a charm. It also didn't hurt that the Fan area in Richmond is scattered with coin laundromats and little neighborhood markets, so that smaller but frequent trips were no bother.

They still make these baskets and hopefully they will become popular again as people try to use their cars less. This company, Wald, is the main manufacturer. If you have a bike that you use for errands, check them out. Besides this style, they also have folding ones that don't take up as much room when empty.

So, what happened to my great bike you ask?

The stupidity of youth happened. I left it when I packed up and moved to Northern Virginia. In fact, I left it attached to my building's metal railing with a Kryptonite lock. I shirked responsibility for my belongings and someone had to go to the trouble to have it removed. Now I wish I had just stored it at my Dad's house.

C'est la vie.

I think I want this

Sustainable shirt by Cole Gerst, available at Little Paper Planes.

Envirosax Update

The bags loaded with goodies.

Here is an update on those Envirosax I ordered a while back. I have now used them twice and love them. The first time, almost everything fit into one. But I now know that I'm a two-bag girl when I go grocery shopping. I really tried to do one bag, complete with telling the disbelieving bagger at Kroger that it would all fit into one. It was not to be.


This is what those bags contained.

There could have been more food in the green one but the combined weights of the milk and water bottles made it too heavy (for my shoulder, not the bag.)

I am very glad that I bought these. Go and buy some for yourself here.

A REALLY good mail day!

All arrived on Thursday, May 10, 2007



My international magazine swap from Switzerland complete with Swiss chocolate.

My Envirosax bags, which I will be using today to take advantage of Butterick patterns being $.99 until Saturday at Hancock Fabrics.

One step at a time

Cute, no?

I am finally fed up with all the plastic bags I bring home from shopping. For some reason, I only think to refuse them when buying groceries, probably because they ask "Paper or plastic?".

So, I actually ordered something from Delight.com to help me. Delight.com offers up some attractive item every day and entices you with either a discount, free shipping, or a free gift. I check it out but never thought I'd buy something. (I'm trying to only buy things I need...or can justify easily) However, this one was so popular and sold out so fast, it was also being mentioned on many other sites and blogs. I couldn't escape it.



What did I buy? A set of FIVE reusable, waterproof, and extremely strong shopping bags from Envirosax in Australia. I would rather have just two of them, one for groceries and another for regular shopping, but I think these would make great thoughtful gifts to someone.

Now, when anyone starts to put my purchase in their store-branded plastic bag, I can say "No thank you, I brought my own."