The Idea Bowl

At the Charles Lummis Home

I've still got a few more things to do to get Camelot & Vine published in all formats, but most of the work is done.

It feels odd to be finished with something I've been working on for so long. With John teaching at the Script Kitchen and working on a couple of film projects, neither of us has had much free time in longer than we care to admit.

So when we take a day off, we don't know what to do with ourselves. Art Museum? (Not in the mood.) Hike? (We always hike, let's do something unusual.) Shopping? (As soon as the book makes enough money!)

There are a million things to do around here, but when the occasion arises, it's hard to think of the right one. So when one of us has an idea ("You'd like the Lummis Home," or "That exhibit at the Huntington sounds interesting"), we write it on a little piece of paper and put it in a bowl. The bowl, made of green glass, sits atop the built-in shelf in the living room.

The bowl is filling up. Soon there will be a day when we're both free. If we can't think of what to do, we'll pull a piece of paper from the bowl.

I don't know if this is going to work, but it's worth a try.

Tool Talk

I have a red wheelbarrow. I like it a lot. I don't need a blue wheelbarrow but if I did I'd go to Altadena Hardware, because last time I was there they had a pile of wheelbarrows.

I love hardware stores and we have many excellent ones in the Dena. Besides Altadena Hardware there's Crown City Hardware (specializing in antique and Craftsman stuff), the highly recommended Berg Hardware and Eagle Rock's beloved Tritch Hardware. You probably know of more you can tell me about. I'll be honest, Pasadena's OSH isn't bad, either--the staff there is knowledgeable.

But I like the small stores. I like aisles not quite wide enough to walk two abreast. I like shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with things I want but don't recognize. Shiny!

The best, though, is the language and the experts who speak it. "What you need, ma'am, is a consarn two. They used to come in two sizes but they don't make the three anymore, the two's standard now. How's your wingbrack? Threads still tight? Huh? Oh. Lemme show you. Here's a wingbrack. It's got this here hinge, and you just flip the spring--no? Okay, so you take the consarn two like this, and you jam it into the wingbrack until the flip nozzle opens..."

I will arrive home with a bag fully of shiny wingbracks, flip nozzles and consarn twos. I will love them and perhaps not remember what I learned about how to use them. I might regret not having bought the blue wheelbarrow, but I've still got my red one and that is one tool I know how to use.