And I didn't even get to the--oh, wait, those are for surprises.

[mrissa]

markgritter, timprov, and I met porphyrin at Taste of Scandinavia to do St. Anthony Park Art Fest today. Yes, I know it's called Finnish Bistro now. I haven't started calling Dayton's Macy's yet, have I? and it was Marshall Field's in between times. I love St. Anthony Park Art Fest. Love love love love it. My parents are Minnetonka partisans, but for my time, St. Anthony Park has the best art fest. And I don't just say this because it benefits the library. Or because I have a Helsinki necklace and an x-ray greeting card of a seahorse and, as I told Facebook, had a very near miss on being forcibly adopted by a roving band of five amazing Scandosotan potters. Who are so blatantly influenced by Tove Jansson or at least by her influences that I could swear that that wolf there is friends with Little My. As well a wolf should be. There is no one reason to love St. Anthony Park Art Fest. It is large. It contains multitudes. And with my snazzy new cane, I can reach those multitudes and only be completely wiped out afterwards.

But that's not why I've called you all here today. No, it's this: we want a thing, and it's not a thing we can do. The garden metalworkers are making decorative garden metalwork, which is all very fine, decorative metalwork that can stand weather is very good, and there were aliens and fierce steampunk dragonflies I almost wanted enough to try to talk markgritter into one even though the garden is his domain and like that. But what we really want is decorative/interesting/fancy useful garden metalwork. Like tomato cages. We have to have tomato cages, for lo, we have these many tomato plants. Is there some reason why the tomatoes need the cages to look like they currently do? I'm thinking not so much. I'm thinking someone who knew tomatoes could experiment with creative asymmetry. With wandering wire writ large. With something interesting, and--as tomato cages are not Protestant weddings--not just on the back. (Obscure joke, ask my mother.) And you, oh internet: you know people. Go forth.

Comments

[rosefox]

Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/leftoniron

The artist is on LJ as folzgold; please tell him I sent you. He will make you anything you need that could be made out of hand-forged iron, including things you didn't even know could be made out of hand-forged iron. (I love his blacksmith's d6.)

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

Oh! And you can tell that I am tired, that I did not think of this right away.

I second this recommendation

Interesting on the back

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

... of the program?
Maybe a little haiku.

Re: Interesting on the back

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Okay, since I am now no longer completely wiped-out exhausted, I will tell you the story.

Protestant weddings mostly, though not universally, feature the bridesmaids standing in a row at the front of the church for the whole service facing away from the congregation. Mine was a Protestant wedding. My mom and I took my cousin Kari, as the local bridesmaid, shopping for dresses, and everything Kars tried on, Mom said, "I don't know, it's nice, but I wish it had...something interesting about the back." High-up tasteful cut-out detailing, row of buttons, small sash tie...something interesting.

So Kari brought tagboard and markers and a hole-punch and yarn to the rehearsal, and each of the bridesmaids made a sign for her back reading, "This is SOMETHING INTERESTING..." and then a fun fact about herself or the two of us together. Kari's was, "The bride and I have come out of the closet together," since we used to play Narnia together as kids.

[buttonlass.livejournal.com]

I have visions of an incredibly large piece of work by EliseM. It could have whole tomatoes as some of the jewel notes.:)

Re: Interesting on the back

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

Ha! cool. I figured it was something to do with the dresses... thought it would be the wedding dress though. At the ones I've been to (which aren't Protestant per se ... just nondenominational Christian, or nonreligious period) they/we (bridesmaids) have all stood in a row at front of congregation, but looking at the bride and the crowd, not facing away. So in our cases there had to be something interesting about the front. :)

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

I have not the slightest notion about the shapes of tomato cages, but I do think it is High Time that someone asked this question.

[pameladean]

That is a totally brilliant idea. Because not only are regular tomato cages ugly, they tend to fail after a few years, usually while pretending to support very large indeterminate tomato plants, and it's very hard to figure out how to get rid of them, as they are hazards to navigation and merely poke holes in trash bags.

P.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

I was just gonna say that Mris is making me want to make tomato cages. And possibly tomato baskets. Hmm.

[yarram.livejournal.com]

They often fail in the first year if the plant's growth exceeds the capacity of the cage.

Why, yes, our garden is excessively fertile, why do you ask?

(Here via a post by elisem.)

[pameladean]

I hear there is a thing you can do with tomatoes called, "pinching back," but I can never bring myself to actually do it. Possibly if one did, these cut-rate tomato cage would work all right.

P.