spotsandstripes

Guinea Feathers

Gorgeous naturally striped and spotted guinea feathers. For your fascinator. (What, you're not donning one at midnight for the wedding?) They also come dyed pink, yellow, or turquoise.

Psanky Psanky Easter Eggs

Apparently the full colour spectrum set is sold out but you can still get sets of four in pink, green, orange, and blue at the Psanky Psanky etsy shop. What a gorgeous heirloom.

Wooden Dots Christmas Tree Ornaments

We picked up these Christmas tree ornaments at Canadian Tire. They appear to be made out of tiny slices of sticks glued to both sides of what looks like a plywood sheet, then cut into the shapes of a heart and a fir tree. I'm still trying to figure out a way to makes something like this ourselves.

Raindrops

Raindrops by Janice Wong, who has taken many beautiful -- I want to say delicate, and melancholy, too  -- photographs of dots in nature for her blog spark. (Thanks Sara.) It has been raining here for days. Days that feel like years. Luke is desperate for snow.

Making Rainbows

I've had my eye on these solar-powered rainbow makers for some time -- they'd make great gifts for almost anyone. My kids would love this; my mom would love this; who wouldn't love this? Trouble is, whenever I've come across them, they've always seemed a little pricey. My National Geographic Christmas catalogue lists the double one for $39.99 but Amazon is offering all three styles right now for roughly half-price. Unfortunately, they don't ship to Canada.

I'm also considering getting this Uncle Milton Rainbow In My Room projector for the kids.  It requires batteries and leds, though, and has slightly mixed reviews.

Couldn't Resist Another Rainbow

David DeHetre photo CC.

 

Kermit and Debbie Harry sing "The Rainbow Connection." Answers.com has a response to their question: "Because they are pretty." That Answers.com. So helpful.

Yayoi Kusama's Polka Dots

These polka-dot-covered tree trunks that lined Singapore's Orchard Road for its Biennale in 2006 were by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Kusama began hallucinating dots, nets, and flowers in childhood and now lives in a mental hospital in Tokyo. She often works with polka dots and has said, "...a polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity." Kusama was interviewed for BOMB in 1999.

A Zorse, Of Course

 Udo Richter photo CC.  

This is a zorse called Eclyse who lives in Germany. She's the prettiest zorse I could find. (See more photos of her.) A lot of them have rather muddy-looking coats, although the stripes are still visible. I'd never even heard of a zorse until I read this story about hybrids a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times. But apparently zorses have been around since the 19th century. Check out the names various zebra/equine combinations (zebroids) have been given: zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule, golden zebra, horbra, hebra, zebrinny, zebret, zony, zetland, zonkey, zebonkey or zebronkey, zebrinny, zebrula, zebrass, zedonk or zeedonk, zebadonk and zedonk-a-donk-donk. Okay, I made that last one up.

Bumblebees Prefer Stripes

British and Australian scientists have discovered that bumblebees prefer stripes. Well, duh. I mean, they're wearing them. (Actually, they seem to prefer striped flowers and red ones, too. Gardeners may be able to help stop the rapid decline of bee populations by choosing to plant them.) Thanks to ecstaticist for the photo.