So Sleeeepy

Stephanie brought me a goat:

So that's exciting. If anyone sees any others, be sure to let me know!

More soon, for real. The reason I don't post very often is that by the time I have a chance at 11 pm, my brain has shut down entirely. But I have so much to tell you, of cans, and hats, and rabbis!

Bring me your goats!

I'll post something of depth soon, kids, but in the meantime, a project! FB may have been joking about looking for goat displays, but if you DO see goats, whether in shop windows, as a statue, or in a picture, send 'em to me! I'll post them here. Together we can create a collage of goaty greatness.

Here's the email: frightfullyclever@gmail.com

Goatastic

On my morning walk from the T to the office, I pass by several high-end department stores. Depending on which way I travel, it might be Nieman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Saks, or any of myriad other shops that I can't afford and have no interest in. My most common route takes me past both Lord & Taylor and Saks, and even though I don't care about the products they sell, the window displays always catch my eye, because they often cross into the realm of bizarre. L&T, particularly, has had some doozies, from the erect-nipple mannequins of summer to the strange S&M tableaux that they used one winter. None of it, however, could prepare me for this month's display, the invasion of the goats :













I found the goat to be an odd choice. They're funny looking animals. Traditionally, they're associated with the devil, due to their bizarro pupils and cloven hooves. They smell terrible, and eat everything. Why would they be a useful marketing symbol for high-end fashion?

For this display, the answer turned out to actually make sense: the clothes are cashmere.














So, ok, fine. I keep passing the goat display and think nothing of it, other than "where does one get a life-sized stuffed goat?" Until I go past the Saks display:













Yes, that's right, another goat. ANOTHER GOAT. And for this, the theme is wild about beauty, so I'm now baffled. I'm left with so many questions, please feel free to answer them if you can:
1. Since when are goats considered wild animals?
2. Or particularly beautiful?
3. Are goats IN this year? Is there something I don't know?
4. Or do Saks and L&T have the same window designer?
5. Most importantly, is that goat wearing lipstick?

I'm The Ice Cream Man

I am a person who is attracted to crafts. I knit, I bake, I occasionally create bizarre collages or photo books and send them to friends. I'll admit that I often have more enthusiasm than follow-through (except for cooking. I'm obsessive about new recipes until I've made them. Hence my current day-dreaming about squash ravioli), but occasionally I stick with something and the results, while not always predictable, are usually at least entertaining.

For example, my current dream project is to photograph and write about the weird, hidden-in-plain-view side of Boston. In a city this old, there are scads of gargoyles and bizarre Victorian architectural quirks nestled cheek by jowl with hideous modern structures. Most people here don't notice them, because natives are always in a hurry and don't notice the people in front of them, let alone buildings, and the tourists are too busy gawking at what they're told is important, like the Cheers bar. So I thought I'd rescue these gems from obscurity and bring them into online obscurity, my blog. To this end I took my lunch break on Monday to scout out the Back Bay. I found plenty of lovely examples of stonework, which I will post in future blogs, but I also found something more, something equally overlooked and precious. I found the Sherbet Man. (or Sherbert Man, as you please).

This 60-something gentleman caught my eye in Copley Square, by Trinity Church. He looked like every other business man in Boston, except that his suit was the exact color of orange sherbet. Jacket and pants, sherbet. The cherry on top, however, was his matching baseball cap. I will pause a moment and let that sink in.

Yes, not only was he wearing a baseball cap with a suit, not only was the suit a ridiculous color, he matched the baseball cap to the suit.

Now, you might be thinking, ok, weird guy in a big city, whatever. Perhaps he was an actor, or maybe he lost a bet. An orange sherbet suit isn't so weird. That's what I thought too, until Tuesday. When I saw him again. In a lemon yellow suit. AND MATCHING BASEBALL CAP.

And this time, because I was out capturing on memory card the gems I had spotted the day before, I have proof:

It's a bit far away as I did not want him to KNOW I was photographing him, but there it is. Not only does he wear suits in an odd color, with a matching baseball cap, he has more than one such ensemble. I went out Wednesday hoping to see him in mint green or strawberry pink, but alas, as with most things, when you seek the Sherbet Man, you do not find him. However, should any of my fellow Bostonians spot him, please - tell me what flavor he is this time.

Incidentally, should anyone not be familiar with the Tom Waits version of the song that provided the title to this post, you should correct that at once.