Glitzy garden globes

I have a fascination with garden globes, the luminescent spheres cradled by concrete pedestals that one finds in yards throughout Central Indiana. I'm not sure that garden globes are a purely Midwestern phenomenon, but I'm willing to bet that Indiana ranks among the top three states in terms of garden globe density. I am intrigued by the seeming pointlessness of these lawn decorations. Why are they so popular?

On a recent visit home, my kind and always-fun-to-spend-time-with parents (Christmas is coming so a little brown-nosing is in order here) took Luke and me to Bonge's Tavern in Perkinsville, IN. This is a favorite spot for people from Indy who enjoy the upscale food in a funky old tavern setting. During the 45-minute drive through the countryside, I challenged Luke to a game of "spot the garden globe" to see who could spy the most.

"Oh, you won't see many of those," my mother chided us. She was giving small-town Hoosiers too much credit, for by the time we arrived at the restaurant, we had spotted well over twenty. They usually appeared in clumps: apparently when one house aquires a globe, the neighbors cannot resist following suit.

I recently came across a craft suggestion in which a woman had cut up those trial cd's AOL is always sending out and grouted them to a styrofoam ball to create a "glitzy garden globe." Now I know what to make everyone for Christmas.

Very special or very Chinese?

We went to Lao Sze Chuan the other night, but did not try any of the "very Chinese specials." For some reason we were reminded of "A Very Brady Christmas."

The November Challenge, postscript

My car has yet to achieve the shiny-clean condition prescribed by the weight-loss bet Luke lost, but he is regretting the 19 chocolate truffles he ate a couple of weeks ago.

From a recent conversation:

Ellen: So when are you going to detail my car?
Luke: What does that mean, anyway?
Ellen: It means you have to wash it, and wax it, and paint the scratched spots, and vacuum it, and clean all the bike grease off the upholstery.
Luke: Wait, I have to do all THAT? Had I known it was going to be so much work, I would have tried harder.

We shall see if I ever get to reap my victory spoils.

The November Challenge

The news for December is that it's, like, 10 degrees outside. Why did I leave LA?

The other news is that December marked the end of Luke and my Great November Weight Loss Challenge. On November 3, we decided that the person losing the greatest percentage of their body weight in the coming month would decide what nasty task the loser (or in this case, the lesser-loser) would have to undertake. I was gentle and told Luke he'd have to get my car waxed and detailed. He was positively mean and told me I'd have to do the Polar Bear Swim on January 1st--i.e., jump in Lake Michigan. Obviously he could care less about my health and my tendency to get bronchial infections every January.

Luke's meanness backfired, however, because fear of freezing cold water is a powerful motivator. This week we weighed in, and I came out the winner. Granted, nobody lost much, but I am 4 pounds lighter and looking forward to driving a shiny clean car.

We have re-upped for December, and I am trying to decide what the wager should be.