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.