Sustainability, “The Rise of Sneaker Culture” at the High Museum, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

Here’s to sustainability in sneakerdom: the undulating wave-like curves on this ocean-inspired sneaker are threads made from reclaimed, recycled plastic ocean waste. The Ocean Plastic Program’s goal is to end plastic pollution of the oceans.

Prototype sneaker: Adidas, in partnership with Parley for the Oceans, and industrial designer Alexander Taylor ( Retail availability 2016)

There’s a lot more to see in “The Rise of Sneaker Culture” at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Though it’s a mostly boy-centric show,  I still found things of interest — like these silver moon-boots…

Sneaker moon boots! (well, sorta)

2014:   100 pairs were created in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing, and released on July 20 at 4:18 pm, the exact time of the landing of the lunar module in 1969. This sneaker sold for $196.90 to honor the date.
GE, Android Homme, and JackThreads collaborated on the design, using GE materials, including GE’s silicone rubber (as in original moon-walk boots) .

Still shiny — Christian Louboutain Roller-Boat.

2012. Gold pony-skin uppers with studs, for men who “treat shoes very much as objects, as collectors’ items.”

And while we’re still on in the realm of gold, let’s segue to sports…

Puma and Undefeated, Clyde Gametime Gold, 2012

Puma archive – these are an homage to the gold medal winners of the US Olympic basketball team.

Next, here’s an early pair of lady-shoes (yes I know I’ve already complained that there’s not much here for women).

For the ladies: Dominion Rubber Company Fleetfoot, c. 1925

The apology here is that, “there were still concerns that women’s participation in athletics would detract from their femininity.” Hence the high heel. *sigh*   Still, it’s a unique show and well worth a visit if you live in the Atlanta area — on view through August 14, 2016.

Now for more thoughts on shoes and sustainability. If I google “average number of shoes a person owns”  the consensus from scads of articles seems to be “about 19 or 20,” at least for women. In view of that pair above I’m guessing the reason we have so many is that we’re still looking for some that are comfortable.

I’ve been reading The Boomer Burden, Dealing with your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff, by Julie Hall. This morning, among sad facts like “Americans use 14 billion plastic shopping bags annually” (could that be true?) I read, “The average American buys 6.7 pairs of shoes a year.” Hmm, I am not innocent. I bought a new pair of sandals on sale last fall, and I’ve been staring hard at the soles of my walking shoes and wishing to replace them.

Now I’m off to count my shoes. I must have some I can donate.

How many pairs of shoes are in your closet?

 

More on The Rise of Sneaker Culture – at the High Museum, Atlanta until August 14 2016

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

 

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Modern Atlanta Homes Tour 2016, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

What’s the best description of “modern” style? — how about spare, simple and …pure?  Here’s an update from this year’s Modern Atlanta (MA!)/Design is Human Contemporary Architecture and Design Tour.

Is it the simplicity, or is it all that gray and white that makes it seem pure? Here’s a patio with a touch of color…

Modern Atlanta Homes Tour, patio seating area — still “modern”

And an entryway fountain –  color courtesy of nature,  spare and pure (and maybe even Zen?)

Living room behind glass – on the tour, some homes are completed and lived in, some are in progress, some are in-between. This room is from the same home as the fireplace photo, and like it, this room was staged by Ligne Roset.

One thing about all these modern spaces — there can be no cozy piles of papers like what tends to accumulate in the corners of, well, some of our homes. That would definitely ruin those clean spare lines.  I guess there’s no choice but to downsize before going “modern.”

I should know all about downsizing by now, but there’s always something to learn. I’ve been reading Downsizing the Family Home, by Marni Jameson — here’s a sampling…

Everything we own has power … Letting go of anything we have seen or used or experienced as a child is hard because the memory embedded in the object has such power. We fear if we let go of the object, we’ll lose the memory.       — Organizing guru Peter Walsh, quoted in Downsizing the Family Home, by Marni Jameson

Simply and starkly put, sorting through a household makes us face our own mortality: the passage of time, life and death, where we’ve been, where we haven’t been, where we are in life, successes and regrets.    — Downsizing the Family Home, by Marni Jameson

Modern can be a little cool — here’s a space that’s warmed with wood and stone

I love all the angles in this sleek modern stairway.

My favorites on the tour are often the remodeled houses. The wood in this stairway links cool modern and warm vintage.

If I ever have a modern-style home of my own, it won’t be large and lavish like these homes, but I hope it can be as simple and pure. I’ll go with this definition of pure —  “containing nothing that does not properly belong.”

Still, on homes tours, I always wonder what’s behind the doors they mark “Please do not enter” — could there possibly be a little, just a little,  junky mess?

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

More on the Modern Atlanta Homes Tour 2016

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Leftover Foreign Currency, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Spare

Got any spare change?

Funny that they call it “currency” because it seems to go out of date pretty quickly.

I’ve been tidying up for quite a while now, but even though I’m heading for a spare (simple) environment, I still keep spares (extras) of useful things. What hadn’t occurred to me until I saw this photo challenge?   — Change… spare change that is. And when it comes to pre-euro European currency, I can vouch for the fact that nobody wants it.

Before our trip to England in May, I found a stash of British currency that must have been from the 1980s. I found more traveler’s checks too, and in pounds — bonus!. I was singing “We’re in the money…” but then, when we got there, we had to find someone who’d take the traveler’s checks (thank you Post Office).

More leftovers. Bob had just a small amount left from a 1990s business trip to New Zealand.

I had enough English currency to be a welcome addition to trip expenses, but it did require side-trips to the bank to exchange it for current — ok, “up-to-date” — currency. The old stuff was no longer spendable. In the countries on Euro, only a few banks will still exchange old currency at all. Last fall I took some leftover Belgian francs to Brussels. We spent time looking for the right bank, then learned they’d take only the larger bills. Sam thought I was joking when I said that, after the transaction fee, there might be enough for coffee.  Now I’m still left with the coins and small bills that my frugal nature doesn’t allow me to just throw away.

Sometimes we ended up with extra cash and kept it, thinking “we’ll be back” — and sometimes we ended up with just a souvenir amount. This little packet (with a note in Bob’s writing) was all we had leftover from Greece.

Even though it’s easy to use credit cards now, there are times it’s still good to have some cash. Tipping the cleaning staff springs to mind — I always sympathize with the maids. And in the future I’ll remember that some airlines collect extras for charity, so I could donate on the way home and avoid the spare change problem.

And this post? Late again, because it seems the only thing I don’t have enough to spare is time.

What do you do with spare foreign coins?  I’m thinking I’ll declare mine art material. A travel collage might be interesting…

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Spare

P.S. Anybody remember Scrooge McDuck? — I’m starting to feel the urge to play in piles of coins…