To Open or Not to Open

That - is the question! Whether it is better - I mean, nobler - to suffer the winds and rains - I mean, slings and arrows - of outrageous circumstance . . . in this case, Hurricane Sandy . . or by opposing them - opening the store? - and here, our analogy breaks down. In any case, it's always hard to decide what to do under extreme weather threats. Sometimes the City of Cambridge mandates closure, making it easy. Sometimes things are a little more fuzzy - and this morning we're really not sure what to do. So . . . we'll open for awhile. Be there for the UPS delivery and any brave morning customers. And then - we'll see. At the very least we'll be able to put a sign on the door if we decide to close. We hope all you blog readers stay dry and electrified until this passes!

Joie Gets Political

So . . . one of our customers who is a school principal ordered some Obama and Romney standups to use in the school mock election process, and we decided to order some extra and use them as a Halloween window. Why not? Our first thought was to have them dress up as each other - but it didn't have much oomph. Then we thought Romney could be a hippie, but somehow, while searching for costume parts, he wound up as Dracula. We were having a hard time deciding what to do with Obama, and then we thought Superhero of some sort - so he wound up as Superman. Just after installing the window, a passerby banged on the window, pointed at the display, and gave it a thumbs down, which caused us to spend an entire evening agonizing over whether it was too political, disrespectful, etc. But the next day brought nothing but laughter, compliments, and a seemingly endless stream of people taking pictures with their phones. So, we have relaxed about the whole thing. We just meant it to be fun . . . we really don't think of Romney as a blood sucking vampire . . . or not often . . . and we also don't think of Obama as Superman . . . not after the last four years. And we'll take it down right after Halloween and be as respectful as possible for the week before the election !

Mini Slinky + Artist =

Sometimes the smallest, least expensive things can wind up being kind of amazing - you just need an artist to take you there. Like the little mini slinkies we sell for all of $1.50 - they're cute, kids like them . . . . and then, someone buys one and sends you a picture like this, and you think - wow . . . . that's beautiful, and a tiny unassuming object is transformed into something quite glorious. Thank you SF !!

Just Like Bob Dylan Said . .

Well, he said the times are changing - as you'll notice here - it's our blog that has changed - visually, and our website as well. It's an interesting phenomena how this happens. When we first designed the website and blog we were absolutely crazy about how it looked, and remained so for a good two or three years. The green backround matched the green we had used on the walls in the store and our bags, and the logo with the duck in the big V was new for us. And then, one day - we decided to go with a light grey bag. And then, slowly, a kind of discontent crept in. The next thing you know we were wondering what the website would look like with a grey backround . . . and the next thing, our designer had come up with an entirely different page for both the blog and the website. We tinkered with it for awhile - and now it's up. The king is dead - long live the king! As soon as we decided we would go with the new look, the old look looked dreadfully dated to us. That's the interesting thing - how something you love so much can suddenly seem so not what you want. Anyway, we hope you like our new look - (and it's sure to remain for at least a few years!)

Cute and Bizarr !

So . . . we have this cute postcard, pictured above, in our rack, and the other day, an employee came up to me and said - "Do you know what this postcard says??" I looked at it - as far as I could tell it didn't say anything. "What it says?" I asked. She looked at me quizzically and told me that it said something that we might not actually approve of. I grabbed my reading glasses and looked hard at the little picture on the wall. Even with glasses, it was hard for me to make out - but after trying a minute, I could read what the framed embroidery said. And it clearly said: "go f--- yourself" !! Whoops! Not what I would expect on a cute postcard of a bunny and a bear, even though the company that printed it is called Bizarr. And probably not something I would have ordered had I known - but I comfort myself by hoping that no one else will really notice it either. Such are the perils of poor vision.