Why I Oughta...

In 2021, I planted two 1# small Hicks (upright) yews in the backyard - sort of near the understory garden on the north side.  I planted them somewhat close together with eyes on (eventually) shaping them up into a 'Block I' Illinois topiary .  Earlier that year, I posted about this University of Auburn topiary frame and dreamed of a 'Block I' .  The two Hicks yews were probably 12" tall in Fall of 2021 .  They've now had three (2022, 2023 and 2024) growing seasons and have put on some size.   Here are the two Hicks Yews - below - after those three growing seasons.  They've grown up (a little bit) are are still mostly columnar. It isn't easy to determine their height, so here below, is a shovel stuck in the ground to provide a height comparison.   I CLEARLY still have time to create the 'Block I' frame out of Chicken Wire, so I'm not concerned about that.  I am, however, concerned about the 'fullness' of these.  Are they going to ge...

Earlier this year, I posted some thoughts about how I could create a Block I - University of Illinois - topiary in our backyard and how I was inspired by an Etsy listing.   In that post, I did some of the layout and decided on a 4' wide and 6' tall Block I that would be about 18" thick when mature.  I've been thinking about something like this topiary for a number of years after seeing a bunch of them at a nursery on Route 12 that were (mostly) created from Arborvitae .  But, knowing we have mostly shade out back, I went through the mental gymnastics to convince myself that if I bought an 'upright' Yew, I could make the Block I topiary a go.  So, imagine my delight when I came across some $5 Fall sale Hicks upright Yews at Home Depot over the weekend.  I stuck a couple in my cart and brought them home. I put them out in a few spots and thought about placement.  I kept moving them, walking away and viewing the pots.  I want to see it from near the...

As part of the 'Share a Coke' campaign, it seems that the fine folks at Coca-Cola are running some college football team logos on their bottles.  Above...you'll see the Block I from what I'm pretty sure is the Fighting Illini.  More on this in a moment. Below, you'll see the other side with a football helmet. Here (below) is another football team logo - this one from Ole Miss.  I bought both of these in Memphis.  Hence...why I was uncertain if the Block I is *really* the Illini?  It *has* to be, right? The problem is that Coke is using the OLD Block I.  They updated it a few years back to include these rounded inside corners.  See the brand guidelines here .  Or here .  Below is the "new" Block I - with those rounded inside corner.  Wonder how that happened? I've posted Coca-Cola products here on the blog before including these from Singapore .  And these from France .  And this one that ALMOST got my name...

If you head there now, you'll see that hanging in the staircase of the Downers Grove Recreation Center is this art project made of small mirrored pieces of glass.  It has squares around the edges and a molecule-looking object in the center.  There's a post here on Facebook that describes the project and the themes it is exploring (community + the universe).  Here's how the project is described in the document hanging next to the work that is titled "C-60" that was created by artist Linda Stucker. Here's the full post on Facebook from the Art Department embedded: If you read the description, you'll see that the artist - Linda Stucker - invited Downers Grove residents to design their own 1.5" tile squares that would be included in the final project. Welp...I totally forgot that we participated!  One Saturday, after basketball, we saw a table set up at the Rec Center.  So, The Babe and I decided to sit down and create a little glass tile....