Clean laundry, really, and a quick question everyone:  

Does it bother you when your neighbors hang their laundry outside on a

clothesline?  I want to start using one in our not-so-private backyard, but

I am afraid that the neighbors mind think it is kind of a nuisance.

I want one of those old fashioned systems where you plant the metal

pole in the ground and then there is a wire that holds the laundry and spins

around on the top.  Does anyone know

where to buy one of those?

I am lousy at recycling, so this would be the least that I can do to

celebrate Earth Day.  It is weird to me that my children don't know the

smell of clean sheets dried by the sun and the wind.  

I miss that smell.

Margery

I've been hearing about purse parties ever since I moved to the Twin Cities.    I got invited to a couple, but never went.  It seemed like fun though--a little wine, a little shopping, and a quick hit of that bargain adrenaline we all love.  Cheap purses with expensive labels.  

But as it turns out, really, they are fake purses with fake labels and sad, sad histories.

As Dana Thomas writes in her book, Deluxe How Luxury Lost Its Luster, "The purse-party ladies are the drug dealers of the counterfeit trade:  they buy from the wholesalers and sell to suburban users, folks with a craving for the goods but not enough dough for the genuine thing.  Like teenagers gathering at a friend's upper-middle-class home to buy a couple of joints with their allowance or babysitting money suburban women converge in well-appointed living rooms for wine, hor d'oeuvres, gossip and fake Vuitton or Gucci handbags."  

The counterfeit purses are often manufactured by children under the age of ten working long hours in horrific slum conditions.  

That's what we talked about Tuesday morning with Dana.   I think we needed to know it. 

What next?

Libby wrote after Tuesday's show:  

"So now that I feel guilty about these parties, what should I do with all the purses I have bought over the years at these things?"

What a great question.  Ladies, what do we do with the purses?  Any ideas? 

Look at how pretty this website is! I've got a little learning to do, but I am looking forward to seeing what we can all do with this great community we're building.   I look forward to lots of conversations, posts and pictures.  

Margery

Thank you to everyone that showed up for the Martin Yan cooking class at the Byerlys in St. Louis Park on Saturday.  This morning, my hands still smell like garlic.  

For those of you that missed it, Martin Yan was very patient me.  I will never be a good, creative or content chef, but I did learn a couple of

things.  I learned to cut up a pineapple without wasting half of it, and I learned how to pound the hell out of garlic and ginger.  Now if cooking were all about smashing and pounding, I'd do a lot more of it.  

Margery