Fall splendor

I took a lunch hour in October to capture the splendor of fall's colors. I finally took about an hour to tweak the images. Here's the good ones. Or, at least the above average ones. Or - okay, the ones I like anyway.

Calaphon: Responsible stewardship or irresponsible consumerism?

So, Nathan and I ended up at Kohl's tonight because he managed to destroy both remaining pairs of jeans last weekend. After a flurry of picking and trying on and picking and trying on, we wandered down to the kitchen section.

Enter temptation in the form of a Calaphon 10-piece cookware set. Suddenly images of my mangled kettle and my flaking sauteé pan float through my mind. The set we received for Christmas last year did NOT wear well, and I was hoping to at least find replacements for at least these two pieces.

Yet, here is the kitchen set of my dreams - $50 off and with a free 4-quart dutch oven to boot. Glass top, anodized aluminum, indestructible non-stick, and on a really good sale.

I walked away, thinking about the poor people in the world. If I buy a $300 cookware set, that is money I cannot use for a much better purpose. I think I represent the rich young ruler who is too married to her wealth to enter the Kingdom. I think I'm a spoiled American consumer who only sees what she wants in front of her face.

On the other hand, if I have to spend $100 every two years on a cheap set, I'm really not being responsible with my resources at all. If I continue to cook with my broken pieces, I am putting nasty chemicals into my system. If I buy something quality now, I will probably spend less in the long run. The set I'm eyeing is not the most expensive one in the store, and really is on a killer sale. And I really DON'T have a pot for making soup since I crushed mine in the cider press (ha, good story!).

Nathan and I wandered around for several more minutes to let it simmer (pun intended), and we decided if the stuff lives up to its reputation and we don't have to buy another set for 20 years, it's good stewardship.

But I'm still not sure if it wasn't irresponsible consumerism. I guess only time will tell.

I'm back

After self-hosting our blogs for a long while and then going without for a long while because of hardware failure, I'm back to blogspot. This blog is part of my commitment to Mike Hauser to be true to my artistic self - so watch for creativity coming here soon!