One.

A slightly-belated-but-still-very-happy birthday to my nephew and his hair. Yesterday, social media was packed with sweet tributes to siblings, and I couldn't be prouder of my brother and sister-in-law for their first year as parents. Max has a collection of photos of Dash on his website, which was updated last night. See more, here. 

Photo by Max Wanger. Coming next week: "great art," grizzlies, a brand-new POV.

More for the weekend, in the meantime:
-A cake baked inside a lemon.
-Dr. Seuss's private hat collection.
-Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

Have a wonderful weekend - eat cake, write a poem, tear it up, celebrate.

Tunnel of Love.

Believe it or not, this lush, living "tunnel of love" actually exists. Grown over a private railway in the Ukrainian forest, the tunnel is just under two miles long, a popular site for romantic wish-making, and the perfect material for almost-weekend wanderlusting. Enjoy.

Via Inhabitat. First two photos by Amos Chapple/Rex Features; second two by Oleg Gordienko. 

Buses, Boats, Seaside Cliffs.

Mom, I'm afraid of growing up, what if I am poor and cannot afford a house? asks photographer Wenxin Zhang, whose Thisispaper photo essay, "Goodnight Stories," depicts various alternative living situations in San Francisco. As someone who writes regularly about interiors, I love these glimpses into less conventional homes. For instance, this is an old hotel, inhabited by nine people:

And this is someone's garage. 

Why not live on a bus, draped in sheepskins? 

Or a boat?

Or, as Zhang puts it, "just find a wood pallet and live on a sea cliff"? 

I once made a (very) temporary home in an RV on someone's front lawn in New Zealand while I was WWOOFing. I also spent my last year in college in a giant purple and yellow Victorian house in Santa Cruz, with rickety stairs and unreliable heat. I have such beautiful memories of those places. Where have you lived that's stuck with you?

See the full story at Thisispaper, here. All photos by Wenxin Zhang. Happy Wednesday!

All-Season Scarves.

Though these scarves by Leah Goren - whose work I love, as regular readers of my blog might know - are technically part of a fall/winter collection, I'd happily wear them any time of year. When I was in Sri Lanka, I wore a flower print kimono day and night (I also had it on during this freckle-themed photo shoot). It comes with me everywhere. Though sleeveless, I have a feeling that tiger-print scarf would do just the same duty.

Scarves are available  for pre-order at Leah's new website. Also on my spring list: these shoes (I wore them every day last summer), this tiny bag, and this book by Lydia Davis (I saw her read last week and loved her).  What's on yours? 

Ghosts Among Us.

Last night, my roommate Lily and I walked a half hour across Williamsburg to a friend's apartment. It was dark and cold and the streets were quiet, and we told ghost stories all the way. (Actually, what really happened was this: I made a vague reference to The Sixth Sense five minutes in, and then spent the rest of the walk trying to recount the storyline, scene by scene.) Anyway, we discovered that despite being in our twenties, we're both still terrified at the idea of ghosts. We dread walking down our hallway in the middle of the night, and we wonder about the sounds we hear in neighboring rooms when we're home alone. But really, I thought aloud, wouldn't it be the most horrifying thing to come home one night and find Donnie Wahlberg in his underwear, hiding in your bathroom?

This morning, I was delighted to stumble across these ghost paintings by Angela Deane, who adds friendly apparitions to found photographs. There's a ghost relaxing in a hot tub. Two more preparing for a wedding. A group riding an escalator. Friends playing Guess Who. They're not frightening - mostly charming and kind of cute, and beautiful in a surprising way. Those ghosts in teacups (two below) make me laugh every time.

See more ghosts at Angela Deane's Tumblr, here. Thanks so much to Lucky Pony for the introduction.

Further reading: on living ghosts.