Pick-A-Day

March 2024
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I am not a Hoosier.

I’m fresh back from a trip to the USA, where paranoia about Covid is on a whole different level from Germany. Excluding Monroe County, Indiana, only three shops enforced a mask mandate: REI Fort Collins, REI Denver, and an art gallery on the court house square in Spencer, Indiana.

In some shops I was the […]

Whatchamacallit 182: Four Corners Bracelet

I bought the above bracelet in 2013 while visiting New Mexico – the same trip when I bought Whatchamacallit 18: the Navajo Plant Dye Chart and Whatchamacallit 92: Navajo Turquoise Bracelet.

This was bought at a place where you really can be in four places at once: Four Corners Monument.

Surely I didn’t pay […]

Whatchamacallit 181: Native Timbers of New Zealand (Ruler!)

I’ve visited New Zealand twice. Once.

Both visits were part of my 2015 around the world adventure – before and after Samoa and American Samoa. It depends how you count “visit” – the first was 7 hours, the second was 25.5 hours. I could look it up, but I am too lazy to do […]

Whatchamacallit 180: Berliner Luft (part 2)

In July I wrote about Berliner Luft, the soap bubbles.

Now it is about Berliner Luft, a peppermint liquor that is best not drunken.

However, 2.5 years ago I bought this bottle to celebrate the fact that I’d purchased some “Berliner Luft,” as in a few cubic meters of air high in the sky.

[…]

Whatchamacallit 179: IKEA Postcard/Thing Holder

I bought this thing in 2010, shortly after moving into my apartment in Schöneberg.

Throughout the year, as postcards and greeting cards arrive, I fill it up – then in late November, I take everything down and start the process anew.

For reasons that will become apparent, I’ve had to undertake this process a […]

Whatchamacallit 178: BVG Hat

I’ve never worn this hat.

This was a giveaway from the BVG – Berlin’s public transit agency – during Berlin’s Christopher Street Day (Berlin Pride) several years ago. Which year, I cannot recall.

The hat folds up tightly and neatly into the yellow bag on the left, along side the whistle in front.

I […]

Whatchamacallit 177: Star punk (magnet)

I bought this magnet while in Berlin on vacation from a stand at the Boxhagener Platz flea market on Sunday morning.

The back of the magnet is signed, with a 2007 date mentioned.

I cannot read the signature, but there is a clear marking:

jan m. petersen OBJEKTE www.kunstkaufhaus-ost.de

Much to my […]

Whatchamacallit 176: Ghost in a Four Room Apartment

This book is not the first copy of this book that I’ve owned.

The first copy of this book I got in either kindergarten or first grade – I would guess kindergarten, but logically it feels more like first grade.

It was free, a gift from RIF – Reading Is Fundamental – a program […]

Whatchamacallit 175: Buffalo Wool Hat

I bought this hat from a shop in Laramie, Wyoming. I have no idea how long ago, how much, or which shop.

The shop did have a small selection of goods made from buffalo wool, including coasters, which I keep in my living room. The hat was also there. Given the difficulties of obtaining […]

Whatchamacallit 174: My Panama hat, bought in Ecuador

This is an expensive hat: I bought it in the country that is home to Panama hats, Ecuador.

If my geography is correct – and the store has continuity of ownership, I bought it at EBD Carmal Hats – Casa del Sombrero on my last morning in Quito, just before heading to Panama, where […]