Skip to main content

Creative ReUse

When I’m not teaching, or blogging, I have a soft spot in my heart for something called upcycling. I like to create new things out of old things. Maybe it comes from all my years as a preschool teacher, turning egg cartons into alligators and old lunch bags into puppets. I do know that I love to rescue old things as a way of reducing waste. Why go out and buy new junk when you have so much old junk to play with?

So I was deliriously happy to learn of  Scrap B-More, a store that is run completely on donations of craft materials and sells them at a huge discount. Their goal is to keep unwanted items out of landfills. I loved their sign:



2, 832 chihuahuas! That’s impressive!

I scored some burlap ribbon, a large quantity of white cording, and a book on 1950’s advertising wth gorgeous, glossy illustrations which will be perfect for collage and decoupage. It’s fun to poke around and see what they have. It also makes you realize that you have stuff you aren't using that you’d like to donate. You can learn more about Scrap B-more on Facebook. 

        



After feeding our crafty appetites, my daughter and I popped over to Fell’s Point for some lunch. She wanted to show me another kind of creative reuse: the Rec Pier Chop House in the Sagamore Pendry Hotel.  It’s fancy. Here’s the lunch menu.

    


Thanks to the immense front window we were able to eat lunch inside with an unobstructed view of our car, something you have to do al fresco in Howard County.

        

I think I’d like to live in this place!   


   
The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the atmosphere and wall art are fabulous.

    

(It changes color.)  

The Sagamore Pendry Hotel will be known to many of you as the police station on the television show Homicide: Life on the Steets. Before that it was a Baltimore City recreation pier, hence, the new restaurant name.

I hope that, as Columbia ages, we’ll see more of our own examples of creative reuse. (Think Whole Foods from Rouse Building.) We’re seeing plenty of new construction these days, but what about some creative preservation? Can you think of a Columbia building that’s ripe for a new incarnation? 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: Who Belongs at the Library?

  One of these things is not like the others One of these things doesn't belong Can you tell which thing is not like the other By the time we finish our song?* Did you guess which thing is not like the others? Did you guess which thing doesn't belong? If you guessed this thing is not like the others Then you're absolutely right.  Our library promotes equity. Our library promotes literacy for adults who have come here from many places. Our library promotes accessibility to materials and opportunities. Our library is hosting multiple Harry Potter themed events?  Tell me this isn’t so. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, has and continues to use the profits from those books to advocate for laws that diminish the rights of trans people. She has and continues to use her fame to influence public opinion to view and treat trans people negatively. In short, Ms. Rowling is using the Harry Potter book series to make transgender people around the world less safe....
1 comment
Read more