Making Yogi Proud

I was thinking the other day about how my project would be a lot harder if I didn't live in Corvallis. It's a city that is compact enough that I can get around on bicycle and close enough to farm land and forest that my scenery can change the more I'm willing to pedal. I've got many options for grocery shopping at large chain stores, smaller specialty food shops (my latest love is Rice N' Spice) and an amazing co-op with locations on both sides of town. There are about five second hand shops from Goodwill to Habitat for Humanity, two beautifully run women's consignment shops, used book and music stores and multiple antique boutiques so I still feel like there is enough variety for me to fulfill any sort of consumer desire that could arise.

In early January I popped into OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop, a little second hand shop in downtown Corvallis whose proceeds fund scholarships for OSU students and grants for local non-profit organizations. I was there on a quest to find some cast iron frying pans to supplement my households pans and move us away from bizarro Teflon. The cast iron goods were non- existent that day, but on my second spin around the store (I always take two trips), I noticed a nicely shaped one foot square, eight inch deep picnic basket with a wooden lid. I've been in the market for a picnic basket since last summer. The basket was in good condition, and I picked it up and thought, "This would be perfect to fit on my bike rack!" The only issue for me was the late 70s era floral tole painting on the lid in the dated shades of brown, rust and olive green but it seemed easy to replace with a different painting or collage so I bought it for a cool five bucks and brought it home.

When I got the basket home and really thought about what I would want on a picnic basket I kept coming back to an outdoor scene, something with mountains. Unfortunately, I'm not the most experienced landscape painter and I knew that anything I attempted would end up looking like a kindergarten finger painting exposition. Lucky for me, my mom is an awesome wilderness painter! I brought her the basket on one of my visits home and a few weeks later she returned the basket to me with a lovely painting of a mountain range with a field of purple lupin in the foreground. But that is just the outside! On the inside of the lid she painted a beach scene. That picnic basket transformed from being a nice thrift store find to a piece of art! I can't wait to strap it to the back of my bike and go out for some adventures.

The picnic basket re-vamp was a good reminder for me to look for the potential in the things I notice at second hand shops and the stuff I already own. What can I alter and improve to better meet my needs? What can be made beautiful?