Ken Hoyt's blog
Hummingbird Snacks
By Ken Hoyt
Love hummingbirds? I think everyone is charmed by these avian acrobats. Do yourself and the birds a favor and forgo the manufactured food. You can make this preservative and colorant free version at home:
Sugar Water Nectar
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
Combine the water and sugar, and bring to a boil. Stir until all traces of the sugar have dissolved. Cool completely before filling the feeder. Store the leftovers in the refrigerator.
The Audubon » READ MORE
A Bug's Life: the naughty bits...
By Ken Hoyt
Frankly I have an interest in only a half dozen bugs (mostly because we meet regularly in my garden). But the luminous daughter of the legendary Ingrid Bergman is consistently too captivating to miss... Isabella Rossellini could make drying paint seems fascinating. Now, it seems, she has a thing for the sex lives of bugs. (It's Isabella. So go ahead, deal me in.)
She created eight very informative, and highly entertaining, short films on the » READ MORE
Dress for Success: Superhero-style
By Ken Hoyt
The always fascinating Metropolitan Museum of Art has never been at a loss for exhibitions to draw in the normally art averse. Who needs to study brush strokes when there are actual temples from antiquity and entire rooms from stately homes?
The Costume Institute (originally curated by the fabulous Diana Vreeland) has stepped out of it's usual role of historic investigation with Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy * show set to run through this sum » READ MORE
Still Thirsty?
By Ken Hoyt
Single use water bottles are an expensive delivery system for a relatively generic product. And they're expensive on the back end, because few of them actually get recycled.
Even some of the reusable bottles, although a greener solution, may have a sickening side effect.
In The New York Times article, Perceptions: Go Ahead, Put the Water Bottle Down, Nicholas Bakalar finds that there is little evidence to support the widely held belief that » READ MORE
Color your world...
By Ken Hoyt
The red wall (despite my dire predictions) refuses to die. This piece (part of the routinely well-written Room to Improve column in The New York Times) gathers the rouge-tinted opinions of a cross-sampling of talented designers... it's worth the read before you make the (hard-to-paint-over) commitment...
For more posts, like this one, check out my blog.
Objet d'art via Architect
By Ken Hoyt
Architect vs. Decorator? I've heard of the conflict but I always enjoy working with architects. More than that I enjoy their minds. Both disciplines are about solving problems. We decorators may move walls and change surfaces to that end but architects are called upon to form structure.
Legendary designer Margo Grant Walsh shares my passion. She turned her passion in to a focused collection of objects: the metalworks of architects. The colle » READ MORE
Thirsty Beast? The newest accessory for SUVs
By Ken Hoyt
Is the act of filling your big macho ride making you feel a little queasy? You may just need the newest accessory for luxury class vehicles.
Soon you'll be able to make your own fuel in the backyard with a home version ethanol maker. The E-Fuel 100 Microfueler is expected to make ethanol for around $1 a gallon (subject to the price of sugar). This luxury-oriented blog points out that it may make owning a gas hungry vehicle just a bit more affo » READ MORE
Free Stuff: DIY Pinhole Camera
By Ken Hoyt
Summer vacation is just around the corner. The familiar whine, "I'm bored" will be only moments behind the final school bell. Take out a little insurance: bookmark this post for inexpensive fun that provides hours of brain-stimulating activity.
Pinhole cameras are fascinating. At their most complex they challenge the math skills, but at their simplest they still amaze (check out this FAQ for more info). Should you doubt the possibilities check » READ MORE
DIY: May Day Seed Pocket
By Ken Hoyt
If your springtime has resembled mine you have little in your garden that might make a bouquet. Perhaps a fistful of soggy dandelions? Beyond that I got nothin'.
I like celebrating May Day because it gives me an excuse to surprise someone. This year's dearth of flowers has forced me to re-think my strategy. My new rationale is that we need hope more than we need flowers. And what's more hopeful than a packet of seeds. They promise a bounty of » READ MORE
Oilgae?
By Ken Hoyt
Will pond scum save the day? The downsides of corn as a biofuel source have become a serious topic of late. Here's the short version: one acre of corn (plus 440,000 gallons of water) will produce about 480 gallons of ethanol per year. Diverting corn into making ethanol has been blamed for rising food costs. And then there's the concern that producing biofuel actually adds to the global warming problem.
Algae (aka pond scum) is considered a goo » READ MORE
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