Pinterest

Today’s weekly email from Pinterest suggested “Pins You’ll Love.” Boy do they have my number. One of the pins was a do-it-yourself candle project from Apartment Therapy. The title: How to Make a Clementine Candle. I watched the instructional video and headed straight for the kitchen. I had a basket full of Clementines just waiting for something fun.

My first attempt was a bust, as you can see below, but the second one turned out okay. What a fun project.

You simply cut around the middle of the Clementine with a small knife, careful not to cut into the fruit. Then gently remove the fruit from both sides, leaving the internal stem intact. The stem acts as a wick for your candle.

Clementines

The instructions say to cut an opening in the top half using a knife. I’m not the best carver, so I improvised instead, using a small, sharp, cookie cutter shaped like a snowman.

Snowman Cookie Cutter creates a vent in the top of the “candle”

You fill the bottom half with olive oil. I pushed the stem into the oil for a few minutes to make sure it wicked properly.

Clementine and Olive Oil

Clementine Candle

I’m ready to host a dinner party, just so I can line the table with these fruity delights.

Snowman “Chimney”

Let me know if you give this a try!

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my Granny Smith apple in action.

From Apartment Therapy:

What is a Clementine?
California Cuties®: I buy them by the bag full.

Boomdeeada got me rolling this week, when she shared this clever (empty) chair from Pinterest with the term Eastwooding.

Cactus Chair Made by Valentina Gonzales Wohlers
(Thanks Boomdee)

Eastwooding

Someone coined the term “Eastwooding” after actor Clint Eastwood addressed an empty chair at the Republican National Convention. He was pretending to address President Obama. Memes are spreading across the web, parodying the awkward, at times rambling, unscripted speech.

A meme is a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.

In his book The Selfish Gene (2 ed.) Richard Dawkins states “We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene’. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to ‘memory’, or to the French word même. It should be pronounced to rhyme with ‘cream’.”

I will leave the clever memes to the talented folks that create them, but thought it would be fun to share empty chairs with a gardening flare. Be sure to let me know if you have a favorite in the comments below.