Friday, February 6, 2009

Spin the Bottle

Today's Wonder of the World is...the Bottle! And the wacky things people do with it!

Flickr photo by Pandorea
Like making bottle trees!
Have you ever seen one? According to the Bottle Tree Man, if you put colored bottles on the end of branches of a live tree outside your house, the bottles will capture any approaching evil spirits.

Good old Mr. Wikipedia says a bottle tree is an artificial tree made of glass bottles, usually of the liquor variety.
Hmm. Maybe that explains it! After emptying all those liquor bottles, who'd notice a few evil spirits?

The welded variety is pretty cool too.

Flickr photo by Karonsdaylilies
Does that one float your boat?
Maybe you should take a road trip to the Bottle Tree Ranch. Very cool!

Flickr photo by Of Mine
Of course there are plenty of other things you can do with bottles.
How about build your own bottle house?

Flickr photo by Matt (mistergoleta)
You could pretend you were Jeannie!
You could sit inside and write bottle poetry to Major Nelson.
Perhaps Dr. Seuss might get you in a poetic mood...

"When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles...
...they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle." Fox in Socks

Try saying that three times fast.
It might be easier to build a ship in a bottle!

Flickr photo by chmeermann

I always wondered how they did that until I hopped over here.

I like bottle cap art too.
Allow me to show you what a few artists at Etsy make with bottle caps.
Magnets!

Photo by bottlecapsgalore.etsy.com
You can find these here.
When my Sarah was little, she liked to call them maggots.
Oops. Sorry if you're eating lunch, but I just LOVE remembering that.
("What are you doing, Sarah?"
"Paying with my maggots.")

I'll change the subject now.
How about a bottle cap ring?

Photo by kroylty
I would so wear that! Find it here.

I'm in love with these whistles. Remember whistles?

Photo by loranscruggs
Go here to see more.

And last, but not least, how about a bottle tree...

Photo by satisfactory.etsy.com
On a shirt, here.
We've come full circle, back to bottle trees!
I just love it when that happens.

I hope you enjoyed your spin with bottles. And everyone kept their smooching germs to themselves!
Before you go, watch these folks pucker up. You won't believe it!

Have a wonder-full Friday and a super weekend, y'all!
Love, Becky

18 comments:

Unknown said...

What a fun video! I was never much for spin the bottle, but I do love altered bottles! They are more my speed, LOL! :)

LW said...

Wow…
The Beer Bottle Symphony Orchestra
was fantastic ..
The best part was the smile on the conductor’s face at the end…

Have a great weekend…

Louise

Susan said...

Don't forget the bottle trees in "Because of Winn Dixie". I loved that one. Have a good weekend. Susan

Adrienne said...

I've never heard of those bottle trees. Interesting! For some reason, ships in bottles make me nervous...maybe it's the thought of doing anything that tedious...

Ronnie said...

Hah! Love it. I am now inspired to start a bottle tree in my yard. What a great way to recyle. This jogged a far off memory of being in a performing bottle band in the fifth grade. I played a box of three bottles accompanied by my classmates on more bottle boxes and a few privileged block flute players.
Fun post. HAve a great weekend, Becky.

Rosemary said...

I love pretty bottles!!
You always find the coolest stuff.
A lady a few towns from me made her whole house out of old bottles. It was called bottle village. I think it is all torn down now.
Have a great weekend Becky!
Rosemary

Suzie said...

I love the bottle house

Unknown said...

OMgosh! Who knew. Love the idea of making bottle caps into magnets.

By the way, I finally did read "French by Heart" which I loved. I'm sorry to say I didn't purchase it like I had orginally planned. It was sitting in my mother's bookcase and after I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.

Will buy your next book. Pinky swear!

David Ebright said...

Becky ... I'm worried about you. You've either had something all bottled up inside ... or you've been hitting the bottle.

CC said...

I love those bottle caps! Cool! :)

Ms Dragonfly said...

omg, lol, bottle trees! so weird, i luv it :) hope you have a great weekend!!

lotusgirl said...

That bottle symphony was great. I also love lining up bottles to catch the sunlight or taking some of the unique ones and using them for vases.

May Vanderbilt said...

Oh yay! Bottle trees make me miss the South, my homeland!

And that bottle orchestra was utterly amazing. I'm guessing that was a European commercial. Or maybe Australian. I don't know what VB is, but now I want some!

Querulous Squirrel said...

This blog astonishes me with your ability to find so many related and free-associated illustrations. Always a delight!

judy in ky said...

This is so cool! I love the bottle tree ranch. The bottle tree reminds me of Gloria Dump's trees in "Because of Winn Dixie".

(Oh! I see Susan already mentioned that... well, it's definitely worth a mention.)

There are so many interesting things along Route 66. Where is Elmer's place?

Cathy ~ Tadpoles and Teacups said...

HAHA! Another great post!

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Great bottles! I love those bottle trees. I have been tempted to make one of my own.

Anonymous said...

I love the bottle trees!! That video was great---and, hey, Spin the Bottle was a swell game back in the Olden Days. It looks pretty innocent in this day and age! Hope you're having a great weekend! Dana