Do you remember Life is Everywhere, which was right next to Big Bud’s on Bank Street, and which was one piece in a series of street art pieces being discovered by local bloggers?
Well, a few months ago I reported that Life is Everywhere was GONE.
Today I’m delighted to report that there’s a new piece of art now where Life is Everwhere used to be, and I think it might be a creation of the same artist.
It’s called The Swap Box, and it has an absolutely magnetic kind of appeal for people like me who like random and serendipitous connections.
The concept is that you take something out of the Swap Box and you put something into the Swap Box for the next person.
I think there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can see the Swap Box and walk right by it without looking inside, and those who can’t. You all know which category I fall into!
When I looked in the Swap Box, here’s what was in it:
- a receipt from the Dollar-It (which is the store that took over Big Bud’s) for a one-dollar purchase.
- an invitation to a Halloween party at the Fab Forest Ladies’ place
- an ad for Capital Taxi
- a plastic fork
- a mailing label with a 1 and a heart symbol drawn on it
- and a bit of broken sidewalk chalk (I think)
I took the mailing label with the heart on it, for Peg. Peg is my most eclectic mannequin, and the one who hoardes all my found stuff. See, there she is with the heart sticker tucked into her ample bosom (ample by mannequins’ standards anyway).
After I selected the mailing label heart from the Swap Box, I rummaged around in my pockets for something nice to leave. I seriously considered leaving my lottery ticket in there, because what nicer thing to give someone than a bit of hope, but then I realized I would always wonder. I considered leaving $2 so the next person could buy their own lottery ticket, but I decided money would be a crass offering. I didn’t have much else to leave. I rummaged through my knapsack, which mostly just held library books, and I couldn’t give those away.
Finally, in the secret pocket of my knapsack, I found something suitable. It was a zip-lock baggie containing two avocado pits and six toothpicks. I had put them in the secret pocket back in August I think, when I went to Montreal. I was going to give them to Merle so she could grow some avocado trees, but I forgot.
I hope whoever takes them from the swap box knows that you poke three toothpicks into each pit and suspend each in a glass of water, so that the bottom third or so is wet. Eventually, if you are patient and lucky, the pit will split and a root will grow. Then you plant the pit in a pot, and it will turn into an avocado tree.
I suppose it’s a bit of a stretch to think that someone will take them, and that that someone will also read these instructions. But you never know.
I’m going to put something else in the Swap Box tomorrow.
just to say hello and wish a fun weekend :o)
Thank you Mauricio, you too!