Arts & Entertainment

Deck the halls

Stuck on gift ideas? You can’t go wrong helping somebody give the home a festive flair

Published

14 years ago

November 29, 2012

Erin Durkin

(photo courtesy of American Plant)

Not only can holiday-themed plants bring a room together, plants in the shape of a reindeer cannot go wrong. Like the mossed ivy reindeer from American Plant (5258 and 7405 River Road., Bethesda). They also offer custom holiday arrangements as well as recycled tin ornaments and tabletop pieces (americanplant.net).

Clever items from Home Rule. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

For several different gift ideas or must haves at any party, visit Home Rule (1807 14^th St., NW). From ice trays shaped like the Titanic labeled “Gin & Titonic,” to an owl-themed cheese grater, both priced at $15, these small appliances can become the cutest things in your kitchen. And don’t forget creative Christmas ornaments for $5-$13 (homerule.com).

Home Morter and Pestle set from Good Wood (Blade photo by Michael Key)

No kitchen is complete without beautiful kitchen appliances, like ones found at Good Wood (1428 U St., NW). They sell be Home Kitchen appliances, which include wooden teak mortar and pestle for $37.50, measuring spoons for $25 and olivewood juice press for $24 (goodwooddc.com).

Vintage bar caddy

To take your party to days gone by, you can’t do it without a vintage bar caddy from Foundry (1522 U St., NW) for $209 (foundrybyfreeman.com).

Espresso cups from Millennium Decorative Arts. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Or for colorful pieces such as multicolored espresso cups and a variety of mirrors, visit Millennium Decorative Arts (1528 U St., NW). The espresso cups come in several colors and patterns, for $35 for each cup and saucer. The mirrors come in different styles, colors and sizes for $75 to $125 (millenniumdecorativearts.com).

Vintage and new ornaments at Miss Pixie’s, a winner in this year’s Best of Gay D.C. readers’ poll. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

If you are as excited for Christmas as Miss Pixie’s (1626 14^th St., NW), step in to check out their small vintage ornaments that run from 25 cents up to $5, ceiling ornaments for $30, and even holiday molds for $12-$30 (misspixies.com).

Decorative bowls from Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

For classy home décor for any time of the year, go to Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (1526 14^th St., NW). Their inventory includes blue tinted glass blows for $50 to $130, decorative table centerpieces for $135 to $175 and ornamental boxes for $85 to $190 (mgbwhome.com).

To get traditional holiday plants or landscapes, go to Merrifield Garden Center (8132 Lee Hwy, Merrifield). Customers can also attend their holiday decorating classes, Santa hours and a Steinbach Nutcracker event (merrifieldgardencenter.com).

Salt-and-pepper shakers from Target. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

If you don’t want to break the bank giving your home a festive flair, Target has plenty of exclusive items that are colorful and inexpensive. Like Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shakers ($6.99), Christmas tree and Santa candles (various sizes and prices, all under $10), red or green cocktail shakers ($14.99), snow globes ($12.99) or nutcrackers ($12.99) in dozens of styles and more.

Even if you’re not crafty, Micheals (with several locations in the D.C. area) can give your home a ready-made holiday flair with tons of options.

Lemax pieces for village. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

Start your own holiday village or give that certain someone who likes retro flair a perpetual gift idea with village scenes and buildings from Lemax. Prices vary, but they almost all light up and will remind you of the train set you spent hours working on as a kid.

Snow angels from Michaels. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

Or give a whole room a silvery, wintry Michaels flair with color-themed pieces — there’s everything from Santas, silvery reindeer, sparkly candles, rhinestone-studded mirrors and more. Prices vary. These angels ($34.99) works as table centerpieces, tree toppers or decorative accents anywhere in your winter wonderland.

Mirrors from Christmas Tree Shops. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

Want to give something beautiful that’ll actually get used? These body-length wardrobe mirrors from Christmas Tree Shops ($39.99, various locations) come in several finishes and have a lovely Victorian flair.

And speaking of the home, if you and your partner have decided to use your gift money this year into the house, consider new window treatments. Window Wears has Hunter Douglas Duette Architella Honeycomb Shades and Pirouette Window Shadings on sale through Dec. 15. They’re online at windowwears.net.

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Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

11 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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