From a different angle

11/27/09 Barrel planter & four pieces of stovepipe, given away on craigslist

A guy named Richard came by this morning to pick up several things I offered for free on craigslist.com. He took four pieces of stovepipe that were in our basement when we moved in. I'll appreciate not tripping over them anymore. I didn't talk to him about what he plans for them, but I assume -- perhaps foolishly -- that it will be something involving a stove.

The other thing he took was an old barrel planter. It was also here when we arrived. I had moved it a few times and had used over the last several years to grow a white pine seedling into a three-foot tree by our front door. Joanna even put red bows on it last Christmas, giving our entrance a very festive look.

Since we're having our entire entry way and front porch rebuilt (gulp!), I needed to move the planter and tree. I transplanted the tree into our yard, discovering in the process that its taproot had gone right through the now-rotten bottom of the planter and down into the ground. It was a chore.

This left me with an old, bottomless planter. I figured it'd roll it elsewhere in the yard and plant some other tree in it, but Joanna gave me a bit of a sideways look when I suggested that plan. And so, onto craigslist it went.

I assumed whoever took it would use it as a planter. Logical enough, right? But Richard had other ideas. He recently planted a lilac bush and needed something to cover it for the winter, to protect it from snow and freezing rain. He figured the planter, flipped upside down and given a new bottom (now, top), would do the trick.

Brilliant!

I love it when people look at something from a different angle and find a new use for it. That's the heart of innovation, and we're all capable of doing it. We just need to open our eyes and our mind, taping into the synergistic coupling of intelligence and creativity.