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KOOL KOMBI COOLER AT ABACUS GALLERY

This groovy, 44-gallon beverage cooler with working wheels is handmade from recycled materials by specially trained craftspeople in Vietnam.

$895 at five Maine locations or abacus.com

SMOKED TROUT (BOURBON BARREL) ROE AT SOPO MARKET AND RAW BAR

Naturally, pair the “pleasant pop” of these fish eggs with champagne. Imported from France.

$40 for four oz. at 171 South Ocean Street, South Portland or soposeafood.com

WATERPROOF BINOCULARS AT THE WOODS MAINE

Bring backyard birds closer with these little peepers made by Nocs Provisions.

$98 at 400 Main Street, Norway or thewoodsmaineshop.com

STILL LIFE WITH ORANGES BY DOUGLAS H. CAVES, SR.

A timeless, classic, citric composition in acrylic on a 20” by 24” canvas.

$2,900 at Portland Art Gallery, 154 Middle Street, Portland or portlandartgallery.com

MARINER WREATH IN CORAL BY WHARF WARP

Made from 100% reclaimed lobster rope, this all-weather gem helps save the planet. 16.5” diameter x 1” thick.

$50 at 19 Torrey Hill Range Road, Freeport (if the barn door is open) or wharfwarp.com

 

TANGERINE-TINGED TRUTHS RHYMES WITH ORANGE Oxford English Dictionary considers sporange– an old botanical term for the part of a fern that produces asexual spores – a perfect rhyme with orange. There’s also Mount Blorenge in Wales, but that’s not in a dictionary. And there are plenty of slant or half rhymes. In an article about the linguistic riddle, Merriam-Webster cites lyrical genius Eminem on 60 Minutes in October 2010: “I can think of a lot of things that rhyme with orange... If you enunciate it and you make it like, more than one syllable... you could say, like, “I put my orange four-inch door hinge in storage and ate porridge with George.” WHICH CAME FIRST? Like its nearly untouchable rhyming status, “orange seems to be the only basic color word for which no other word exists in English,” writes David Scott Kastan in his book “On Color”, and yes, the word comes from the fruit. Delicious, bright, fresh, naranjas arrived in Britain from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th and early16th century, quickly embodying the feeling the hue produces. Before that, poor Anglos could only suggest orange, like Chaucer in the 1390s, who had to describe a fox as “betwixe yelow and reed.” HIGHLY VISIBLE In 2014, the then-popular television series “Orange is the New Black” created a dilemma for a Michigan Sheriff. Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel felt the orange jumpsuit had become a fashion trend, worrying police would be unable to identify an escaped inmate in a crowded area. Today, it looks like stripes are out, while orange or white are back in for short sleeve coveralls at Michigan State Industries, the nonprofit work skills program for incarcerated people that makes prison uniforms–and does a lot more–across the state.

These items are independently curated by METLN Content Studio staff.

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