As Madonna was sitting as close as physically possible to the pellet stove, I was thinking about how much the decorative arts have changed over the last 200 years. Look at these simple tools I use with the pellet stove! In the Victorian Era, even the most mundane objects bore embellishments. The dust pan and skuttle bucket are the most remarkable. How creative and beautiful, even though they were for cleaning up coal and ash! At the Oaklands we constantly face headwinds from observers when we add embellishments that hearken to a time when beauty was not in simplicity, but rather in a cacophony forms, flowers and faces. I think it reflects humanity far more than the ubiquitous sterility we embrace today.