Lenore and I went to a really fun barbeque today. There was all the fun stuff that you could want, volleyball, badminton, boche ball, drinks, food, a potato cannon, and fireworks. But what really added to it is that Dave has a collection of tin wind-up toys from the 1950s (which was really fun), as well as a bunch of little mechanical toys. All sorts of little widgets, mostly made of wood, that do cool stuff when you turn a crank.
The simplest of them was just a head that turns to try to see a butterfly that is always flying just out of sight, and one of the most complex was a guy who is very unhappy to be getting a tooth pulled in a dentist chair. Aside from working well, these things are really beautiful and fun. For some examples check out my friend Don Olney’s site.