The study of neighbors through their lawn ornaments...

Figure 24. Cory-Merrill: The daze of wine and roses

So much time and energy is spent warning Americans about the evils of alcohol. If a yard full of malt liquor bottles in a low-income neighborhood is proof of alcohol's iniquity, then a yard full of wine bottles in an upper-income neighborhood should be proof of alcohol's virtue. How refreshing it is to stumble through a neighborhood that celebrates the dignity of drink through beautiful booze-bottled lawn decorations. And it is no accident that the glass and brass sculpture pictured in figure 24 has taken the form of a wino tree.

Instead of just tossing her empties out onto the lawn, the yard artist has welded metal tubing in the shape of a sapling (or sipling). The wine bottles are thereby lifted from their prone position, and bloom on every branch, to indicate how spiritous beverages lift the spirits. Each is held in the pouring position to suggest that the flow of booze back onto (or into) one's self is necessary for healthy growth. The lofty tree house in the background demonstrates that this yard artist is passing along her belief in "the high life" to her offspring, who will hopefully inspire a whole new generation to drink and grow forever.