…when color makes you cry.
Tag Archives: Wisconsin
Tower Perspectives
Buddhism teaches me much about the interconnectedness of all things, about perspective in consciousness, about the dangers of dogma and claiming to know the capital T “Truth” about anything. What is this thing in front of you? You can give it a name, describe it with words and symbols, but that is not the reality of that thing. Those words and symbols are useful but limited. The experience of that thing is more, more than you can describe or symbolize, more than you can communicate. Yesterday, I went to Lapham Peak State Park and climbed a tower. Here are three different views of the tower. How do I convey the experience, the wind, the dizzying aspect of ascent, the vast horizon, the humor of humans who visit and the irony of our inability to depict our emotions and our consciousness of grand things? Perhaps these shots will give you a partial idea.
What do you “beleve”?
Loving My New Camera!!
My four favorite shots of the morning:
Milkweed
Mushroom or toadstool?
Sandhill cranes
Sky over Lapham Peak
Photo Contest “Best in Show”
Old World Wisconsin Foundation hosts a photography contest every year, and this year’s Best of Show picture included ME, the Church Lady! I remember meeting the photographer soon after we opened for the day. The heat had let up a bit, there were puffy cumulus clouds playing with the light; it was a brilliant, inspirational sky, and I couldn’t help looking up at its constantly changing aspect. He took several pictures and showed me with his viewer how the shadow of the window panes appeared and disappeared in various shots. I told him that I was planning to buy myself a new camera for my birthday. It was a very pleasant visit. How exciting to learn this week that the picture had taken First Place in the Historic Structures category and also won Best in Show! I saw the winning shot yesterday, framed and hanging in Harmony Hall. I got the photographer’s name and e-mailed him a congratulatory note and asked if I could post the photo on my blog. He graciously provided the jpeg and agreed. So, drum roll, please! Ladies and Gentlemen, Jay Filter’s award-winning photo of St. Peter’s Church and the “church lady” (me!):
Photo by Jay Filter
You can see more of Jay’s amazing work by visiting his website here. I love seeing his dazzling images scroll by and exclaiming, “I’ve been there!” Holy Hill, Lake Michigan, Old World Wisconsin, Devil’s Lake…and various sandstone formations that I think I recognize, but can’t remember where I was. My next goal is to enter the contest as a photographer, not a subject!
A Wisconsin Tradition
Steve and I have long talked about partaking of a certain Wisconsin tradition…the Friday Night Fish Fry…and two days ago, we finally had our first experience. It was a gorgeously golden afternoon, and I got a hankering for dining by the water somewhere. There’s lots of water in Wisconsin. It’s not the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but I’ll wager is got a good couple hundred. So, we went to the Post Office to mail off 4 boxes of parcels for the book biz, and we asked our good buddies behind the counter if they had a recommendation for Fish served Lakeside. “The Golden Mast in Okauchee” was the unanimous reply. With just our old road map as a guide, we were able to find it quite easily. No Google or nothin’. And Steve didn’t even find a dead end first. There was a wedding reception going on, and all was a-bustle with the ‘walk-ins only’ Friday crowd. Our P.O. friends must think we are a bit fancy. Truth is, we took a hike in the state park before dinner and arrived a bit sweaty, but no matter. Friday Fish Frys are casual, even at a nice place. The meal is served family style, even for two. We chose the cod over the perch. All the sides arrive first: applesauce, ketchup, tartar sauce, coleslaw, potato salad, rye bread and lemon. Then comes the french fries and potato pancakes and all-you-can-eat fried cod. Steve had a stein of dark beer, but I went with Southern Comfort on the rocks (I guess I was thinking of my Dad and the Ideal Fish Company restaurant in Santa Cruz). After dinner, we walked around a bit. Here are some of the shots I took:
The lake is surrounded by summer homes of all descriptions, settled in cheek by jowl. Typical Midwestern range of economies, some new construction, some barely standing. Not nearly as picturesque as my grandmother’s cottage neighborhood on Lake Michigan, but this lake is much smaller, and apparently, not really suitable for swimming, judging from the number of swimming pools in the area. My favorite one was this one:
Lake Effect
Memorial Day weekend. Boats wind their way down suburban streets in search of water. Summertime’s officially opened. Here in Wisconsin, there are lots of little lakes and one Big Lake, Lake Michigan. Steve and I found our way to the shore on Friday, where we were taken for the first of the summer traffic. We stopped south of Door County (which is way too commercialized) and met some of the locals in Algoma. Two guys named Tom told us their stories: one owns an antique store, the other is handicapped and zips around town in an electric car that looks like a mini Smart Car with a yellow caution siren on top. Both of them invited us to go visit their barns and have a beer with them later. Unfortunately, we had to drive back to Milwaukee right after our early supper. I can picture us becoming a pair of “colorful locals” some place. Steve, with his long ponytail, and me “au naturale” (meaning without makeup or coif) — we look like aging hippies, I guess. Tom of the electric car has renovated his barn and made part of it a stage for storytelling. He shares this space with local artists. It’s the greatest discovery, he tells us, this “sharing”. It makes his life fulfilling. Here are some photos I have to share:
St. Agnes-by-the-Lake Episcopal Church
Boardwalk…or birdwalk?
Enjoy your local color, everyone!
Friday Adventure
Steve & I went on a driving excursion today through rural Wisconsin. Today’s post will just be a teaser; I promise there will be more substance when I have more time. We began the day by re-reading W. H. Auden’s poem“In Praise of Limestone”. Little did we know that we would chance upon a cave by a river later that afternoon….
I hope everyone can make some stunning discoveries this weekend! Go out and enjoy the world!
New World Wisconsin
I spent yesterday in the 21st century instead of the 19th, as I wasn’t working at Old World Wisconsin. Here are some photos from my afternoon walk around the neighborhood.
Actually, we do have peonies at OWW, too, but not this color.
Urban cottontail rabbits are much more brazen than the ones out in the country.
The weather is warm and breezy, and begging me to take a nap! We had school tours for 4 solid hours today, meaning that I only stopped talking for 20 minutes during one rotation that only had 2 groups, and then for 30 minutes at lunch. That nap is sounding like a real good idea!
And It’s Still a Mystery!
Yesterday’s post featured some views of Aztalan State Park in Wisconsin. You can read about it in the Wikipedia article here. The pillars formed a stockade that enclosed an open area that contains a few pyramid-shaped, flat-topped mounds. Excavations have produced some burial remains, but re-constructing the way of life of these Mississippian people is still largely guesswork. It didn’t help that the area was sold for farming and plowed in 1838 after its initial discovery and survey. In 1941, the stockade was re-constructed from post holes that were excavated, but there were gaps…were there always gaps? No one knows, for sure. So all of you who guessed that the area may have been used for keeping animals in or animals out or for fortification or for rituals or for farming…you may all be absolutely correct! And you may all be incorrect. Pre-history is great for people who like open-ended answers. It’s humbling to those of us who tend toward perfectionism. We can’t ever really know The Truth, but we can observe and imagine and learn about ourselves by the stories we tell about the world. Change is all around us. Our experience seems to be the truest thing…until the next experience comes along. Maybe a good way to look at all of life is with a wink and a smile!
The End of an Exciting Day
For my second day of training at Old World Wisconsin, I got to finally get away from paperwork and training videos and get on site to see the historical buildings where I’ll be a costumed interpreter. I gotta tell you, I AM SO EXCITED!!!! My first stop was to see St. Peter’s Catholic Church in the Yankee Village area. This church was built in 1839 and has a wood stove right smack dab in the middle of the center aisle of the nave. No bridal procession is gonna get around that sucker! One of my jobs will be to pull the rope on the carillon to start and end the day. Swingin’! I also got to play the pump organ. I have never even attempted this kind of feat before today. It was a bit like trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time, as my feet had to keep the bellows going while my fingers worked out the four-part harmony, but I managed to squeeze my way through a verse of Amazing Grace without too much difficulty. What fun! After some consideration, I realize that hymn is probably not Catholic, although it may be from the right period. I still have so much research and learning to do!
I had to cut my time in the Village short and ride up to the German immigrant area to see the place I’ll be working on week days and with school groups. It’s an 1870s farm with a two-story house, bake house (or summer kitchen), granary, pig barn, regular barn, smoke house and three garden plots. I will be the interpreter for all these areas. I will be making bread in the big brick oven (it goes back about 8 feet!), tending the garden, keeping an eye on the pigs so they don’t escape, chopping wood with a mallet and froe, greeting guests and inviting them to interact with the place. Oh, so much fun going on! AND, I got fitted for my corset today! I can hardly stand it!!
Came home to turn my computer on for the first time and saw more than a dozen e-mails. Then I checked the poetry prompt for the day. It looks like fun, but frankly, I’m too pooped to poet. I have so much homework to do, so many questions to answer about the world I am stepping into. Instead, I will leave you with these sunset shots from our trip to the Mississippi and let you think about settlers moving west into the unknown. Why is history important… in the big picture? Why is experience important? Why is it important to share experiences through stories?
scillagrace 