Each Little World

Going forward

If you noticed the headline on yesterday's post you will have figured out that I republished my very first blog post to acknowledge my 15th anniversary of blogging. I started my blog after a 30-year career in journalism that ended as my liberal local newspaper left print behind and went digital. They needed to seriously reduce the staff and my job was eliminated as they reconfigured the newsroom.

Most of the people who left were like me: long-time journalists who were nearing retirement. None of us was ready to leave and we definitely were not ready to see our daily paper fade into the ether. 

All this is to say that I taught myself to blog to show that this old dog could learn new tricks. If you go back to my early posts you will see that they read like newspaper or even magazine articles; long, literary and covering a variety of subjects. Over the years I've pretty much concentrated on gardening as that has consumed more and more of my mental and physical energy.

I used to check my stats but haven't done it for years. Mark, however, took a look. He said that in fifteen years I've put up 3,005 posts or 200 times per year or every 2 days; however one wants to break it down. I've averaged 222 page views per day or 404 per post. You've commented 16,328 times or 5.5 per post. Not exactly an influencer or as influential as a number of you whose excellent blogs have resulted in books, lectures and more.

These days I'm self-publishing my own garden books but I was on the lecture circuit for years; going back to the early 1990s using slides. I've got a library of over 7,000 slides that are all archivally filed, labeled and cross-referenced and I'm on my 26th volume of hand-written garden journals.

All of which is to say that I'm 76 years old. If I want to read more, draw more, make more books, see friends more — do anything more often — then blogging needs to happen less frequently. How much less?? I'm not sure; but definitely on a more random schedule when I have something to share. I know many of you only at a distance. But I've met a surprising number of you in person because you brought a tour here (Daniel Mount), were visiting Madison (Flingers, Kris in Kansas City) or you live here and read my newspaper columns long before I stared blogging. 

I may be ready to blog less but I'm not ready to give up all these blog-related relationships. My e-mail is listed on the blog so we should all be able to keep in touch easily. I will try to see if I can find a system that works for you to sign up for notifications when I post. And you can also do what I do on many blogs I read, just periodically stop by to see what's happening and leave a comment. I will still be here and I know you want to see how our road construction project finally turns out!

Let me close by saying that the idea of blogging less makes me feel panicky. For 45 years the first thing I've done almost every day is sit down at a computer of some kind and start writing essays, op-eds, editorials, lifestyle stories, columns and blog posts. It is going to be a hard habit to break. 

The first image is a snap of all of us who left the newsroom in 2008. Some of us, me included (in the blue sweater center left), are automatically smiling when faced with a camera. But you can see on some faces what a very bittersweet moment it was. 

The third photo shows Wisconsin native Daniel Mount leading a group of PNW gardeners on a tour of Midwest gardens and prairies. 

The fourth photo was taken the day Daniel Mount's tour group visited our garden. Blogging has resulted in me becoming interested in photography and in preserving the history of our garden, in words and pictures.

The last photo shows the crew putting in the new storm sewer in front of our property. They've now started to prepare the roadbed for paving, but that's still a ways away.

Keeping cool

I grew up in houses with no AC. Of course, we never had weather as hot as it is now getting. Luckily our house today had AC already in place when we bought it. Before then, I made do with more traditional methods of keeping cool. 

I bought this rather large fan when visiting my sister who lived in San Francisco. It didn't fit in my suitcase so it sat on the empty seat next me to me on the plane ride home. Those were the days. 

This one is from Africa though I no longer remember which country or tribal group. 

This is another large fan but I have the same style and pattern in a small size as well. 

Too bad I'm not into the Barbie hoopla as this would be perfect for a pink party. 

I have folding paper and fabric fans and tiny Chinese paper fans encased in metal that open up and the metal pieces are a sturdy handle. Fans like these were available everywhere when I first moved to Madison. Over the years I've downsized my collection but I still have enough fans that I've put them out for guests to use at summer parties.

The sky was dark when I began writing with thunder rolling through. But the sun has come out and another chance for rain has passed us by.

IVOM: Halloween

Whenever I get bored, I change up the items on top of this pair of Chinese wine tables. Or on the glass shelves we added on the bottom to provide more display space. Recently I wanted something to punch up this room and bought this pair of lamps at a new antique mall in town. Mark is less than thrilled with them because they limit the size and number of pieces of art that can be put on the wall behind them — which is why I saved the pair of smaller scale lamps that had been residing here. 

I put this grouping of objects out at the beginning of October. I wanted something that felt like Halloween but didn't include typical items. This group showcases a Japanese incense burner, a squash-shaped box of unknown origin and a Chinese ceramic piece that was likely used as a roof decoration. 

I immediately fell in love with this piece when I saw it at an art show at a friend's farm the summer of 2021. It's an actual dried pumpkin covered with lead bullets and sculpt metal. It's called "Pumpkin Mine" and is a comment on the marine mines used to blow up ships. I'm still not sure why I am so drawn to it. I'm not a violent person and neither is the artist — a friend — who made it. But it certainly has that eerie Halloween feel. 

This big wooden bowl full of Honey Locust pods comes out every autumn. When we first lived here, we rarely got pods from our three trees. In recent years, we are buried in them. We fill a lot of big bags with them and send them off to the county dump. 

As a means of turning these lemons into lemonade, I saved the longest, shiniest, most velvety pods for display. They live in this bowl year-round in the basement except for their month in the sun every October.

Easter greetings

Christmas weather

It looks like Christmas indoors at our house. I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. 

I am making a point of reading in the evening, ensconced in my grandfather's chair in the red room with the my glittery pink tree aglow.

"The Animal's Merry Christmas" was one of our favorite books as kids. So I had to buy a copy when it was reissued a few years ago. I read a couple of my favorite stories and then turned to some I remembered less well. "Green Christmas" is a long poem where the animals say

"When the ground is bare of ice and snow,

And stars are bright, and the winds don't blow.

Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow."

In the days when I used to drive or fly out East to spend Christmas with my family, nothing would have made me happier than a dry, green December. Pretty much the weather we're having now. The temperatures the next few days are all going to get up in the 40°s, culminating in a potential high on Wednesday into the 60°s. It's a weather pattern that I no longer desire and can barely enjoy. 

These days I agree with the townsfolk in the poem:

"It's not like Christmas without some snow!"

Sigh the townsfolk, wishing the wind would blow — 

I don't need any blowing wind, but I would be happy to have the seasons resemble those I grew up with; before we unleashed climate change upon ourselves and our world. 

IVOM: Pumpkin decor

I am not a big fan of Halloween decor, but I decided it was time to change the objects on the Chinese wine tables in the living room. 

My autumnal display includes "Pumpkin Mine" by artist Chuck Bauer. The dried pumpkin is covered in sculpt metal with rifle bullets glued on. I got it at an annual art weekend this summer. Not my usual type of purchase but I was instantly smitten with it; I suppose because I knew I had other not-quite-the-usual-pumpkin objects.

We found this gorgeously illustrated squash at the Farmers Market in Milwaukee a number of years ago. 

A metal container and an incense burner that both seemed to fit in with the others. Alas, that is all I know about them. 

Hanging above this display are three new photos by Mark of autumnal fall color — printed in black and white. 

I think they tell the story in a surprisingly subtle, yet strong, manner. (Ignore the lampshade in the lower left!)

More new wall art

After Mark put up three new landscape photographs in the living room, he figured "in for a penny, in for a pound," and kept going; framing three more pictures. I immediately snagged this one for my bathroom. (Yes, both bathrooms have art. Even the walls in the basement have pictures on them as a means of storage!)

This one is a square and replaced an antique oil painting of lilacs in our library. The lilac painting is rather fragile, so it just went on a nearby wall rather than in the basement storage rack.

This is the only image in color, shot on a rare group photo outing in the country. The very large property allowed the photographers to have room to explore and take pictures with lots of social distancing. 

NOTE: Click on the photos to enlarge them so you can see the details. 

Holiday decor: On the wall

For the past ten years we've hosted friends for brunch at our house on New Year's Day when the coffee shop that is our weekly meeting place is closed. We use that event, and the winter holidays in general, as the impetus to rearrange our art. Though we will be the only ones at our house this year, we decided our spirits needed the boost that new art and arrangements provide. 

Mark replaced his three photographs above the Chinese wine tables in the living room with new landscapes. I got to pick a trio my favorites. 

This was a fairly quick and easy project as he just used the mats and frames from the previous photos and rehung them in the same location. 

I set up a display on the table surface below the photos with lots of sliver and gray to complement the photos. 

Mark's preference was to leave it just as it is here; very industrial and sparse. 

No way! I intentionally opted for pairs of pots to hold plants. That's heather in the smaller galvanized pots.

The slightly larger pair of pots got red Cyclamen. I intended to get white-flowered varieties but could not get a pair in the size to fit the pots, so I went with red. 

It occurred to me later, that white flowers would not have shown up against the white wall very well. So red flowers made more sense; though I could not find a pair with matching foliage. Normally I put together much more asymmetrical combinations, but I went with pairs since we had so many.

We've been lighting all the candles in the living room (eight of them!) most nights. It has been such a boost to our spirits, that I just ordered more candles so we can enjoy the light all winter.

The definitive deck

When I last posted about replacing our deck, the very old deck had been ripped out, along with a lot of buried concrete, the substructure was is place and the wood for the deck surface had just been delivered. The top edge of the substructure boards were all covered with tape (below) to help keep them dry. If this edge gets wet and is covered with the deck surface wood, they would stay wet and lead to rot. 

Rabbit proof wire was put all around the deck and down into the ground. 

Tim Quigley, who owns the deck company, created a curved framework to join the two squared off sections of the deck where they circle the big tree at the edge. 

Adding this curve was the only real change we made in the design of the deck, other than getting rid of the step down from the back door to the deck surface.

Bringing the boards into the back garden to begin work on the deck surface. This is Ipe, a sustainable Brazilian hardwood. 

There are three boards that run parallel against the house. The yellow gizmos keep the space between the boards even.

The surface boards are all screwed rather than nailed in place. Screws are inserted from both sides, which makes them almost invisible when looking at the deck. 

Tim cuts the boards to length along the front edge of the deck.

Along the front and back edge of the deck, there is a row of boards that run perpendicular to the rest of the deck boards, creating this beautiful finished corner and edge. I have to say that this elegant touch is typical of Tim Quigley's work. He put the kind of time and thought into every aspect of the design and construction of the deck that is common on the best indoor projects. 

 

When I saw Tim arranging short pieces of wood along the edge of the deck it took me a while to figure out what he was doing. Rather than leave the substructure edge board visible, he covered it with deck boards matched to the thick and thin top boards. They are screwed in, rather than nailed, as well. 

The straight edge of the deck meets the curve around the tree. 

At Mark's request they finished the curved edge with matching short pieces the same as the long straight edge. This was not easy as I watched Travis almost flat on the deck, trying to get each piece in place and then screwed in. The new deck is a bit higher than the old one, so the first stepping stone down will need to be raised. That's on next summer's project list. 

While Mark got out a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the completion of the deck, Travis took a small piece of the Ipe wood to try a science experiment. 

Ipe wood is so dense it sinks and does not float — which is just what happened when Travis let go of the board. 

The last day Tim and Travis did all the finishing work was sunny and beautiful, perfect for an impromptu celebration. 

Mark opening a bottle of Proseco while I do my Vanna White imitation. Can you tell which of us is the person who is always cold?

Travis (left) and Tim ready to relax a moment. I was surprised to see Tim, who owns the company, here working most days. He has certain rules for his business, including no smoking on the job and no music. We also discovered that everyone we dealt with, in addition to Tim, were all pleasant and willing to answer all our questions. And Mark was out there constantly asking questions and watching them work.

The deck all done and ready for a party; hopefully next summer that will be possible again. When I stand out there, I feel like I am on the porch of a garden pavilion in Japan. Travis said he thought the simplicity of the deck suited our garden. 

Mark and I could not be more pleased with the look and the quality of the new deck; it's worthy of being part of our garden. Thanks Tim and everyone on your team.

Covidian decor

At the beginning of May I decided if we were going to be spending more time at home I wanted to make the space look and feel fresh. So one day while Mark was in the country shooting photos, I rearranged the living room furniture. I put the couch perpendicular to the big window wall so I could enjoy views of the garden all summer. It had been parallel to that wall and facing the fireplace. I rolled up the rug that is usually under our glass topped coffee table to make the space feel even airier.

When Mark came home, he approved of the changes but said it was his turn now. He would replace the art on the wall that his reading chair faces and redo the tabletop display in front of that same wall. He printed three of the scenes from his day in the country, popped them into frames and put them on the wall. 

Then he set up a display of our collection of tea pots, most of which are rarely all out at the same time.

Though teapots are one of the most inventive forms potters create, we've limited ourselves to this small grouping.

An antique Japanese version in iron with a bronze lid, that caught Mark's eye, is last addition to our little group.

The first teapot I ever bought, back in the 1980s, at the Potter's Wheel gallery in Door County. The artist is Polly Whitcomb.

This one is by Bill Farrell of Galena, Illinois. Bill is one of our favorite artists; we have quite a number of his works from tea bowls to sculptural containers.

This beautiful example is by Tony Gebauer of TR Pottery in Fish Creek, Door County, Wisconsin. 

A raku pot, also from a gallery in Door Country, by Lou Ann Lewis.

A pot that pours perfectly by Mark Skudlarek of Cambridge Woodfired Pottery outside of Madison. We own untold numbers of useful and beautiful items made by Mark. All but one or two of the big pots in our garden are also his work. 

This porcelain charmer is by Dolores Fortuna of Galena, who currently shows her work at Abel Contemporary Gallery in Stoughton. We bought this one on a visit to Dolores' studio. It did not yet have a handle and she offered us a number of options. We could not resist the idea of a teapot with a barbed wire grip. 

This weekend we are going to repaint our bedroom from deep yellow ochre to a shade of gray. All the art will be replaced. Mark's large, gilt framed abstract painting from his college days will move from the bedroom to the wall behind the teapots. So this space is due to change again as well.