photography and musings from a Midwesterner
From the monthly archives:
While I was in Illinois this last week attending to my mother’s care – it was a middle-of-the-night phone call from the hospital kind of trip – my Spring bulbs appeared in all corners of the yard. They were a happy sight when I pulled into my driveway, nodding their ‘hellos’.
(And good news on all fronts – my mother is quite a bit better, too.)
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Once, a half century ago, the home was proudly tucked and painted… there was a green trellis trailing with wisteria vines and a long bench covered with potted plants… there was a rocking chair for long rests during the hot humid afternoons and a calico cat snoozing in a sunny circle on the gray porch planks. There were voices calling through the doors – yoo-hoos and howdy-dos.
A half century ago.
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This is me. I’m the photographer – see the arm with the camera raised in position to take a photograph of the bare path. And the other shadowy figure? He’s my camera Sherpa. That is my partner’s description of himself when he is out in the field with me.
At first, he only carried my camera gear – HIS choice – because he didn’t like the (very) casual way I flung my sling backpack around when I was in a hurry to change lenses for the next shot. He thinks camera lenses are not expensive toys to fling about, and he is right.
He is also a numbers guy: lots of initials behind his name at the office; analytical; organized in a scary sort of way; innate ability to read 30 pages of tax code and interpret the gobbledygook into meaningful directives. (Well, maybe not meaningful, but he does interpret them.)
But now, the changes are a’ comin’. He’s arriving home from his work-related meetings, hours away from our town, and saying, “You gotta see this barn. It will make a great photo. Three silos!” Or “Let’s drive to Galena this weekend. If we get there early enough, the sunlight should be perfect on the old stone houses.” He knows the Golden Rule and the Rule of Thirds. He’s commenting on my photos, and not saying things like “nice” or “pretty” or “what is it?” any longer.
And not only are his talents blooming in the creative direction. He’s also muttering things like, “Turning your photography into a business makes so much sense…” and “Now as a legal entity, you need to make a business plan…” and “When you go market your product, keep your receipts…” and “Our photo expedition to the Southwest this fall – $5.00/gallon gas – all those expenses… tax-deductible!”
Hey, no wonder I’ve kept this guy around for 33 years. He’s pretty remarkable.
In lots and lots of ways.
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Travel down the streets in Quincy. Illinois on a spring day and you’ll see why it’s been recognized as a Tree City USA.
During the annual Dogwood Festival, the Dogwood trees seem to compete in their own beauty pageant. Every yard seems to sport its own tree, a mixture of creamy white blossomed trees and the more familiar pink Dogwood flowers.
The annual Dogwood Festival will be held next weekend, May 2 through 4, 2008, though I should be returned to my home in Madison by that time. I’m anxious to see what the last blast of winter did to my just-peeking-out bulbs and perennials, not to mention my own flowering trees.
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Bleeding Hearts
This is the very bleeding heart plant I loved as a child. Returning to my hometown to tie up loose ends this week, I made a stop at my childhood home.
Each Spring my grandmother and I would eagerly watch this plant from the back porch, awaiting the blooming of the little hearts. Today I made an unplanned visit to the old house and found the bleeding hearts blooming bravely, standing amidst all the old memories.
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Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
architectural details on the Memorial Union Building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin
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The first bit of color popped up in my perennial garden this weekend, though it isn’t truly a perennial. It is the little one-inch Glory-in-the-Snow, a very early Spring bulb, and a member of the Lily family.
The little mounds of flowers looks a mite lonely surrounded by all of the other dormant plants in the large bed.
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A few photographs of the University of Wisconsin’s Red Gym, now a National Historical Landmark, and one of the most recognizable buildings on campus.
When it was constructed in 1893, it was quite the visionary gymnasium and armory as described in an article printed in The Cardinal, the university’s newspaper. The cost of the building was exactly $122,058.48.
“The gymnasium covers a space of ground 196 feet in length and 106 feet in width. On the first floor on the west side are the commandant’s office, the artillery drill room and the bowling alleys. The office of the commandant is furnished with a fireproof safe for ammunition, etc., and is connected with the gun room on the floor above by a private staircase. The artillery drill room, which opens out of the office, has an unobstructed floor space and can also be used for classes in gymnastics or for a lecture room. On the other side of the building is the locker room which will contain, when completed, about 600 lockers. Back of this room are the bath and the dressing rooms. The center of this floor is occupied by a swimming tank, 80 by 20 feet, and varying in depth from 4 to 6 feet.
“The second floor can be reached by six different stairways. At the front and the west side are the main stairways which are wide enough for the use of the battalion in column of fours. Then a staircase goes up from the east side of the building, near the dressing rooms, and there is the small one from the commandant’s office. The third floor, however, can only be reached by two stairways in the southeast and northwest towers. The drill hall, which occupies nearly all of the second floor, is 160 by 93 feet, and has a clear height of 43 feet. In front of the drill hall is the gun room and a visitors’ gallery, reached by the main staircase, extends along the front of the room.
“The gymnasium proper, on the third floor, is 160 by 65 feet. A space in the center of the room where it is 26 feet high is enclosed in netting and used for a baseball cage. Outside of this cage the gymnastic apparatus, the rowing machines, etc., will be placed. On each side at a little lower level are two rifle ranges 160 feet long, and below on the outside is the running track of twelve laps to the mile. All of the available space in the building has been utilized. In the corner towers are several small rooms which can be used for offices, committee rooms, etc. Careful provision has been made for the heating and ventilation of the building. Fresh air will be forced over and between coils of steampipes in the center of the building and it will then be conducted to the various rooms so that the air in the whole building can be changed in a few minutes.”
Sounds just like your modern day health club. Right?
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Tulip in stone, a carving in the facade of the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union. Building dates from the 1920s.
No tulips of the kind found peeking out of the ground yet. This one will have to suffice ’til then.
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