an abstract with snow
Yard art carries the last accumulation (I’m hoping) of snow.
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From the monthly archives:
March 2009
Lines and Curves Make a Building
Clean lines, a sweeping curve, columns of red, a blue sky.
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first in a series of crosses in New Mexico
While traveling on the High Road from Santa Fe to Taos last October, we stopped at Santuario de Chimayo. It is a popular shrine and well attended by the faithful in the community and surrounding areas.
second in the series of crosses in New Mexico
There are many crosses in the area, both at the small churches in each village and in roadside settings. Some of them are heavily decorated with rosaries and hand-made crosses of twigs and twine or woven straw. Even the chainlink fences at the sanctuary have hundreds of twig crosses attached to the wires. Other photographs in the series can be seen in the flickr set Crosses in New Mexico.
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Finally. . . the Daffodils are Peeking from the Earth
I can finally report that Spring is making an appearance in Wisconsin. We had temperatures reach the mid-50s both days this weekend and the earth is thawing. When I walked through the yard this evening to examine the different gardens, I was happy to see the daffodils near the front door showing a bit of green.
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. . . as Long as the Hill is Mama!
Here’s a sure sign of Spring’s arrival. Lambing is in full swing at the A-Z Farms in Oregon, Wisconsin. Thus far, 167 lambs have been born in the last two weeks. 91 ewes have had their babies; 19 ewes are still waiting as of 8 am on Sunday, March 22.
Scoreboard: 28 single births, 44 sets of twins, 17 sets of triplets, no quadruplets yet.
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and Beyond, the Arboretum
The doors of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Arboretum are panels of stained glass deeply tinted in greens and golds. And I love that you can see just the hint of the natural world through this colorful portal. As for the choice of colors . . . green and gold remind anyone of a certain National Football League team?
I’m just sayin’ . . .
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rain drops, ice drops
All the world looks like it’s coated with a glaze. I wonder when the oaks will finally give up and drop last year’s leaves.
Soon it will be time to replace the browns in the landscape with greens. I did see quite a bit of the Irish green yesterday, it being St. Paddy’s Day, but that isn’t the green I’m waiting for.
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fifth in series of Bridges of Madison County
Roseman Bridge was built by Benton Jones across the Middle River several miles southwest of Winterset, Iowa. It remains in its original setting. It is 107 feet in length. The Roseman Bridge was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $152,515. It was chosen as one of the main settings for the movie The Bridges of Madison County in 1994, but since it had recently been renovated the bridge looked too spiffed up. The movie company sent a crew to “age” the covered bridge for the movie, and according to contract, they “un-aged” it after the movie was completed.
The Roseman is the bridge most people associate with the book and movie. This is the bridge Robert Kincaid searches for when he stops at Francesca Johnson’s farmhouse for directions. It is also where Francesca leaves her note inviting Kincaid to dinner.
built 126 years ago
Every autumn the citizens of Madison County hold the Covered Bridge Festival. It has become a tradition for over 30 years. Each year on the second full weekend in October, county residents gather in autumn to celebrate the historic covered bridges. The festival features old-time craft demonstrations by local artisans, a wide variety of food, music and entertainment, an antique vehicle parade, tours of the bridges. Check out the festival plans for October 8 and 9, 2009.
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Covered Bridges have Great Shadows
The Cutler-Donahoe Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa to have two names. The bridges were usually named after the family that lived the closest, but both the Cutlers and the Donahoes demanded naming rights. Guess they didn’t have bidding wars back then.
fourth in the series of The Bridges of Madison County
This bridge was built in 1870 by Eli Cox. It is 79 feet in length. It was originally located over the North River near Bevington. It was moved to its present site in Winterset’s City Park in 1970 for preservation.
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third in the series of Bridges from Madison County
Another covered bridge from Madison County. Now that I have dug into my archives from last October, I am determined to get this series of bridges posted, and then I can cross this off my photo to-do list.
This bridge was built in 1884 by Benton Jones. (Benton appears to have done most of the bridge building in the county.) It runs 97 feet long across the North River.
The people who named the creeks and rivers in this central Iowa region had a utilitarian approach to their job. A few of the many water ways near Winterset are known as Middle River, South River, North River . . . you get the general idea.
Why name a bridge Hogback?
They were a little more inventive when it came to naming the actual bridges. Though most of the county’s covered bridges were named after the bridge’s closest neighbor (or neighbors if there was a bit of an disagreement), Hogback got its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of this valley.
Lovely Autumn Day for the Last Leg of a Long Drive
I took these photographs on the last day of a 16 day road trip from Wisconsin to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and back. By the time we hit Iowa we were getting close to home, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out these bridges. They are all only a short drive from either Interstate 80 which cuts east-west through Iowa, or Interstate 35 which bisects the state with its north-south route.
A map provided by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce shows all the locations of the bridges and other locations from the movie The Bridges of Madison County, plus the birthplace home of John Wayne.
Ha! Bet you didn’t know John Wayne had to share Winterset’s limelight with all the covered bridges in the area. I didn’t take a photo of his home. I think the bridges had more appeal, and I was running out of time and energy.
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