Each Little World

The other Bergenia

Bergenia ciliata is the other Bergenia — the one whose rounded fuzzy leaves look like an African violet on steroids. The leaves are similar in size to Bergenia cordifolia but mine are not quite as upright. 

I am growing this where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade, compared to my B. cordifolias which get just about full sun. 

All of my Bergenias tend to flower sporadically; B. ciliata's flowers are a sweet Apple Blossom pink compared to the strident magenta of most Bergenias. But this is a plant to grow for its gorgeous foliage. If they never flowered again I wouldn't complain.  

Don't let the moss in this image fool you. The ferns, the Bergenia and the moss are all growing in rather poor soil. In fact, the moss keeps colonizing the worst patches of hard-packed clay in my garden.

 

But the plants all seem to be happy, which means I'm happy, too.

90th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage: 8.26.2010

 

Remembering the women who made it happen:

Inez Milholland was the poster child of early feminists, leading the movement from atop her white horse. The image above shows her at the huge suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. held just before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration as President in March, 1913. 

As smart and famous as Gloria Steinem but with loads more glamour, Milholland attended Vassar College where she was suspended for organizing suffrage meetings. She was a record-breaking college athlete, labor lawyer, pacifist, advocate of free love, war correspondent and more. 

She died stumping for suffrage in 1916, from conditions related to Pernicious Anaemia. Her last public words were, "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?". Wilson may have wanted to make the world safe for democracy but that did not mean giving women the vote.

 
Celebrating the women of today who continue to work make it happen: 

Today, exactly 90 years after the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote on August 26, 1920, the Madison Chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW), Wisconsin NOW, and the Wisconsin Women's Network (WWN) will be gathering here in the capital of the very first state to ratify it: Wisconsin.

 

Candidates for public office will be recognized and the event will include Emily Reynolds, President of Wisconsin NOW, Eve Galanter, Chair of the WWN Board of Directors, Stephanie Wright, President of Madison NOW, as well as other NOW and WWN officers, special guests, current and prospective members, and supporters of all kinds.  

 

The event will take place from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. today, August 26, in the Capitol. A brief program will begin at 6:15 p.m., followed by a party at the Women's Building, just off of State St. 

One of the banners carried at Milholland's memorial service.

 

For questions or more information about today's event, contact: 

NOW: (608) 313-4NOW (4669), admin@winow.org

WWN: (608) 255-9809, info@wiwomensnetwork.org

August, yet again . . .

For the mind, by nature stagey, welds its frame

Tomb-like around each little world of a day.

We jump from picture to picture and cannot follow

the living curve that is breathlessly the same.

— Louis Mac Neice / 1907-1963

What little world?

EACH LITTLE WORLD that collides with mine:

The world of interiors and exteriors; bibliophiles; china and dishing; feasts and fests; food; flowers and gardens; material possessions and textile obsessions; worldly goods and bads.

Your worlds and mine.

Let the collision begin.

 

The collision began exactly two years ago today when I accidentally posted the above. Though collision is certainly not the right word for what's happened in the intervening time. Melding, merging, meeting, revealing, overlapping, sharing all come much closer to the always amazing, sometimes annoying, blogging experience.

In the beginning — when only Mark and a couple of friends were reading the blog — I posted daily; sometimes even twice a day. It seemed easy compared to putting out two editions of a daily newspaper as I did in my pre-blogging life. I considered the blog to be more colorful versions of the myriad topics I covered in print.

When I met a number of garden bloggers in person in Chicago in 2009, some of them suggested that a successful blog has to have a focus, consider just one topic, stay on task. During the summer months, the focus is the garden because that's where you will usually find me. But not always.

While I love to garden and write about it, I was adamant about art and reading, passionate about politics and history, fascinated by food, fashion and fiber long before I ever picked up a trowel. In fact, I came to gardening through Elizabethan embroidery. Thus, to limit my blog to gardening would be to limit my life.

The best part of this blogging journey has been discovering a world of others whose pursuits are equally deep and diverse. Some of you I've known for years in my pre-blog life, some of you I've met in person post-blog and some of you are dear commenters who I hope to someday meet. I picture you when I write, when I decide what to write, and when I wait to discover if I plucked a shared string. 

 

So thank you all, but especially Susan, Nicole and Julie in Chicago; Barbara in Ithaca and Barbara H.; Altoon in Vt., Martha in N.J., Doris in Bloomington, Impatient Erin, Lisa at Greenbow, JCB in D.C., Sara, Nora, Susan T. and Madison friends too numerous to mention. 

Brazill family: This one's for you

Family, family and more family: The Brazill sisters all together for the first time in two years (From left: Pat, Nan, Linda, Meg). Click to enlarge pictures.

 

What's a family get-together without old photos and new stories?

 

More cousins than Louisa May Alcott: Once there were ten; one now deceased, one arrived a day late and one could not make it. Eight out of the surviving nine of us met for the first time in decades. Pretty good considering we live sprawled across seven states from coast to coast.

 

There were folks we'd never met and folks of all ages like Mars Hill, grandson of cousin Barabara (above center).

 

Brother-in-law Tony G. came to the party in-between a 100K bike ride that morning and departing the next morning for 12 days in China, visiting factories. Tony gets kudos from the Brazill sisters for attending reunions of his wife's first cousins on both sides of her family within four months. Thanks, bro!

 

The party was a fun excuse for siblings who now live in different cities to gather. These two are my nephew and niece, Mike and Kate G., who live at opposite ends of Pennsylvania. 

 

More family: The cousins invite their kids and the remaining wives — Shirley and Regina — of two of the three deceased Brazill brothers to join in the photo fun. The reunion was the a gathering of the children of those three brothers, one of whom was my father.

 

Cousin Mark was late but he sent supper, this gorgeous steamship round of beef, from his ranch. A product of 4-H and lots of love, it was cooked to perfection by cousin Bill and his wife, Teri.

 

Then it was turned into that classic dish that all the Brazills grew up eating: beef on weck! This plate is just the basics; back to the groaning board for all the wonderful salads and fruits that wouldn't fit on the plate the first time.

 

Cousin Bill's wife, Teri, takes a break. Teri made two superb cheesecakes that were one of the highlights of a great meal. She's a pro at this sort of thing so no cracks in the cheesecake surface, the true test of a chef.

 

Still more family: cousins, kids, moms, spouses, partners, friends — and Wink, the one-eyed dog. 

 

A sultry summer day, tons of food and coolers of beer meant many walks down to the shale beach to wade or swim in Lake Erie. Lots of good rocks collected along with sore feet from the stony trek across the beach.

 

Late afternoon cleavage contest. You be the judge!

 

Separated at birth: Cousin Barb and I guess-timated that we had not seen each other in 40 years. We both showed up wearing Flax clothing and carrying 3-ring binders of family photos. In hers, Barb had a photo of our grandparents on their wedding day in 1915 that none of the rest of the us had ever seen. That alone was worth driving 700 miles to see!

But wait; turns out Barb and I both have spent big chunks of our lives as fiber artists and pastry chefs. We both reside in hip (or hippie) college towns, have an artist partner and tend flower gardens in our spare time. Who knew? Certainly not the two of us! It was a joy to reconnect with her; my only regret is she doesn't live here so she could join our group of "friends in art" and we could see each other all the time.

• Heartfelt thanks to cousin Billy Brazill and cousin Jimmy's daughter, Jennifer, for making this wonderful weekend happen. 
• Thanks to Aunt Shirley and Aunt Regina for making the trek. Wonderful to see you both — and you saved me and Jim from being the oldest folks at the party.
• Thanks to all the cooks who supplied the fabulous food. 
• Thanks to all the kids who were friendly and charming to this gaggle of gray-haired folks they never met before last Saturday. 
• Thanks to cousin Mark for coming all that way. It was great to see you and also meet our dad's namesake, your son Jack.
• Thanks to sister Pat for compiling the great family contact list and getting it out to all of us so quickly. 
• Finally, I promise to work on photo CDs ASAP. But my Mark did take almost 400 pix of woodsy walks, family and the Cleveland museum so it will take a little time to sort through them all.

Yes, we will do it again — sooner rather than later. 

Cleveland faces

Every time we drive out East to visit my family, Mark and I tell ourselves we will stop in Cleveland to visit the museum. Mark lived in that city in the 1970s and has very fond memories of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This time we finally did it — we pulled off of Interstate 90 onto a lovely tree-lined parkway which took us to the museum in about ten minutes. 

The parkway is Rockefeller Park, a 250-acre meandering drive that flows between steep slopes and open green spaces; John D. Rockefeller actually donated the parkland to the city in celebration of its centennial. This lovely drive spans the two miles between University Circle, where Clevleland's many museums are located, to the South and Lake Erie to the North. Dedicated to the peaceful cooperation of all the groups who settled Cleveland, it is hard to imagine an easier route from the highway to the gallery or one that could be more beautiful. 

On this sunny summer day the museum (admittance is always FREE) was filled with people from all those diverse races, cultures and ethnicities viewing the art — and looking back at the visitors from the walls. A few of our favorite faces are below:

Priest-King, Hittite, about 1600 BC. Basalt with bone eyes, N. Syria.

Celtic head, about 100-300 AD. Sandstone with original red paint, northern England. 

Portrait bust of a girl, 150 AD. Roman, marble.

Female face mask, early to mid-1900s. Wood, Baule people (Africa).

"Nathaniel Hurd" by John Singleton Copley, 1765. A silver teapot made by Hurd, a Colonial era silversmith, was displayed in a case just to the right of his portrait.

"Nathaniel Olds" by Jeptha Homer Wade, 1837. Olds is wearing shades to protect his eyes from the bright light of whale oil lamps.

Bust of a lady by Carpeaux, 1872. French, marble.

"Age of Bronze" by Rodin, 1875-76. French, bronze; part of a collection of Rodin sculptures housed in a glass box of a gallery.

"Homer" by Joyce Pensato, 2007. Enamel on linen.

Even with part of the museum still under construction — and some art still not on view — we spent five fabulous hours. I can't stress enough what an amazing collection the museum has — a room full of Picassos, another of Rodins, a huge Monet waterlily, a killer Kline, great Rousseaus and Gainsboroughs, and on and on. The building itself is beautiful — both old and new parts — but I especially noticed gallery signage, safe but elegant sloping walkways, fun and funky doors in the behind-the-scenes areas. 

The quality of every aspect of the Cleveland Museum of Art — including the art — is as good as any you'll find and well worth a visit. It is part of the heritage of the nation's older cities: the ones whose troubles, rather than their triumphs, are what usually make the news. But it is the 19th century riches — financial and industrial — of so-called "rust belt" cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, that make them the cultural treasures they continue to be. You can read more about the Cleveland Museum of Art here and about all the things happening in the nation's rust belt cities on my niece's blog, Rust Wire, here. 

One aspect of the original 1916 building of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Read about the museum's 1916 cast of Rodin's "The Thinker" here. 

To round out the day, we drove a short distance to Cleveland's Little Italy. We parked in front of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, perfect for two lapsed types like us. Alas we had missed the famous street festival to celebrate the BVM's Assumption, but saw photos and pictures of the event in assorted shop windows as we walked up the street to Guarino's. In business since 1918, Guarino's Restaurant is stuck in a 1950s time-warp. There were bowls of matchbooks at the ready should anyone still need to light up, vases of plastic flowers on the table, and a framed 1934 First Communion certificate from a member of the Guarino family right inside the front door. But our favorite touch was this face on the wall who stared at us all through our hearty dinner. Mama mia! 

Foliage Follow-up: 08.16.2010

The hot temps and more than enough rain have made the garden a riot of gorgeous foliage. Looking particularly lovely at the moment is this hardy perennial Begonia (Begonia grandiflora, top). When the late afternoon light shines through the red reverse on the leaves it makes for quite the show stopping display. 

There isn't a toad lily (Tricyrtis sp.) whose foliage doesn't look good from the moment it pushes up in the spring until it blooms just before the last frost. I've got them speckled, striped, edged in white — and that's just the leaves!

 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 08.15.2010

It's a strange GBBD again this month with nothing quite on schedule. My neighbor's garden — just visible through the fence — is a riot of sunny yellow coneflowers, while my side is much more subdued with the buttery softness of Kirengeshoma palmata.  

 

 

Water lilies and toad lily 'Tojen' are blooming as per usual but the Asters and Aenmones are just starting to flower — a good month early.

Family reunion

My father (below right), and his two younger brothers, are looking like the great guys they all grew up to be in this picture from almost 80 years ago. Their children — ten first cousins who spent a lot of good times together many years ago — are getting together for a family reunion this weekend. That includes my sisters who are scattered around the country making our sibling reunions less frequent than we might prefer as well.

The last time I remember a big family get-together like this was in August, 1969. I missed it because I was at Woodstock (more here). My mom was too mortified to reveal my whereabouts to the relatives. I've always regretted that I missed my last chance to connect with my Brazill cousins before I moved away to the Midwest. 

I've put together a family tree and am bringing a case of Wisconsin beer. Those two things should be enough to loosen memories and tongues. I'm looking forward to catching up on years and years' worth of stories and family history this weekend. 

 

Victoria's Daughters

 

I had just watched the film "The Young Victoria" (above) when I discovered "Victoria's Daughters" at a neighborhood garage sale. Jerrold M. Packard's biography of the British Queen's family turned out to be very readable given that she had nine children. Though it ostensibly concentrates on the girls of the Royal Family, you can't really tell this tale without devoting space to the sons and everyone's spouses and children. Then there are assorted royals, politicians and court personalities across Europe who take the stage.

Packard thankfully includes a detailed family tree of the children, along with a list of other principal players, a critical addition given all the various Victorias and Alberts, Williams and Leopolds who appear in each generation.

I found Queen Victoria's first child, also called Victoria and known as the Princess Royal (above), the most fascinating. She was intelligent, lively and stubborn and her parents saw her marriage to the Prussian Crown Prince as a way to bring an English style government to that fragmented and militaristic part of Europe. 

Queen Victoria (front left above) with her eldest son, the future King Edward VII (far right), her daughter Victoria and Victoria's son, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (second from right).

Like her parents, Vicky made a love match. Like her mother, she had a contentious relationship with her son — the future Kaiser Wilhelm II.  Vicky and her husband were usually at odds with the intensely militaristic state that eventually became a unified Germany under Bismark. Her husband only ruled the country for three months before he died of cancer; their reign between two war-mongering monarchs was too short and too late to change the nation's mind set. Indeed, it was their son who plunged Victoria's heirs — along with everyone else — into World War I. 

 

Packard details the background of the families that Victoria's children married into since that played an important role in what happened to each of them. He also looks at the strong Germanic history of the Queen's family and how that — including their name — changed over time. 

Among the most fascinating side shoots of the story is Packard's tracing of the genetic path of the hemophilia that ran through Victoria's family and descendants; where it likely came from and how it was passed along. Victoria's youngest son, Leopold, was a hemophiliac who married, had two children and lived until age 31. Apparently only a few female hemophiliacs have ever been recorded. Packard points out that they were daughters of marriages between first cousins — and none of them would have lived past puberty because they would have bled to death when they began to menstruate.

Green and gushing

Don't know what it is about this summer's weather systems but we've barely had one of those gentle rain showers where an inch falls overnight and you're set for the week. These days we just get gushers. Woke up early this morning to rumbling thunder, followed shortly thereafter by a downpour — about 3/4 of an inch of rain in 3/4 of an hour. 

Perhaps it's the result of us adding a little water to the pond last night because it was getting so low from the recent hot, windy days. Whatever the reason, no need to water today as I planned. I can just enjoy the lush greenness as I look out the window while we prime and paint the library and hallway.