Each Little World

CBG Antiques Fair: Inside the tents

The reason we go to events like the Antiques & Garden Fair at the Chicago Botanic Garden is to look rather than buy. This is a rather rarefied level of selling and shopping and for us it's a chance to see unusual things up close and personal. So here are some objects that caught our attention.

This pair of bedsteads were metal so the dealer took advantage of that to have a little fun.

We are always drawn to faces whether in paintings or sculpture and the Fair was filled with wonderful images.

This is the outside of the booth of Thistle, an Illinois dealer who is one of our favorites. We fell in love with this huge piece of African currency with its sculptural appearance. It contrasted nicely with the industrial strainer above it on the wall.

Thistle's space is always filled with lots of objects made of metal and stone and limited in color. They have patina and are never perfect but always catch our attention. Over the years we've bought a few small items from this dealer. 

I was in heaven with the number of dealers who were offering china and silver of all kinds. There were a number of folks who specialized in Majolica (below) and Palissy ware.

Another fascinating face.

This one belonged to a large Santos figure, a religious icon identified with Spain and the regions that country colonized. The cage would have supported a garment. I was taken with the metal bamboo stalk that held little lanterns with votive candles as well as the Chinese pot filled with ceramic flowers. 

There was oodles of glitzy jewelry gleaming on glass shelves behind closed doors. It was too over the top for me and I could not figure out its appeal until I saw the signs indicating the pieces were from big name designers like Chanel and Oscar de la Renta.

Like many shoppers we were dressed for the weather in sturdy boots, jeans, sweaters and rain jackets. But there were plenty of Chicago shoppers who dressed for the event and to be able to match potential purchases to their outfits. 

I was smitten with things like a Gorham silver watering can, a big strand of water buffalo bone beads and these chunky ropes of African amber.

There were lots of antique textiles as well as newer treats like this floral necklet of felt. I almost fell prey to temptation on this one but decided to save my money just in case.

Mark was taken with this giant shop sign of a wooden jackknife.

Partly it was the scale of the item but what really caught his eye was the name — O'Brien — which is a family name.

We ended the afternoon with coffee, a piece of poppyseed cake and a peek at the CBG gift shop. Decorator Michael Smith spoke as part of the special events offered all weekend in conjunction with the Fair. I like a lot of his work but not enough to shell out the money for his lecture or his books. 

I came home with a small religious medal with St. Christopher on one side and Pope John XXIII on the other. I bought it because it was round in shape, appears to be silver and only cost $6, which is the perfect price for something that I plan to add to my charm bracelent. And also because the last time I was a practicing Catholic, John XXIII was on the throne. We thought of him as the "Pope of hope," and indeed the world seemed more hopeful in those youthful days. 

We spent the rest of our time in Chicago with friends old and new, eating and drinking, listening to music and talking art, books, movies, politics and, of course, gardening — the kind of personal interactions that help to keep us hopeful these days. 

NOTE: You can read my other post about the CBG Fair here. Jennifer Boles of Peak of Chic blog spoke at the Fair and posted some terrific pictures of the vendor booths.

CBG Antiques & Garden Fair

After a hiatus of a number of years, Mark and I went to the Windy City for the 2013 Antiques & Garden Fair put on by the Chicago Botanic Garden. This year's event featured more than 100 vendors from the Midwest to as far away as Nantuckett Island and England. Everyone sets up their space with vintage, antique and ethnic treasures in tents and assorted buildings right in the middle of the CBG. 

The weather at the CBG was wet and windy — pretty much the same thing happening at home. It reminded us of our trip to the gardens with the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society in the fall of 2008 when the gardens closed due to record rainfall while we were visiting. The photo above — flooding that closed parts of the parking areas on Friday — gave us a clue about what to expect as we walked from our car to the Visitor Center.

As we exited that building onto the bridge that takes you out into the gardens we could see how high the water was in the lake that is a feature of the landscape. Note that there isn't any green showing on the trees and espalied shrub on the wall. Virtually all the outdoor blooming plants we saw were things that had been brought on in the greenhouses and put in place before the Antiques Fair.

How long can these plants survive this much standing water? 

Mark snapped the picture above in 2008. It shows water lapping at the shoreline path along this promenade area on the way from the Visitor Center to the Regenstein Center. Compare it to the shots below which he took on Friday — clearly conditions appear to be much worse this time. 

Plants as well as the path were underwater. I love this area of the garden with stepped rows of hedges and groundcovers, including boxwoods and cottoneaster. The railing along the pathway (below) is barely visible above the water.

Cold, wet and windy conditions meant the tents housing the dealers, the visitors, and the antiques had be securely fastened down.

Even with all the weight holding things in place, we did see a bit of occasional rippling of a wall filled with paintings. 

Once inside the tents, however, we pretty much were able to forget about the weather, though most visitors and even some vendors kept their outdoor jackets on.

The view below is the bonsai display courtyard in 2008. For the Antiques Fair, even the covered walkways around this courtyard are put to use.

The courtyard became a staging area for LP gas cannisters for the heaters that were whooshing warm air into the covered walkways that had been closed in with plastic sheeting to make more display stalls for the vendors. It was nice and warm in this area.

Once inside there was so much to see, that I put the woeful weather and the tragedy in Boston out of my mind for a few hours. I just honed in on beautiful old objects.

Among my favorites was this delicate Chinese bamboo vest displayed on an equally lovely stand. The garment was meant to be worn in the summer under a kimono to protect the fabric and keep it from touching one's hot sweaty skin. 

As you can see from the topiary in front of the vest, most vendors had some kind of fabulous flowers in their booth. This dealer had an assortment of topiaries and all of them were for sale, too.

Later this week, I'll share more photos of the antiques we saw as well as the stunning floral displays that were put together especially for this event. 

Cathedral Square

Our first evening in Milwaukee we began the night on one side of Cathedral Square at the Whiskey Bar, had dinner at Louise's on the other side, and ended the night at the free "Jazz in the Park" concert that filled the Square with music and Milwaukeeans. Saturday morning we roamed Cathedral Square again to enjoy the sights and sounds of the farmers' market located there.

We brought home this dried gourd handpainted by artist/gardener/gourd geek Ramona Palzkill of Dodgeville. The design is a sunflower whose petals cascade down the sides of the gourd. The bottom has a piece of felt on it so it won't scratch your table and the dried seeds — which are still inside the gourd — rattle when you shake it.  

A taste of Milwaukee

Whenever we go to Milwaukee, we never seem to get beyond the Milwaukee Art Museum, our usual destination. So we decided to spend a few days in the city with no schedule to follow. Though we drove from Madison, we parked the car and walked everywhere. Milwaukee has wonderful architecture everywhere you look, with lots of open space making for an attractive urban experience. Since we were on foot, we also noticed that Milwaukee drivers — unlike most Madison motorists — respected pedestrians and always stopped for us in crosswalks.

I had to make a stop at the historic Geoge Watts & Son whose building (below) is one of the most gorgeous retail stores imaginable. Though reduced in size, the store still carries a dazzling array of china, glassware and linens and their Tea Room is still serving Sunshine Cake — a Milwaukee sweet treat for more than 100 years. Today the building is also home to the De Lind Gallery and a bridal shop. The gallery was showing posters by many of the artists whose work is on display in the big MAM exhibit, "Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and his Contemporaries" (which ends on 9/9).

Eero Saarinen's Milwaukee Country War Memorial

Unknown grande dames

We came across this refreshing little oasis and walked through it to take a break from the heat and sun. Since only a couple of people were enjoying this park-like space, it may not have been intended for the public but just the people who work in the adjacent buildings. 

Since we hadn't taken an official vacation in a couple of years, we decided to splurge and stay at The Pfister Hotel. This is a stunning 1893 masterpiece with a noted collection of Victorian paintings on display. There are big meeting rooms named after presidents of the era when the hotel was built (like Taft and McKinley) and a room whose walls are covered with photographs of all of Wisconsin Governors. The hotel underwent restoration in 2008 and just sparkles.

There's a piano lounge tucked into one corner of the grand lobby and the long-time pianst was playing Gershwin when we arrived to check in. We had cocktails there one night before going out to dinner. 

We stayed in the original part of the Pfister on the eighth floor. I adored the hotel's classic staircase and made Mark walk down all eight flights to the lobby every time we left our room. I wanted to savor every bit of the 19th Century experience!

We did take advantage of the new tower that adjoins the old hotel. It has a spectacular martini bar — Blu — on the 23rd floor where we watched the blue moon rise over the city and light up Lake Michigan.

We stopped in the lobby each day to chat with Timothy Westbrook, the Pfister's charming artist-in-residence. Yes, the hotel actually has an artist-in-residence program. This program and the fact that Westbrook is a textile artist actually convinced us to stay at the Pfister. Westbrook is creating costumes of the Pfister era using looms and an historic sewing machine but employing recycled material like cassette tapes. 

 You can read more about him on the hotel's blog or his web site.

Seattle visitors

We had a group of out-of-town visitors to our garden Sunday afternoon after a mostly rainy morning. Though only .15" of rain actually fell, it still helped to perk up the garden. Once the rain stopped, we opened up the tea house and hung up our Japanese shop sign.

And I took a quick last-minute run though the garden to see how everything looked just minutes before they arrived — picking up fallen apples and black walnuts. I decided to wear my brightest shirt so folks could easily pick me out of the crowd to answer questions!

Even though the sky was still overcast there were waterlilies blooming which really emphasizes the pond as the focal point of the garden. Since it's been so hot and dry here in southern Wisconsin, a gray day was actually a nice change.

About two dozen members of the Northwest Horticultural Society came to visit our garden as part of their Chicago and southern Wisconsin tour. The event was arranged by Wisconsin native Daniel Mount. Like the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society (of which Mark and I are members), the NHS hosts lectures, garden tours and plant sale fund-raising events; but they have over 1000 members in the Seattle area while we're about half their size. 

They arrived at 3 p.m. — luckily having called to warn us they were an hour ahead of schedule! But it meant that they had extra time to spend with us as we were the last stop of the day after Taliesin and the Cedar Grove cheese factory. We've had lots of local garden groups tour our garden but this was the first time we ever had a bus pull up across the street from our house with visitors. It is definitely a bit disconcerting!

Just about this time last August, Mark and I were taking Daniel Mount around local Madison gardens, helping him to pull together this NHS group tour. Daniel grew up in Milwaukee and actually went to Luther Burbank Grade School, "which may very well have been the beginning of this whole plant thing," he says. Currently he is an estate gardener in the Pacific Northwest, garden writer, blogger and educator. His column for the NHS recently won a silver award from the Garden Writers Association and one of his gardens is on the cover of the current issue of Fine Gardening magazine.

We decided just to let folks wander around at their own pace and then to answer questions after they'd had a chance to see the garden. Though we have lots of paths winding through our garden they are narrow (perfect for the two of us) but cause a bit of a bottleneck when curious gardeners are walking them. Some of the Seattle folks actually were stopped by a plant unfamiliar to them — Carex plantaginea —before they'd taken more than a few steps.

Carex plantaginea (seersucker sedge) is one of many sedges we have in our garden, and one that is usually familiar to local gardeners. Folks wondered if we grew any native plants and that particular sedge is one of them — growing just a few feet from some of our other natives like Bur oak, witch hazels and Pagoda dogwoods. 

Another attention-getter was our large specimen shrub: Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum 'Mariesii' (doublefile Viburnum) which is spread out behind the two gentlemen from Seattle. Their presence gives you an idea of its size.

Luckily Mark and I both were doing pretty well remembering the names of plants, trees and shrubs in the garden, so we were able to provide information when people liked something. 

See where I'm standing in the photo below? I'm trying to remember the name of the prostrate shrub on the ground below me near the birch trees. I couldn't do it nor could I find it in my file of plant names. That's because it was mistakenly filed under trees instead of shrubs. It is Pinus sylvestris 'Albyn Prostrata,' a prostrate Scots pine. Ours is more open and leggy than it should be as it needs more sun. Alas I did not get the name of the person who was interested in this pine, so I hope you are reading this!

Eventually we all wound up on the deck and then went indoors for Wisconsin cheeses and brews. Mark and I really enjoyed ourselves and it seemed as though our visitors did as well. They commented on a number of features that most folks don't mention and they wanted the names of some trees and shrubs that don't always get singled out for attention.

Who knows if this is the result of some special Northwest sensibility or just a reflection of individual tastes? What I do know is that I wished we could have spent much longer visiting with each other; everyone I talked to was so interesting and engaging. Maybe the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society will have to think about another Northwest tour.

Finally, a big thank you to whoever gathered up all the dirty dishes and nicely piled them on the kitchen counter by the sink. Now that's our kind of garden visitor! 

. . .

Seattle folks: If you are curious about the design and construction process of our garden, you can follow it step-by-step by clicking on "My Garden Odyssey" in the category list. Just be aware that the most recent posts are first. So if you want to start at the beginning, go to the archives for Nov. 2008 when the first Odyssey post appeared: "All in Good Time." 

No cherry pie this summer

For many years my friend Doris and I spent a week of our vacation in Door County each summer. That's the area that's at the tip of Wisconsin's thumb for those of you who live elsewhere. We'd take an art class with Wendell Arneson at Peninsula Art School in the mornings, make art and visit galleries in the afternoons, read in the evenings and eat around the clock. The food is always fabulous in Door County where the specialties are whitefish and cherries. I don't think you can find an eatery up there that doesn't have dishes with cherries — from muffins to french toast to cherry pie a la mode — on its menu. Our last stop each summer, as we drove out of Fish Creek, was always Ray's Cherry Hut where we picked up fresh and frozen cherries to take home for our own pie baking exploits.

This year's unsettling weather — too hot too early, followed by frosts and dry conditions — has had a nasty effect on Wisconsin's traditional crops. I've already stocked up on maple syrup because of this year's truncated maple season and now it's bad news about the cherries. The Associated Press reports this story about what the change in the weather means for Wisconsin this year:

"Door County in northeastern Wisconsin ranks among the country's top cherry producers. But this year's crop could be the pits.

Bob Lautenbach of Lautenbach's Orchard in Fish Creek says this is the worst year he's ever experienced, and his family has grown cherries all his life.

He tells WLUK-TV the 2012 cherry crop in Door County has all but failed. He says the county would normally produce about 8 to 10 million pounds, but this year the prediction is about half a million pounds.

That's because the warm March woke up the trees early, but several nights of frost then killed off the buds.

Door County growers say they'll try to keep their crop in the county this year, for tourists and locals to enjoy. Prices will be higher."

According to the Wisconsin Cherry Growers' website, Michigan — which produces 80 percent of the total supply of tart cherries — experienced much of the same early season damage to flower buds. Reports indicate that "many commercial Michigan growers have experienced severe and devastating losses" as well.

. . .

Yesterday in Madison, the high was 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.44 Celsius) and today 95 is predicted. We've only had a trace of rain in a month where we typically get about three inches. Not exactly the lovely June days that were the norm for southern Wisconsin. The question we all want answered is how much of this is an aberration and how much is a taste of things to come?

Thanks to Jim Rowen for the heads up on this climate change story.

Shopping in Spring Green

Last Saturday we went to the 18th Annual Fall Art Tour that snakes through the open studios of artists in Southwestern Wisconsin. It was a gorgeous day; I'm sure exactly what the organizers hope for each year. In addition to looking at (and buying) art, we made a point of stopping at the new independent bookseller in Spring Green: Arcadia Books. It's located on the ground floor of a beautifully restored 1872 post office building. And it has everything you want in a good bookstore: a wide array of subjects and titles, pleasant staff, framed New Yorker posters about books and reading, high ceilings and uneven old wood floors, food, coffee, and wine and beer. I could practically live there! 

While the food is geared to carryout customers, there were two soups and fabulous mini quiches (Caprese and Lorraine the day we were there). You can also pick an entree from the cooler, they heat it up for you and everything is served warm and toasty. I had curried carrot soup with the Caprese quiche and Mark had chicken fried rice. Everything was delicious. Also on the menu are sandwiches, wraps, salads, and desserts. Then we grabbed lattes to drink while we browsed.

I found the new Jane Hirshfield poetry book, "Come, Thief," which I had read about in the New York Times but did not have much hope of finding in Madison. Mark got a book on philosophy and another on science. As someone with lots of books on cooking, gardening and interior design I thought the selections in those categories were excellen; they included titles both familiar and new. Even though the garden and design sections were not large, they should appeal to a varied audience.  

Former Cap Times reporter Joe Schoenmann will be reading from his new book, "Vegas Rag Doll" — a true life account of the spouse of a Vegas hitman — at 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 21. Too bad I can't make it as I could trade stories about the wife of a NJ mobster that I once knew.

The store is named for owner James Bohnen’s favorite play, “Arcadia,” by Tom Stoppard, and I noticed a copy prominently on display. Bohnen recently stepped down as founding artistic director of Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. This past summer, he directed Shakespeare's "The Tempest" for nearby American Players Theatre. You can find out more about Arcadia Books, including ordering books, at their aptly named web site: read in utopia. 

We ran into a friend on the Art Tour who told us about Convivio, otherwise we might have missed it — even though it is visible from Arcadia Books. While they had some lovely art for the Tour weekend, it was their wonderful array of kitchen and tabletop items that make it worth driving from Madison to visit this shop. Dishes, linens, glassware, baskets, jewelry, wines, and elegant comestibles fill the space. As they note on their web site: "From rowdy conversation with friends to relaxed family interludes, the best times in life happen around your table." You know it's true; that's the allure of this kind of business!

Madison has lost a host of similar stores in the last few years — Fleurishes, Spirals, Gatherings to name a few favorites. Convivio has that same sense of personal style and attitude that characterizes the best shops. I have lots of reasons to return: French and Scandinavian linens, colorful pressed glassware, giftwrap with large scale patterns, stunning woven ribbon by the yard. Add two terrific newer destinations to stalwarts like the Jura Silverman Gallery, Nina's Department and Variety Store, nearby Global View and Taliesin, and it's clear that a quick return to Spring Green is a must! 

Arcadia Books: 102 E. Jefferson St. 608-588-7638

Convivio: 122 N. Lexington St. 608-588-2351

Bennington: Summer memories with recipe

Forty years ago this summer, my friend Monte and I packed up a home-made tent/trailer and drove 7,000 miles (or was it 10,000?) on a massive cross-country trip. We were roommates as well as art teachers, so we left when school recessed for the summer and returned Labor Day weekend. It was a great trip, resulting in lots of adventures which I remember via the first journal I ever kept.

All of this came back to me during my recent visit to Atomic Interiors where I purchased the Dansk BLT plates. Among the wonderful mid-century treasures the store offers was a set of four Bennington Pottery plates and bowls. Potter's Yard in Bennington was one of our stops in July, 1971, and we fell in love with their delightful dishes. I fell prey to temptation and memory at Atomic again and bought the eight pieces of Morning Glory Blue spatterware. Again, at $9 for the dinner plates and $7 for the bowls, Atomic's prices can't be beat. The current prices on-line at Bennington are $24 for the plate and $26 for the rimmed soup/pasta bowl. The pieces I bought at Atomic were made in 1961/62 when I was a freshman in high school; the company's been making stoneware dishes since 1948.

Along with notes and bits and pieces glued into that first journal was the this recipe for salad dressing (below) that we enjoyed at Potter's Yard. 

BENNINGTON DRESSING

• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1 tsp. freshly cracker white pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepepr
• 1/4 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
  
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh garlic cloves
• 5 Tblspn. good tarragon vinegar
• 2 Tblspn. olive oil
• 10 Tblspn. vegetable oil
• 1 raw egg
• 1/2 cup light cream

Put all the ingredients in a jar and shake well to combine. Chill before serving. 

Alas, I did not make any notes as to what kind of salad this might have dressed. 

An Armistice Day garden

Whenever we visit my sister who has a house on Chatauqua Lake in central New York State, Mark and I always try to spend an afternoon wandering the grounds of the historic Chautauqua Institution.  Today Chautauqua is a center for the arts, education, religion and recreation. They offer classes, lectures, reading groups, performances — all in a beautiful setting, filled with the historic "cottages" and Institute buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In those days "chautauqua" was the word used to describe summer learning programs; everyone took part in one — in their own town or went off to the nearest traveling Chautauqua.

The last time we explored the grounds of the original Chautauqua Institution, we took a different route and discovered this little WWI memorial. We stopped to remember this soldier — but the gardener (and the historian) in me questions whether the ivy growing around this monument could really be from the Argonne Forest.

After all, the Meuse-Argonne was the scene of the final Allied offensive — and the greatest American battle — towards the very end of the war and photos indicate a devastated landscape. Though perhaps by the time this plaque was dedicated in 1921, ivy was again greening the area and this is indeed a remnant from that battlefield-turned-cemetery. Most of the Americans buried in the 130 acre cemetery were killed in the battle that took place on its site. 

The cemetery at the Argonne Forest, France, in 1919 (above) and today (below).

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!