Instead of weeding I took a walk this afternoon

Today the weather was an unseasonably cool 75. So even though it was a perfect day to work in the garden and cut the grass (John has to work this w/e) I decided to put that off until tomorrow and take a walk around the neighborhood instead. And now I'm glad I did. On my way out I walked through our garden. The black-eyed susans in the courtyard look really good right now. The caladiums are doing so well. Both of us like the color they add and the fact they come in as the hostas fade out.

The brunnera loves this slope. According to what I have read brunnera likes a lot of water (but well drained) and will curl if not watered enough. Apparently this spot is perfect as we have provided no special care.

The switch grass on the lower slope seems to be doing well. I think I may need to cut the yucca back but I keep forgetting to ask Lesley (outside horticulturist @ Krohn) if this is necessary. This next picture from a distance does not show how much this area needs to be weeded but it does. Hopefully I will get to that tomorrow.

I took the route around the Playhouse and the pool to go to the Art Museum.

The pool house entrance. The pool closed to the public 2 weeks ago. Dog day at the pool was last weekend.

The baby pool.

The overlook behind the pool of the Ohio River, the old reservoir wall and the water pump station (the brick building). If we find out when the pump station was built (should be easy) we can estimate when indoor plumbing was added to our home which was built in 1874.

Walking up to the art museum.

Art Museum landscaping. I love the Chihuly in the front entrance of the museum.

Egyptian hall off the main entrance.

Sculpture garden (this area was under construction when we were married in 2002)

I love this Japanese painting of trading at a silk market.

This is a painting in the Folk Art section that I don't remember seeing before. Apparently this one and another of Yosemite have stumped art historians for some time on it's origin and inspiration and interestingly they were both discovered in Over the Rhine in the 1930's.

An interesting exhibit I did not have enough time to see before the museum closed this day. I will have to come back with John sometime before it closes on September 6, 2009.

The sculpture below from 1896 is titled A Young Mother. This picture (lifted, from the Art Museum's website) does no justice (in my opinion) to this exhibit called Outside the Ordinary. It is an exhibition (1st time) of a private collection (Cincinnatians Nancy And David Wolf) of contemporary art in glass, wood and ceramics. We are lucky that Aaron Betsky, the art museum director has added so many interesting and different exhibits like this one. Another new item is the fascinating doll house.

Here is the description:

Germany

Toy Kitchen Late 18th C.

This toy model of a kitchen is generally classified as a "Nuremberg" kitchen because so many details, especially the chicken coop, point to German manufacture, an d Nuremberg was generally accepted as the toy making center of Europe from 16-19 C. The stove with it's separate baking oven was modeled after a type developed in France about 1738. Other details are also exact, including the chicken's real feathers and a soot stain on the wall behind the stove.

Primarily a toy, the kitchen also served to instruct young owners to become competent in things domestic. It is so exact that today it serves as a record of architecture, social history, metalworks form, ceramics and glass.

A wedding party taking pictures in the main hall (where we had our reception in November 2002).

Another picture of the entry hall with the big blue Chihuly chandelier. The case next to the gift shop has Chihuly pieces for sale for $4,500 - $9,000.

On my way out of the museum, walking past Seasongood I saw a Vow Renewal (according to the sign) in progress. Interestingly the renewal participants were wearing tux's and yellow coordinating attendant gowns.

Since I needed cash to buy wine for dinner (John was cooking spinach linguine with shrimp) I next headed to the ATM by the tower. This next picture shows the amazing view from Ida Street Bridge. This picture does not actually show how beautiful the sky looked to me in real life... but my camera really isn't that great.

The ATM I was walking to is next to The Rookwood. I just noticed the sign on the building today that said they were starting ice cream socials on Wednesday's from 5-10 PM. Seems kinda late in the season but hope it works for them.

After I got money I walked up the back steps to the monastery. Here is a picture of the date this building was built.

I love this hippo art in the pond near the Monastery entrance

I had planned on buying a bottle of wine at the Wine Bar but there was a wedding party there so I bought a bottle of Chardonnay from UDF. It wasn't bad.

Here is a picture of the bench outside the chiropracter's office on my way home. Next door to the chiropracter is the bar and grill. On one side of the entrance to this restaurant is the waitress sculpture plaque (notice the pencil tucked into her hair). The chef is on the other side.

The flag above the piper's house... beautiful sky.

Lake District Trip

Plane tickets are purchased. Pet Nanny appointment confirmed. Time off from work is approved. And as of this morning our hotel accomodations are confirmed. This grey stone building below is the Beatrix Potter Gallery...

...which is next door to the Red Lion Inn (white stone), where we are staying the 1st 3 nights. This B&B is in Hawkshead which is also the town where William Wordsworth was born and spent his childhood.

The Red Lion's 15th C. pub is the oldest one in Hawkshead.

Wray Castle is within walking distance. According to http://www.wraycastle.com/ it was not a real castle but a private home built (Gothic Revival style) in 1840 by a retired Liverpool surgeon who used his gin heiress wife's money to finance construction. Apparently his wife took one look at it when completed and refused to live there. The architect H.P Homer drank himself to death. Dr. Dawson died in 1875 (at the age of 96) and left this estate to his nephew Preston Rawnsley. In 1877 Preston's cousin Hardwick Rawnsley took an appointment as Vicar of Wray Church (also built by Dawson). Beatrix Potter's family rented this home in 1882 when she was 16. Now it is the National Trust Headquarters. The grounds are open to the public and sometimes the insideis available for tours. Wary Castle exterior

The drawing room. The library.

The Morning Room.

The view looking up to the 1st floor and the Music Room.

This Mulberry Tree was planted by William Wordsworth in September 1875.

Last is a picture from Wray Castle of Derwent Water Lake.

Beatrix Potter's family rented this property in 1882 when she was 16.

The last 3 days in the Lake District we will stay at Howe Keld, a B&B in Keswick. My brother and sister-in-law stayed here in the 90's and recommended it.

Keswick is near Derwent Water Lake.

A picture of downtown Keswick Our last 3 days will be spent with the Birkholds at their home in London.

We have found some podcasts that seem like they will be helpful walking guides. I love my ipod and all the free podcasts you can access online. In my opinion it is better than almost anything on tv, including most news programs.

So our plan is to travel really light for this trip. Only carry on luggage. This won't be a challenge for John but will be for me. I'm going to use Rick Steve's packing list but also planning on bringing my laptop. Should be interesting. This will be my 7th trip to Europe but 1st time traveling without checking luggage. I'm thinking of this packing light adventure as practice for our trip to China.

Stupid Pet Tricks

She drinks like a normal cat at the end.

Dining Room is repainted

Today I went to the Columbus Gift Market which meant a long day and four hours in the car. It was worth the trip but also somewhat sad to see the effects of this recession on the market. Anyhow, when I got home I found that Karl had finished painting the dining room. It only took him 3 days and he did a great job. He corrected several wall and ceiling issues. The ceiling had a really rough repair (I did it) from 8 years ago when Francine and her triplets lived here. e Dianne recommended the colors. The swag fabric and paint colors next to the rug. The red brick color fabric will line the soon to be finished swags.

Dianne also suggested the brass for the medallion. I really like the way it picks up the same color in the chandelier, mirror and frames.

Lucy inspecting the progress.

Cumbria Trip and Beatrix Potter

Friday, after work, I went to Blockbuster to rent this movie...Miss Potter. It was released in 2006 and filmed in London, Scotland, Isle of Man and the Lakes District. Both of us liked the movie and thought the extra's were just great.

Here are some interesting facts of her life: Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) grew up in a privileged home in London. Her parents were social climbers who lived off their mutually inherited wealth. Her father was a barrister who rarely practiced law. The movie was somewhat sympathetic to her father, less so to her mother. She had an isolated childhood and was mostly raised by governesses. Her only sibling, Bertram was 6 years younger than she and sent to boarding school at an early age. The fact her education was not encouraged, due to her gender, was common at the time. She frustrated her parents by turning down all the eligible and "acceptable" young men. She loved animals, nature and science. She kept a diary from the age of 15 until well into her 30's. She wrote in code in this diary which was not de-coded until 20 years after her death.

Her life story is fascinating to me.

Here is one of her illustrations from The Tale of Two Bad Mice. This was her 5th book which was published in 1904. According to what I read today on the internet, the real inspiration for this book was Norman Warne's (her publisher and secret fiancee) niece's dollhouse. The movie portrayed Beatrix's childhood dollhouse as the inspiration for this book. Most of the movie's misrepresentation criticism's were fairly benign ones like this.

The part about Norman being her secret fiancee is true. The secrecy was a compromise her parents proposed. They did not want her to marry someone out of her class and asked her to keep the engagement secret until she returned from their summer holiday at the Lakes. Norman died of leukemia while she was away. Another criticism of the movie was that it misrepresented how he died. In the movie Norman's sister describes his symptoms as coughing a lot which apparently is not a symptom of this disease. In the movie Norman and Beatrix's last scene together has him dripping wet from rain at the railroad station saying goodbye to her as she leaves for her summer holiday.

Above is an illustration of Peter Rabbit and his sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail. The Tales of Peter Rabbit was her first book. A third criticism of the movie is that it did not explain that she actually paid to publish this book first and the Warne Brothers finally decided to publish after she sold several editions herself. When the Warne's published it in 1902 it sold 28,000 copies. Today this book has sold over 40 million copies in over 35 languages.

The next illustration is Jemima Puddle-duck and the gentleman fox. The Jemima Puddle-duck inspiration from a real duck at Hilltop Farm, her Lakes home she bought in 1905. Another criticism of the misrepresentation in the movie as Jemima's character was introduced in the film during Beatrix's courtship with Norman and in reality Jemima was not developed until far after his death.

The next pictures are sketches she did as a child and a picture of a young Beatrix. It is amazing to think she was this talented and probably not encouraged to do anything with her ability.

When she was 16 her family started going to the Lakes Districta for their summer holidays because the house they rented in Scotland was not available. The first year they stayed at Wray Castle near Ambleside (pictured below).

Beatrix became friends with the Vicar of Wray Church, Hardwicke Rawnsley, who years later would encourage her to publish her first book. This same Vicar was a co-founder of the National Trust which is headquartered at Wray Castle.

When she died in 1943 she left 14 farms and over 4,000 acres of Lakes land to the National Trust.

Anyhow, evidently the Potter family enjoyed their first holiday in the Lakes District as they spent the next 20 or so years summers holidays there in and around Windermere and Derwentwater This next picture is a watercolor she drew of Derwentwater which she later used as backdrop for one of her books.

Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top Farm, (above are pictures of her home on this farm) in 1905. This was her first step towards an independent life which was made possible because of her book sales. Her books The Tale of Tom Kitten and The Tale of Samuel Whiskers were based in and around her farm at Hill Top. Pictured below are the rats rolling Samuel Whiskers in an attempt to make him in to pudding.

In 1913 Beatrix married a local Lakes lawyer, William Heelis. William's hometown was Hawkshead, also the childhood home of William Wadsworth. The building below

was Williams law office which now is a gallery of Beatrix's art.

Below are pictures of the embroidery I have kept for 25 years and never completed. I started this project for my sister who was was pregnant with her first child. I was going on a trip to Europe that summer before my last year in college and this was the project I took to work on in the plane. Her first born child is now in grad school at Purdue.

So, now I think what I will do is embroidery "Jemima Puddle-duck" on the left hand side, above what I've embroidered so far.

Then on the right hand side I'm thinking I will embroider:

She set off on a

fine spring afternoon

along the cart-road

that leads over the hill.

She was wearing a shawl

and a poke bonnet.

Then I will frame it and use for Audrey's shutter bulletin board.