1303 You have what?

Seen at Paula's site, and Doyle's.

1302 Girl in love, fishing

My neighbor mentioned that she hadn't seen my daughter last week. My son-in-law she saw on his way down to the dock to fish. "Oh, she was in the house reading," I told her. I think she mentioned she had finished 3 books and they hadn't gone to any of the programs. Before they were married, she fished too. Here's proof. I painted this from a photo of her taken the summer before they married. I doubt if she's picked up a pole since.

Basics of Blogging

This morning I'll be teaching a Basics of Blogging class at the local coffee shop, Coffee 'n Cream, which is the only place around here with a free wi-fi connection. I learned this morning that the laptop hoards blew the power last week, so it looks like we'll need to all be battery powered. I'd intended to do that for myself anyway, because it is also storming, and last fall I wiped out everything on this computer somehow. However, because of the stormy weather, I don't want to leave it plugged in to build up the battery.

I'll use a little advice passed along by Anvilcloud about saving my template revisions in txt file rather than wp file; I'm checking out some possible URLs that haven't been used so we can move quickly from setting up the account to actually creating a post. A few I selected were already used, but I also found abandoned ones that have never been pulled. If you haven't blogged since 2001, it's time to delete the blog. Yesterday I googled "blogspot template" and found quite a few. I'm a bit bored with the 20 or so offerings at blogger.com, but to get them started they'll be OK.

The Rhein Center assistant told me 3 people had signed up, but that means nothing here. I selected 9 a.m. because the regular arts and crafts and morning lectures all start at 10 a.m. We'll see if anyone shows up.

Update:Four brave Lakesiders showed up, three men and one woman, but we only had two computers. So John has set up his blog called Soar Ahead and if Bill comes back we'll work on his. He wasn't really sure he had anything to post, but I saw some great photos of grandchildren, and blogger.com has now really simplified uploading photographs. Carol has the house tour tomorrow, but may come back on Friday. My neighbor's brother popped up to say he'd stop by tomorrow, and there is a guy from Dublin, OH who wants to set up a business blog.

"Older learners" get discouraged easily. We all miss the quick and easy way we learned as kids, so suck it up folks and plod on. Hear it, see it, say it, do it. That's how we learn--if we are over 25.

1300 Lakeside Week 5

It stormed last night, so perhaps things will cool off. I feel sorry for all those families with small children who tried to enjoy their vacation last week in cottages with no AC. I see the house across the street is for rent--can't remember seeing that in the last 3 years. However, a large crowd braved the heat last night to hear Dave Bennett's Tribute to Benny Goodman. This guy is 20 years old and is incredible. Hoover seats about 3,000 and I think it was half full, unusual for a Tuesday, and incredible considering the heat. When he started Poor Butterfly, I thought I'd cry, and he got a standing ovation for Sing, Sing, Sing. He doesn't seem to have a web site, but I see he is on the list of many concert series, including the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Several times during the hot evening someone would hollar, "Take off your coat," but that would have taken him out of character, so he braved the heat in a double breasted dark suit, as did the fabulous band.

1299 On to Tulsa [Sunday]

On our way to Tulsa where we would catch our flight home, we stopped for 90 minutes at a jewel of an art museum, The Gilcrease. I would say it is a secret, but obviously since there was a crowd on Sunday morning, it isn't. It is famous for its collection of western art, including a fascinating collection of Indian artifacts. There wasn't enough time to see everything, so I stuck with the western art. I stopped at the room devoted to Thomas Gilcrease, and learned his mother was a Creek Indian so he was entitled to some acreage of the tribal land. He was a good business man and got into oil. While touring Europe he visited museums and got the idea to collect American western art, which not many were doing at that time. When his personal fortunes plunged with an oil bust, his collection was quite large and valuable. Rather than lose it to other collectors, the city bought his personal museum and collection. The museum also has unusual and themed gardens, but the heat prevented my taking advantage of that. I stood next to a large rock for a photo and could've fried and egg on it.

Our tour plan included a drive by photo op of the Richard Lloyd Jones Residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Tulsa, OK. Jones was his cousin and a newspaper editor, and he lived in the house (built in 1929) until his death at 90. The house is huge--10,000 sq. ft. on 4 acres. Privately owned, it is NOT open for tours.

We also drove through the Oral Roberts University which may win a prize for the ugliest, most ostentatious architecture in the USA (just my opinion). We said good-bye to our capable, knowledgeable driver at the airport and while checking in discovered our plane would be about an hour and 15 minutes late making it virtually impossible to catch our flight out of Detroit to Columbus. But they held the plane for us while we galloped through that massive airport in Detroit, and we settled in for a quick hop home.

It was a fabulous trip, and now we're back at Lakeside.

1298 Other Bartlesville sites [Saturday]

As I mentioned before, in the morning we met in the lobby and walked to the Bartlesville Community Center designed by William Wesley Peters (1912-1991), a sharp (or round) contrast of curves, circles, and ovals. For a small town of 35,000 Bartlesville has a wonderful musical and artistic life. It is the home of OK Mozart established in 1985, and many home-grown and out-of-town shows. The 1800 seat theater is marvelous.

Next we toured the art museum which is in the Price Tower. In addition to many Wrightean displays of furniture, there was a visiting photographic exhibit of architectural photography. Then it was back on the bus. We had lunch at a locally renowned restaurant, Dink's Pit Bar-B-Que(really yummy), that our driver Bob knew about (local boy from Fort Smith). Then we set out to see if we could spot another home designed by Wright for Price's son, but the current owners don't allow visitors.

More welcoming was the the director of operations at Oklahoma Weslyan College where we toured La Quinta Mansion, a home built in the 1930s for another oilman, H.V. Foster. He made his money in oil leases with the Osage Indians. However, it was only used briefly as a home, and since 1939 has been the main building of several different schools, OWC being the most recent (a holiness denominational college). I was particularly interested in this tour because it housed the library collection (really poor and dated in my opinion) and they were shifting it to allow the mansion to be restored in certain areas. Having shifted probably over 100,000 volumes in my library career for either dumping, wall painting or title changes, I could empathize.
Next we toured the Frank Phillips Home. It was modest as mansions go (26 rooms), but the Phillips (as in Phillips 66) had two other homes. The grounds, which included a four car garage with a museum and servant quarters and a greenhouse, were lovely. It had remained in the Phillips family a long time, but is now maintained by the historical society.

I don't know what you would have done after a day of touring in 100+ degree heat, but I went back to our fabulous FLW room and took a nap to prepare for our lovely night out (actually up, to the 15th floor) at the Copper Restaurant + Bar. Our three tables of congenial tour friends enjoyed a dinner of salmon and chicken on rice and a chocolate dessert that was to die for. If you are ever in Bartlesville, this is the place to eat, trust me.

1297 Our Tour Group

Our tour group at the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, Bella Vista, Arkansas

1296 Bartlesville and Frank Lloyd Wright [Friday]

As we drove into Missouri to get a better road, the "boomtown" atmosphere of NW Arkansas disappeared as did the ubiquitous Wal-Mart Superstores (I did not see any other place to buy groceries). Oklahoma flattened out and we tried to remember the words of the song when we started seeing cornfields. At 6 p.m. we rolled through Vinita, and the temperature sign said 106--and that was not the heat index, but the temp. Because my family drove to California on Rt. 66 in the 1940s, it's possible this was my second visit to Vinita.

The hot, tired Ohio travelers became quite energized as we saw the Price Tower over the trees of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, home and headquarters of Phillips 66. With its green copper louvers and peculiar triangular shape, it is every bit as impressive as the magazines have reported. If you've got the time here is a really brief video clip--and our hotel room looked exactly like that as did our dinner at the Copper Restaurant. Wright actually envisioned this building for Manhattan in 1925 as a multi-use site--shops, housing and work, but it was not realized. At the end of his career, he had the opportunity to have his dream built--like a tall tree in the rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma. (For some great photos see the June 2003 Architectural Digest.) The building was completed in 1956 for client H.C. Price. The building was purchased by the Phillips Petroleum Company in the 80s, and recently restored as an inn, restaurant and art museum.

And we crazies who fly and drive around in 100 degree+ heat looking at buildings had the thrill to actually spend two nights in a Wright building. There are 21 high-design guest rooms and suites, with all the interiors done by Wendy Evans Joseph. If they find someone with deep pockets, maybe we'll go back someday to see the expanded art museum by Zaha Hadid. After unpacking and settling in our rooms, we went to Patsy's "hospitality suite" for snacks, wine and cheese, and lots of laughs. She plans these trips and always does a wonderful job.

In the morning we met in the lobby and walked to the Bartlesville Community Center designed by William Wesley Peters (1912-1991), a sharp (or round) contrast of curves, circles, and ovals.

1295 North West Arkansas [Thursday-Friday]

Nothing prepared me for the vitality, beauty and economic boom of northwest Arkansas. What a lovely place! If I were 20 years younger, or if I were looking for a wonderful retirement area, that part of the country would be worth consideration. I'd say the building boom matches the Bradenton/Sarasota area and so do the trees. I haven't checked the stats, but the architects we visited said that unemployment is about 1.5% and has been for over a decade. Remember the disparaging terms, "Arkies and Okies," the folks who fled to California during the dust bowl? Well, now it is obvious there are outsiders flocking to that area, or maybe some are just returning home. Here's a realtor's site I just picked out of the blue with some basic statistics about the metropolitan area.

We arrived at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport at 10:45 Thursday morning, loaded our luggage on our chartered tour bus and stopped for a delightful lunch at Hog Haus, a restored brewery in downtown Fayetteville. From there we went down the street to Maurice Jennings + David McKee Architects. Both had worked for E. Fay Jones (1921-2004), an architect who used Wrightean elements in his designs. The two chapels we would visit the next day, Thorncrown and Cooper are his. The architects' offices were in the Underwood Building, and the first floor is a jewelry store designed by Jones, including all the wonderful fixtures. We had a great time looking through all the lovely items, and there is obviously enough wealth in that area to support that kind of a store.

We then visited the campus of the University of Arkansas, certainly much prettier than most, and the Fulbright Peace Memorial, also designed by Jones. From there we stopped at the DePalma Clinic, a medical building designed by Jones which had fallen into disrepair and was restored by a CPA.

From there we drove to Eureka Springs, stopping in Bentonville, the home of Wal-Mart, to pick up another tour member who had arrived a few days earlier. Of course, we needed to visit the newest superstore--for ice, snacks, and a skirt for Norma. Eureka Springs is apparently a wedding mecca for the midwest, second only to Las Vegas according to a couple we met in Oklahoma who had married there. Every cute little Victorian, flower draped cottage we saw on the winding, hilly streets seemed to offer either weddings or jacuzzis--or both. The 1886 Crescent Hotel is old, creaky, and supposedly visited by ghosts, but we had a beautifully restored room, and the group enjoyed a fabulous morning brunch in the delightful dining room. The gardens host many weddings--one the night we arrived.

A group of us walked the "short cut" through a wooded area down to Spring Street, the business district, but they really do roll up the sidewalks about 5 p.m. so there were no stores open. We did find a nice Italian restaurant, but took the hotel shuttle back up the hill. The guy posing for the picture here was our waiter, I think.

In the morning we visited Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel in a wooded area close by, and then drove to Bella Vista to visit his Cooper Memorial Chapel. Both are indescribable and even the photos don't do them justice. You really need to sit inside and soak up the peace and beauty. Thorncrown (from the words crown of thorns) opened in 1980, and over 5 million people have visited. Our volunteer guide provided a wonderful presentation on the Reed family who purchased the land and had the vision, and their relationship with Jones.

"This exquisite chapel in the Ozark woods is small (24 feet by 60 feet by 48 feet high) and walled with glass. It rises from fieldstone floors and two low fieldstone walls; otherwise it is built almost entirely of standard-size lumber worked with the attention to detail of a master cabinetmaker. Repeating diamond shapes loft upward to its overhanging peaked roof. It has been compared to Lloyd Wright's Wayfarers Chapel...." from Sylvia Hart Wright. Sourcebook of Contemporary North American Architecture: From Postwar to Postmodern. p 63.



The Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista is different but just as lovely, and I'd have a tough time if I had to choose. John Cooper had purchased Bella Vista, a resort community begun in 1915 and reestablished it in the 1960s as a retirement community.

According to the history of the community, "Everyone was a member who bought property, a homesite or home, and was entitled to use the amenities-- golf courses, clubhouses etc. He then turned these facilities over to a Property Owners Association to own and manage. Between 1965 and 1989 the Cooper Company, known after 1971 as Cooper Communities, Inc., built five golf courses (the POA built two), seven lakes, four major club houses and other amenities. The Property Owners Association, a private corporation governed by a board of directors, owned and managed the facilities for the members. From May 21, 1965, when the first lots were sold, until 1995, CCI sold 37,060 lots or homesites, and built hundreds of homes."

The parents of one of the members of our tour group had lived there for 28 years, so we had a lot of inside information, and her aunt who also lived there invited the entire busload over for dessert after we finished our afternoon tour. Her husband who is 89 had already played 18 holes of golf that day--and the temperature was near 100 degrees. It is really one of the loveliest retirement communities I've ever seen. Of course, all the services needed to support such a large community has brought in trades and professions of all types--education, medical, social services, government services. Everywhere we looked there was a new library, or a new shopping center, or a new church. (I seem to be overusing lovely, delightful and beautiful in this entry, but I can't help it.)

We said good-bye to Arkansas and drove north briefly into Missouri to pick up a better road to take us into Bartlesville, Oklahoma and the Price Tower designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We did make a brief stop at the original Sam Walton 5 and 10 store just to pay homage to the family that has brought so much wealth and growth to this area.

1294 Spider update

A few days ago I wrote about Elmo's Cousin living in our cottage basement at Lake Erie. When our daughter and son-in-law picked us up at the Columbus airport last night, Mark reported that he bravely stood at the top of the basement stairs and dropped the Scattergories game on "Cuz." Says he had teeth. My daughter describes him as "furry." Mark's brother said, "I can't believe you slept in the same house with him."

1293 See you Monday

We're off to Arkansas. See you Monday.

1292 Bat Girl

R Cubed gives us a wonderful natural history lesson.

1291 Beauty and Grace

Gary Irving finds beauty and grace close to home--mine.

1290 The Right attacking Roberts

The Democrats just kill their young; the Republicans eat theirs. The hardest thing for me to get used to these last four years as a Republican is how they just can't stick together. Our weepy Senator Voinovich (R-Ohio) being a recent example. Here's Ann Coulter's take on the John Roberts appointment:

"It means absolutely nothing that NARAL and Planned Parenthood attack [Roberts] him: They also attacked Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Hackett Souter.

The only way a supreme court nominee could win the approval of NARAL and Planned Parenthood would be to actually perform an abortion during his confirmation hearing, live, on camera, and preferably a partial birth one."

She makes a living being outrageous, but does she think she'll get a bigger audience by handing the left the appointment by default? Are there no issues of importance in this country other than abortion?

1289 So why are you fans?

OK, all you Firefox fans. Tell me what's so great. I'm now viewing my pages in IE and everything looks fine. Switch to FF and I can hardly read the archive dates they're so tiny. Also, blogger's "Compose" doesn't work in FF (retaining all the hyperlinks I painstakingly worked on in text)--at least not for me. At one of my other blogs a reader using a MAC said that Compose was the big advantage. I periodically check my site meter for browser stats, and see that FF is creeping up in percentages, but so far it's just not turning me on. I see a divorce in our future.

1288 Elmo's Cousin

Right before we left Lakeside, my husband came up from the basement and said, "I think Elmo's got a cousin." Elmo was the name we gave an extremely large spider about 10 years ago. I'd been doing laundry in the basement for the last 3 weeks and the only spiders I'd seen were dead ones--big, but dead. "Oh, leave him alone. He'll eat the bugs," I said. "What about Mark?" he said. "We just won't tell him," I said, knowing our son-in-law's fear of spiders, "No sense spoiling his vacation."

Last night our daughter called about 9 p.m. Apparently Mark had gone to the basement to throw in a load of laundry and saw Elmo's cousin. Our daughter heard him holler, as he ran up the steps. She had to finish the laundry because he won't go in the basement. "This one's different, Mom, he just stands in the middle of the floor and watches you. I can see his eyes move."

She called again this evening to tell us they'd been seated at the sushi bar in the Japanese Restaurant (you have to leave the grounds for this) with our neighbors John and Katie and she thought that was quite amazing. We talked a bit, and asked her what they planned to do this evening.

"We're going to the laundro-mat," she said firmly.

1287 Our trip to Oklahoma and Arkansas

We’re going on an architectural tour to Arkansas and Oklahoma on Thursday. Wondering if we might be wandering into the after effects of Hurricane Emily, I looked at some weather reports for that area. Friday 97 and Saturday 98. But the humidity is low, compared to Ohio. The heat index seems to be about 110. Is that like the reverse of the chill factor?

I know we’ll see Fayetteville, Arkansas and Eureka Springs and the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa. We’ll stop at the Thorncrown Chapel and the Cooper Memorial Chapel for tours before arriving at the Inn at Price Tower, design by Frank Lloyd Wright in Bartlesville, OK. From there we go to Tulsa where we’ll see “noteworthy architecture.” If I sound a little vague it’s because I can’t seem to find my file about this trip.

1286 What's on the nightstand?

Tagged by Ayekah of the Deep South. . . .

What's On My Nightstand. . .Our “night stands” are actually two smallish, cream colored marble top end tables we purchased in 1963, which were moved from the living room to the bedroom about 15 years ago. The lamps are on the wall and came with the house. My side has a phone, a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress, a copy of Wired, a pencil and a small pink spiral bound notebook. And dust. None of these items except the phone are ever used. I fall asleep about 30 seconds after retiring or I watch TV, so it’s useless to have a book on the end table. I can't sleep with a clock.

I'll tag Rebecca, Badaunt, Doyle, and Sal.

1285 Firefox problems

Problems with the layout.

Update: As of 3:10 it looks OK on my screen. However, it did that yesterday too. I tried to delete some of the buttons I didn't need and must have elminated something important, so reloaded the template code (22 pages) I'd saved in wp before I started all this.

"Switching is easy." Yeah, tell me about it.

1284 Do as I say, not as I do: librarian's motto?

The editor of C&RL News sadly writes here:

“My children have a genetic disease. It is rare, not well understood, and there is no treatment or cure. However, the most disturbing obstacle we face is the wall around published scientific research. Information critical to health and biomedical research is held hostage by questionable and arcane publishing practices. It is time for publishers, both private and academic, to redesign their business models in response to a new age of information sharing and a stronger sense of the scientific commons.”

What puzzles me is that her journal, and most library journals, do NOT have open access (except for editorial remarks like hers) even though librarians beat the drum for everyone else to provide free information.

Yes, NIH is tax supported, but so are libraries and librarians salaries.