OK, who said, “I was faced with being honestly arrogant or hypocritically humble”. . .

Frank Lloyd Wright's signature: a red square. He incorporated it into almost everything he did.

I am definitely getting behind in my blogging. Good thing our lifestyle doesn’t depend on my being productive and/or timely!

When last you heard from me, we had been to the Detroit game and headed to the Chicago area. We have now been camped (“camped” is a euphemism for living a pretty nice lifestyle in our motorhome with microwave, air conditioning, satellite tv, and no—well, not many—leaks) in Marengo, IL (where??), where we are staying for 11 days.

We have been spending time on that swing!

Tolls are everywhere and insidiously everywhere. By that I mean if you have an electronic transponder (EZPass, IPass, etc) on your windshield, you often don’t even notice you’ve gone through a toll (there is just a huge archway and you don’t even have to slow down) and they don’t tell you how much the toll is if you are using a transponder. We have been unable to get a readout online, either. I hate tolls. It almost makes me glad we live in Arizona the west where there are very few tolls. There are even signs that say, “Speed radar timed” as you enter the tollway. Big brother lives!

We went to the White Sox game with our friend Lisa whom we have known since we lived in Chicago. The most memorable part of that game (other than it went to extra innings) was that there was a complete stop traffic jam on I90 at midnight! Not to mention driving across Chicago in stop-and-go traffic; what should have taken 5 minutes took 30 minutes.

We had to take really quick photos of Cubby in the home of his arch rivals, the White Sox!

This pic had to be really quick or he would have been Cubby-napped!

Randy & Lisa

Randy & Pam

While we were in Chicago we went to the world-renowned International (!) Museum of Surgical Science. Randy was a bit grossed out but I thought it was neat. I got to see the machine I used when I was a young girl to see whether my shoes fit, the Simplex Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope! And old obstetrical tools as well as medical and surgical doodads from way, way back when I was in nursing school (1958 – 1961, AKA the Good Old Days!).

On to Minneapolis for the Twins/Royals game. Since it was a six hour drive we decided to get a hotel in MSP for two nights and see what was exciting up there. Northern lights were forecast but we didn’t get to see them.  

For dinner one night we found Paddy Ryan’s and I had my first Irish whiskey (or is it ‘whisky’? It actually IS whiskey; for a detailed description of how and why, see http://www.thekitchn.com/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-di-100476), Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. Quite delicious! I also had Paddy Ryan's boiled bacon; not so delicious! The best part was the cabbage which was “flash boiled” (whatever that means, the chef told me that’s what he did) in hard cider.

We also drove around Minneapolis’s Summit Road and ogled the old mansions (still lived in) and walked around St. Paul’s Cathedral, quite beautiful and VERY large. Lunch was at Kip’s Irish Pub (we seem to be into Irish stuff this trip. Maybe someday we’ll actually GO to Ireland) and we bought a bottle of Irish whiskey to enjoy later. MSP has a beautiful and very interesting downtown park made from the remains of the old mills that used to be in town; MSP was the largest flour-milling city, possibly in the world, at one time. There is still a large lock on the river; while we were there it was lowering a boat—one very small outboard motorboat in this gigantic lock!

There are something like 23 stone arches on this old railroad bridge.

Some of the mill ruins near the stone arch bridghe.

Looking through one of the arches to the millrace (I don't know what it is either, it was on a sign!)

The very large lock on the left center of the photo.

And the very small boat that was using it.

A view trhough one of the millstones.

Pam, in case you couldn't recognize me.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Interior of St. Paul's

Stunning stained glass windows all around the cathedral.

One of the smaller altars that line the back of the cathedral, also with beautiful stained glass windows.

Royals won the baseball game. We had nice seats but it was vertigo-inducing to be up on the 3^rd level, front row, with nothing but some thin wires in front of me. WHY do I keep getting front row tickets that are up high? This seat was somewhat annoying because my height is such that I had to sort of slump to see under the top rail otherwise I couldn’t see the 3^rd baseman or shortstop. Such a tough life!

Cubby being a two-fisted drinker. That's Irish whiskey on the left, a Big Ginger (2Gingers Irish whiskey and ginger ale); really, really good!

Pam & Cubby overlooking the field from our high-up seats.

We drove home the next day via Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin (means “shining brow”) in Spring Green, WI. We did a tour of his home (as opposed to the Hillside Studio, or a Preservation Tour, or an Estate Tour, or a Highlights Tour) for two hours. Very, very interesting and beautiful. I could SO live in any of his houses!

Our first view of Taliesin, walking approximately where horse-drawn carriages would have come. Taliesin was built around 1911, although it burned down twice.

Our guide, Livia, very knowledgeable.

Some of the garden art. This was a beautiful time of year to visit Taliesin.

There is a lot of restoration needed.

More oriental garden art.

And more, although this is a reproduction of what was here originally.

Even in the outside spaces, FLW incorporated the surprise opening up to something different that he used so much in the interior spaces of his buildings.

I was just taken by this beautiful old gasoline pump, just moldering away.

He incorporated his signature red square in everything, even an outside gate.

The two white pines that are pushing this wall over will have to be replaced soon but they haven't figured what exactly to do in their place. They have been there for a hundred years.

More art (we were not allowed to take photos inside so I can't show you any of the art place around his home, but everywhere you looked was some piece of art incorporated into the living spaces.)

I love this view of the tower. Most of the rest of the house is very longitudinal.

The garden and sitting area outside his bedroom.

The house in all its glory!

And it was FLW who said he could have "honest arrogance or hypocritical humility." He opted for honest arrogance. He also said and I so agree with him on this (and about many other things), that “art should be lived with.” His homes (we have seen Taliesin, Taliesin West, and Falling Water, plus several in Oak Park) are filled with art, his personal homes most of all. We were told that when he came back from designing the Imperial Hotel in Japan, he sent back two boxcars full of art, much of which is in Taliesin.

And last, in case you wondered what we do when we keep score (there is a separate page for each team):

This is my (Pam's) scoresheet for the Twins/Royals game. I try to even keep track of what order the balls and strikes are. Not always successful at that, however!