This morning up at the northern house I woke up to a white landscape.  It looked like a couple of inches and I wasn’t in the mood to go out and measure it. Sort of not ready for the start of winter.  Most of it melted by the afternoon.  It was a bit earlier then the first snow we had up here when we bought the house in 2006 .
Picture of the house the first year after a November 11th 2006 snowfall.

I noticed something while I was sitting at my computer in the den on Friday morning.  I haven’t seen one of these before (then again I’m not the most observant person).  I couldn’t find the bird book, but I’m sure its some type of egret.  The pond attracts a lot of birds due to it being next to several 100 acres of natural park land (part of the reason why we built here). Typically there are several cranes that use the pond throughout the year and they nest just south of the house. They have been back for a couple weeks because I’ve seen them several times & nightly you hear their calls.

The next day brought snow which luckily didn’t stick.  Hopefully that will be the last of this season.  Hopefully I’ll catch some more birds as they pass through.

Stopped by Steven Kozar’s holiday open house today. He has been the artist on Dane County Cultural Affair’s poster in 2002 and again in 2007 (shown to the right). His images are so photo realistic that many people think they are photos. He works in water color & in oil. A couple years ago he lived down the street and had a Holiday Open House which he advertised by putting flyers on the neighborhood mailboxes. That was my introduction to his work and while he lived down the street, he did several scenes of McFarland. One was near the old house & another one is near the new one. His 2005 “Cows on Parade” entry entitled “Where the Cows Are” was located in the Capitol Rotunda. He moved to Stoughton for a while, but has since moved back into the neighborhood. He currently has a kiosk at West Towne Mall and is frequently at shows, so check out his website to see where you can see his work’s in person.

Its probably worth a shot to look at Archiplanet first.  You can find buildings by location, name or type.  You can search by designer and where they are located.  You can search by who built it.  It’s a Wiki, which means anyone can add to it.  I need to go back through my pictures & see what I could add.

Oops the message got deleted….will repost

Just got back from a road trip to Sault Ste Marie, Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. The fall colors were great, but as usual, it was food that I enjoyed the most. The highlight of the trip was the Leg’s Inn in Cross Village Michigan. The building it is in is just cool. The place got its name from the stove legs used as decorations on the roof line. The food was great too! First time I’ve had Polish food, but I really enjoyed it.

The other unexpected surprise was a stop for lunch on the way back in Escanaba Michigan, the Stonehouse Restaurant. We went past the place on the way up & it looked pretty crowded, usually a good sign. It was early and we had a lot of miles to go, so we couldn’t stop for dinner. On the way back, we gave it a shot & I’m so glad. The special of the day was Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin with pan roasted potatoes and mashed cauliflower. Kevin couldn’t finish it all (he got the last one). It reminded him of a dinner he would have gotten at Angelo’s (which recently closed). I was sort of in a burger mood, so not getting the special wasn’t too bad. The best part of the burger was getting the onion rings. I didn’t finish it all either, but came close. Didn’t need dinner that night.

If I’m in either place again, both of these places will be on my to-do list.

Tours of the Frank family home in Sapulpa are now available according to an article in the Sapulpa Daily Herald. The home was done by Bruce Goff, a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Something I should look into is a small stoneware piece.

Missed it this year, but its an annual event in its fifth year. Northwestern Wisconsin Pottery Tour

An interesting blog that I ran across shows the pottery headstones in the Hill Country of northeast Mississippi. I’m not sure how far north pottery headstones could be found due to freezing. Some of the headstones appear to be stoneware and others look more like redware. Still amazing that they’ve lasted over 100 years to the elements and man. Sort of brings the concept of a Potter’s Field full circle.