Sycamore IL

June 30 to July 7, 2016

After a brief stop in Rockford to get a new ABS sensor on the RV, we arrived at Sycamore RV Resort.

It took us a couple hours to figure out that these were fake swans.  They are supposed to keep the geese away.  Judging by the amount of goose poop we encountered, it doesn't work very well

                                 

Our time in Sycamore consisted of visiting family and resting.  We don't get together as often as we wish, but we try to make the most of it when we can.  I must say, I have some of the cutest great grand nieces and nephews in the world.  I may be just a bit biased.  Of, I think, 23 possible relatives to see, I only missed one nephew, one great niece, and three husbands.  I guess that's not too bad, even though I did wish I could have seen them all. 

Stoughton/Madison, WI

June 25 to 30, 2016

 While in Stoughton we attended a 3 day workshop near Madison. We learned about this project and how we could help, as interviewers and/or in other aspects of the project.  This introduction says it better than I can.

The Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project
Gathering and Preserving The Life Stories of Old Lesbians
Saving Our Stories, One Interview at a Time

It's hard to imagine today what it was like for a woman to live in a time when she had never heard the word lesbian, when there were no lesbian organizations, and when she had to be careful what she wore to the bar because a woman could be arrested simply for wearing pants, or the wrong shoes.

As a 70 something woman, I am aware of the perils of living a lifestyle that is disapproved of by some family members, and has been considered illegal for a good portion of my life.  I know of women who have had a much harder life than I, and their stories need to be heard, too.  

It is a sad commentary on the human race that people can be shunned, ostracized, beaten, jailed, and even killed because they are different in some way from what someone else has deemed as best.

We made some new friends and saw some old friends.  

On the morning that we left Stoughton, Donna saw a visitor in the field.  I am not sure what

 it is.  Maybe Tyna can help with that?

Stoughton, WI

June 23,2016

We left Oconto and headed back toward Madison on Thursday.  We had some catching up to do around the RV and we both needed haircuts.  We arrived in Stoughton, WI, about 20 miles south of Madison, and got settled in.


On Saturday, we took a drive to Spring Green, WI to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home there.  He was born in 1867 and his designs were way before their time.  Taliesin was built in 1911 and Wright called it home until his death in 1959.  He believed that a building should become part of the surrounding landscape and kind of melt into it.  

He left his first wife in 1909 and moved in with Mamah Borthwick Cheney.  He built this house in 1911 to become his home with the "love of his life", Mamah .  In 1914 a disgruntled servant killed Mamah, her 2 children and 4 others and set fire to the living quarters. The tragedy stunned Wright more than any event in his life.  

He rebuilt the house, and the living quarters again caught fire in 1925, this time from faulty wiring.  By this time he had remarried.  His second wife, Miriam Noel, suffered from schizophrenia and he divorced her after only a couple of tumultuous years  This divorce and the Great Depression caused him great financial harm.  In 1927, the bank foreclosed on Taliesin.  Just before the auction a former client got the idea to form a company and sell stock against Wrights future earnings, he put together enough money to purchase the property and return it to Wright.

He rebuilt Taliesin in its present form and designed many of his most memorable properties there.  He remarried again.  His third wife was Olgivanna, who he married in 1940, was with him until his death in 1959

TALIESIN  (Pronounced Tally- essen)

,

He started the Taliesin Fellowship and had many apprentices living here, over the years.

When the telephone company started putting up poles along the lower road for their wiring, he thought they messed with his view, so he sent students down  the hill with saws to cut them down.  He later negotiated to have the wires buried so he wouldn't see them.

This trellis structure was made by upcycling the parts of an old cattle chute.

An assistant to the last Mrs Wright still resides here and is guaranteed  a place to live for life.  The restoration of this wall will be done after her death.

This tree was a lot smaller when the wall was built.

The poor wall as the tree grew.

 

Notice the fire damaged roof rafters.

It's said that the client for "Falling River" called FLW as he was driving here to pick up his drawings.  He said, "I'll be there in 2 hours."  FLW had not made the drawings for him, so he sat down and drew the plans in 2 hours and had them ready when the man arrived.  

         FLW's mother

The doors on these windows could be adjusted so the lighting would satisfy FLW.

Cindy, do you think the builder of your house was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright?  Triangles everywhere.

The hallways all have low ceilings because FLW felt that it would make the entrance to the main room seem even more expansive. 

Love the shag rug

This is the chapel and next to it is the cemetery where his family is buried.

The dam and waterfall at the entrance to Taliesin.

This place was not built to be a full time residence.  It was built by inexperienced builders and some of the deterioration is due to this.  There was also a problem with the drainage system in 1998 during a severe storm.  There was a mudslide and erosion at the base of the structure.  A large tree blew down onto the roof and caused major damage.

Another tidbit that I gleaned from our tour was that FLW treated his students like servants and he had an ego the size of (you fill in a name).