Fun Monday - Frank's House

Well, here we are at the end of a month's attempt to resuscitate Fun Monday. Not sure that we were successful, but here's my take on the last topic from Mariposa , our host for this month. She asks for a show and tell of the favorite part of our home. I've written about this several times. It's the den "hidey hole" where I work at my computer, watch movies and read. So, I'll range a bit further and tell you about my favorite style of architecture. If I could have a dream home it would be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and look like this:

This is the Rev. Jesse R. Zeigler House, a private residence in Frankfort, Kentucky. This house is the only Frank Lloyd Wright design in Kentucky. Wright designed the home for Rev. Ziegler, a Presbyterian minister whom he met on board a ship bound for Europe in the early 1900s. The house sits in a neighborhood just down the street from the Kentucky state capitol buildings.

A couple of weeks ago a few friends met at the Ziegler house for a private tour by someone who house sits for the current owners quite regularly. L is also a student of the architect Wright so she was able to give us the inside scoop on this house as well as Wright's rather flamboyant lifestyle and eccentricities. For example, he only earned $500 for this house design. It was known as a prairie style for its open floor plan. On the first floor the living room flowed into the dining room and then on into the kitchen. Above the fireplace there was a lighted stained glass case at ceiling level, visible in both the living and dining rooms. In the "public" rooms the windows were uncovered and almost floor to ceiling leaded glass with decorative designs. Wright called these windows "light screens".

Since the Zeigler house is a private residence I can't show you any of insides. Too bad because the house is a wonderful example of simplicity, craftsmanship, and functionality of a Frank Lloyd Wright plan. It looked very much like this interior, which is also a Wright house: I would want a house filled with Wright's Arts and Crafts furniture like this writing desk and table:

Many years ago I was on a roadtrip between Boston, MA and Buffalo, NY and, by accident, discovered the area of the Adirondack Mountains where Gustav Stickley, a German immigrant, started the Arts and Crafts movement, including homes and furniture. I fell in love with this simple well-made furniture, touring the Stickley furniture company and sales area. I even remember staying in the Craftsman's Inn where the rooms were furnished with Arts and Crafts furniture .

It's a bit late in my homeowning ventures to have this kind of house, but if it were 30 years earlier, I'd be living in such a place.

Fun Monday - Favorite Hidey Hole

Topic for January 25th Fun Monday is "Favorite Rooms." Our good host, Janis over at Life According to Jan and Jer , is asking us to share photos of the favorite room in our home. And why? I've written about mine in a previous post. At that time I called the room an "escape." A year later life is calmer, but this den/office/hidey hole is still the room where I'm most happy and at peace. It's the place where I stay connected with the world and also retreat from the world when I need to.

When I retired in 2006, I converted an unused bedroom to an office/project room. The idea was that all the spare time I would have in retirement could be spent to good use in this room. I would read, write, and work at the computer. There was space to paint, sew, or craft at the drafting table. I could leave out all my supplies between times since no one ever saw this room. This space is special to me also because all the great office furniture was a retirement gift from my former colleagues. Was that a grand gesture, or what? Beats a gold watch any time!

Quite honestly I spend most of the day in this room. Early in the morning I leave Willie in bed and come in here and fire up the computer to get the late breaking news, check e-mails and blogs. Willie waits patiently on the bed until I sign off and give him a boost off our bed. He's 13 now and doesn't do a lot of jumping. We collect the morning paper and spend the next few hours reading and having breakfast. By noon I'm back in the hidey hole and Willie takes up his spot under the desk. We spend more time at the computer, read, and watch Netflix movies. A few months ago I joined the worldwide Postcrossings Project, a postcard exchange with people all over the world. The cork boards that you see on the wall are filled with cards from about 30 different countries--from Brazil to Belarus. I get such a kick out of these goodwill messages from all over. Eventually I hope I can cover a whole wall with these postcards. My latest favorite thing in this room is the colorful world map that friend S gave me for my last birthday. It's handy because there's not a day that goes by when I don't need to figure out where some place in the news is located or where a blog or postcard friend lives. What a great way to brush up on your geography.

With only an occasional break, Willie and I spend most of our day in this room. Around 2:00 a.m. I turn the computer off, let Willie out one last time, and take in the quiet sleeping neighborhood. Retired life in the hidey hole can't be beat!

Now be sure to check out other Fun Monday favorite rooms. Janis is doing the home tours over at her place.

Kitchen Counter Tour

(Our host for this week's Fun Monday is Ari over at Beyond My Slab . She wants us to share a photo of our kitchen counter. The big question--can we resist doing a little straightening and staging before taking the photo? Well, since I'm not trying to sell my kitchen and originally titled this post "Good Enough", I'll follow Ari's directions.)


I redid this kitchen a few years ago, replacing the flooring, appliances, and countertops. Also painted the cabinets and walls in my favorite color range black-brown-tan. Joe the Remodeler referred to the countertop selection as "poor man's granite." I have the fabric to make some cafe curtains(brown checked)whenever I get around to it.

In keeping with the minimalist approach throughout my house, you'll not find much in the way of gadgets and appliances in this kitchen. I'm satisfied to do most food preparation and cleanup chores by hand. Notice the white bowl in the right hand sink. That's the garbage bowl trick that I learned from Rachael Ray. As I'm cooking any vegetable trimmings, empty cans, etc. go in this bowl until cleanup time. I don't need a garbage disposal. Nor do I need a dishwasher. It's good enough to handwash dishes and let them drain on a rack by the sink.

Moving on to the left, you can barely see some fruits and vegetables in green bags. These bags are the Debbie Meyer's fruit-vegetable keepers of infomercial fame. They actually work. I can keep bananas for over a week, cutting out expensive runs to the grocery store. Those bananas and some frozen fruit and yogurt can be thrown into the little blender with some ice cubes to make yummy smoothies when I'm trying to eat healthy.

Eating healthy comes and goes. Proof of that is the mixer and baking supplies at the ready on the counter. I've been baking cakes and bread the past few weeks. Last week it was oatmeal cake which I had every morning for breakfast. Before today is out I'm making pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling. Does that sound like the cure for the winter doldrums?

Well, this is probably the most boring kitchen tour you'll do this Fun Monday. Be sure and check out other more inspiring kitchens from Ari's place.

If Walls could Talk

(Jan at The Prytz Family is the host for this week's Fun Monday. The subject is walls. What color are they painted? What do we have on our walls? What is special about what we choose to display?)

I've lived in two different houses since 1983. The walls are always painted Queen Anne's Lace by Porter Paints. This color provides a nice soft white canvas for whatever I"m currently interested in seeing on the walls. Over the years I've hung my own crewelwork, counted cross stitch, Kentucky watercolors, and dried flower wreaths that I made fresh for each season change.

For many years, however, I've been in a minimalist frame of mind. I don't have many things at all on the walls. When I look over my computer I can see a huge map of the world with pins in the countries I've visited. Only about a dozen--wish there were more. Over to the left of my desk I have a rather large corkboard with a month of pen and ink drawings and watercolors. I spent ten minutes on each painting and did this daily throughout the month. (Note: when I look at this monthly progression, I can say that practice does not make perfect, but it does make better!)

In the living room I have three paintings of dogs that I'm very fond of. The first is called "After the Chase" by Andrew Wyeth. I love Wyeth's paintings of dogs and this one reminds me of a great visit with a friend and the time we spent in the Brandywine Valley, touring gardens and museums. I bought this print at Wyeth's gallery as a memento of the trip.

The second painting is called "The Girl with the Dog" by Theodore Robinson. Robinson was a mid-1800s Impressionist painter. I've had this painting for years and, unlike some others, it never gets banished to the basement. I look at this painting and see the devotion shared between people and dogs. It is a feeling that I experience daily.

This is the painting that I want to look at every day. It's called "The Veteran" and was painted by Jeanne Filler Scott in 1987. I haven't been able to find out anything about this artist. My friend Kittyhawk was helping with an auction for an animal rescue group and she emailed me the photo of it saying that she thought I might be interested in bidding on it. Was I!

I had just been reading "The Places in Between". This book is an account of the young Scotsman Rory Stewart's walk across Afghanistan in January 2002 just after the fall of the Taliban. Armed only with his ability to speak Persian and his knowledge and respect for Muslim customs, he crossed the snow covered mountains, despite being told that he would surely die before the walk was done. He walked from Herat on the Iranian border east to Kabul on the Pakistan border. He claimed hospitality from poor villagers, a requirement of the Muslim religion. He slept on the floor, shared their meager food, and talked with the tribesmen.

I wanted "The Veteran" because he reminded me so much of Babur, the mastiff fighting dog that Stewart accepted from some villagers as a traveling companion. Babur, which means tiger, had never known kindness from any human. His teeth had been knocked out, his tail and ears cut off. Muslims consider dogs to be unclean animals and were kept to fight off wolves from the sheep or sport fighting with other dogs.. He was regularly stoned by village children. Babur and Stewart supported each other in dangerous, near death experiences as they crossed the mountains. The first day together, Stewart decided that he would take Babur back to Scotland.

Well, this is a bit of what my walls say about me. As soon as you can, check out other the other Fun Monday walls. I'm curious about what we'll find.

(Sorry I couldn't take photos of my walls. My camera was giving me red splashes. The photo of Stewart and Babur was taken from The Places in Between.)

Bedside Table Tales

(Aoj, host of this week's Fun Monday, over at Aoj and the Lurchers maintains that she, like her friend's mother, is not nosy, just interested in people. Huhm-m-m. . .very interested I'd say because she wants to see our bedside table--what's on it, under it, and even what's in the drawers!)


This tale is not a satisfying one because what I have is not what I want. My bedside table is a throwback to 30 years ago when the home decorating style was to purchase a "set" (that's mountain lingo for "suite" for the uninitiated) of matchy-matchy furniture for each room--bedroom, living, kitchen. What you ended up with was a boring, unwelcoming space. That's what I have.

I leave this room in the morning and rarely return until bedtime. Therefore, my bedside table inventory for Aoj is not very inspiring, nor very revealing of who I am. On the table top there's a not very good reading lamp, a box to set the lamp on to give some reading height, an ugly clock radio. But wait, when I opened the drawers I did find a journal in case I woke up in the night wanting to write; a sketchbook for a quick little line drawing; glasses that, judging from the lens size, must be at least 15 years old; and a booklight since you never know when the electricity might go. And, that V-shaped pillow on my bed is perfect for reading.

What I Want--if it were practical to start all over with creating a home, I'd love to go back to my youthful free-living days when home was a one room living space. When I graduated from college, life was very simple and straightforward. My goal was to always be able to pack up my possessions and move wherever my dreams and interests took me. So, I loaded up my anti-establishmint Ford Maverick ( no joking, that was the actual green color name for my car, it was the late 60s after all!) and headed to Florida to teach. I lived in a couple of one-room efficiency apartments there. With each subsequent move in post-college days, I wanted that cozy, pared down living space that you see in this photo. In a couple of places I almost succeeded. What a pleasure to have everything that you love in sight and accessible. Simple living at its best.

By now I suspect you're growing bored with my bedside table tale. So, head on over to Aoj and the Lurchers to see what the other Fun Monday participants are willing to show you.