H2O

Farmers watch the weather reports with the same interest that New York lawyers following the stock exchange. Precipitation becomes more than just a topic of conversation if your livelihood is dependent upon Mother Nature's whim.

Thankfully a thunderstorm rolled through last night in the wee hours, and drenched the fields for a short time, giving a brief respite to the drought. The thirsty soil soaked up the meager but welcome offering. This morning my large Elegans hosta was sprinkled with precious H2O.

yucatan dreaming

The nearest palm tree is probably a thousand miles from the corn and soybean fields of Illinois. But thanks to a businessman who opened a car wash near here, we can pretend we're sitting on a beach in the Yucatan. The building is a Key West type architectural design, and he's had these fake palm trees installed out front.

I sat on a bench waiting for the young workers to finish vacuuming and spiffing up the interior. If you tune out the hum of the machinery and look skyward, you can almost believe that you're in Playa del Carmen. Almost. I'm not quite sure the imagination will take you there in the middle of January, but it would be worth a try.

This flatlander has found a second love and every time I leave Playa, it's with a kiss and a promise to return. I miss all the lovely, hard working people that inhabit the Yucatan.

wash day

After the wedding, student volunteers demonstrated farm life activities, including doing the laundry. Wardrobe was quite limited in those days, limited by the amount of fabric you could produce on the loom, and the time it took to launder the clothing one piece at a time.

These students are participating in an effort to keep history alive in an educational and meaningful way. I wondered if any teachers have incorporated the blogging phenonmenon into their teaching by assigning students a blog to read for a month or two. They could then produce a report on what they've learned, or a critique of style, photography or whatever the teacher deemed appropriate.

the vows

In the late 1800's, one of the Durant daughters was married in this small parlor of what is now the Durant-Peterson Museum house. There were 15 guests at her wedding. Weddings of the time were not grand affairs and most likely occurred during January or February when the work load at the farm was at it's slowest.

This reenactment portrayed a wedding of the period and featured old time wedding traditions. One of student volunteers was the bride, her friend served as her groom, and a retired history teacher served as the judge. Visitors to the museum house were enthusiastic wedding guests. It was unlikely that a rural couple in the 1800's would have had a wedding portrait taken, but in this instance I was glad to serve as re-enactment photographer.

potential

The violin holds potential in the hands of a talented musician, and performance is the marriage of talent, emotion and hard work.

If you were to follow my comments on other sites, you'd discover that I'm not knowledgable enough of a photographer to discuss the technical aspects of the work. As a student of human nature, and cultural and social issues, I'm always interested in the story the photo tells. If the story is not readily apparent, I make one up. I've posted two separate photos of this talented young man in hopes that my small but loyal readers will comment on the merits of each. I love the darker nature of the previous photo, but in this one John's eyes are closed which supports my vision of music flowing from deep inside, unfettered by the sheet music which he cannot see.

eloquence

As children, we were always encouraged to create a rich artistic life. I can't remember a single day as an adult that I haven't done something creative, whether it be writing, painting, knitting, stitching or any number of endeavors. I have, however, always been wildly envious of people who have been gifted with musical talent, because I have none of it. None.

It's one thing to be moved by a beautiful piece of music, but to be able to perform and channel emotion through the instrument must be tremendously satisfying. It will remain an experience I can only dream about.

Picture here is John, a young musician who performed for guests at a reenactment of an 1800's wedding. He performed music that would have been popular at the time, and he was very talented and poised. Many thanks to John and his sister Emma, who performed prior to the ceremony.

pop corn

Does it look hot and dry? It is. The corn is in danger of popping in the field.

I received an e-mail from Jerry at Garfield Farm in which he passed along the information that this is the driest early spring and summer since 1939. That fact that the corn plants are this tall and fairly healthy looking is a testament the development of drought resistant plants. The old saying is that the corn should be knee high by the 4th of July and this corn has surprisingly passed that mark.

I love to watch the fields. The perfectly spaced rows stretch as far as the eye can see. A windbreak of trees appears like a mirage on the gently curving horizon.
The corn loves basking in the heat, but only if it can be refreshed by a good rain. Mother Nature teased us mercifully last night, throwing a wave of lightning and thunder in from the Mississippi River, only to break the promise of rain. Not a drop fell on the parched earth.

faith

It's all in the details.

Older buildings have fascinating details, such as this small, intricately carved element over the doorway of the First Congregational Church in Geneva. Above the cross shaped gingerbread is a curved window with stone quoin trim and above that columns and capitals crafted from wood.

a man and his music

In addition to keeping his tractor in top running condition, and giving it a beautiful paint job, Avery has installed a cassette tape player. He was very enthusiastic about sharing his choice of music......lots of Swedish and Bohemian polka tapes. I had to admit I'd never heard of Swedish polkas. The only thing missing on the tractor seemed to be a cup holder, for a nice can of beer while you're plowing.

the collector

This is Avery Stevens, the tractor collector I met this morning. I believe he said he has at least 7 old tractors, including a Silver King, and Avery and others. Collecting is an addiction, whether it be tractors or cameras, and some are more pricey than others.

Avery is donning his gloves to tighten up the chains that hold the tractor on the flat bed trailer. Tomorrow he's driving the Minneapolis Moline in the Swedish Days Parade in nearby Geneva. That ought to give the kids a thrill - they love machinery!

minneapolis moline

On my way out to do errands this morning I stopped for gas at the Pride Pantry. Luck had it that pumping gas across from me was a guy hauling this beautiful 1948 Minneapolis Moline tractor to a show out in Sandwich, IL.

I struck up a conversation and asked him if I could take some pictures. People are always happy to talk about their passions, and collecting old tractors is his. He told me that after World War II, when farmers were choosing to upgrade to the bigger machines, these were languishing in barns all over the countryside. You could pick them up for $50 to $75, and he in fact had originally paid $75 for this machine. He assured me that he could now get at least $1,075, although in truth it's worth much more than that.

When I shared the pics on the LCD screen he became a critic of composition. He was unhappy about the broad banded canopy over the gas pumps, and offered to pull his truck and trailer out and in front of some nice trees to provide a suitable backdrop! And, being ever the collector he was concerned about the paint not being in pristine condition. No worries Avery - this is a working machine!

a little piece of heaven

"Nine miles from here", is a term you will hear me using often. It refers to the approach of development which is burning like a runaway prairie fire just nine miles from here.

The residents of an older community set aside what appears to be about 2 or 3 acres of land. Years ago it was plowed and tilled and sectioned off into small individual gardening plots, and each year the stewards of those plots raise corn, lettuce, cabbage, pumpkins, tomatoes....whatever their hearts desire.

This gentleman waters his small crop as progress looms in the background. Things look grim for these suburban farmers. The land their crops inhabit is too valuable as development fodder. At least three $500,000 homes, or one good sized strip mall could occupy this space. I wonder if they can smell imminent domain creeping down upon their little piece of heaven?

the work glove

There's an eerie element to working in old barns and farms. It's an unsettling feeling created by the images themselves. As you look around you, questions arise. When's the last time a barn cat at out of the food bowl that is now filled with dirt and leaf litter? When did the huge vine take hold in the corn crib, spillling it's green harvest out the door and onto the floor? When the raccoons move in, making this space their own?

Chairs sit empty next to the grain lifting machinery. Work shirts hang rotting on nails, and gloves have fallen to the ground, dropping from the farmers back pocket. The air of abandonment hangs heavy on the space.

use it up

Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Do without.

This maxim certainly would have applied to the early settlers.

One of my recent finds at a barn sale was a book entitled, "This Cruel War". It's an almost complete set of letters written by a husband and wife during his service in the Civil War. Much energy and concern was spent upon the rigors of daily life. The wife would spend a large amount of time spinning and weaving. The resulting length of homespun cloth would be quite precious. They discussed at length how the fabric would be used. At first it was to become a shirt for the husband, as a Confederate soldier he complained of being poorly provisioned. But he thought to use the cloth for his children back home. After a length of fabric has served it's purpose as an article of clothing, it would have been cut into strips of cloth to construct a rag rug. Linda Saxer and one of her volunteers demonstrate the weaving of a rag rug on a small wood frame. Many thanks to Linda and other area preservationists who work hard to keep history alive.

mystery shopper

Marge and "the furniture guy" discuss business at the barn sale. Many of the rural barns have outlived their original purposes and now house antiques and tons of interesting things. Up the road from here Val has a barn full of stuff and two giant stuffed toy monkeys that reside in the rafters, serving as unofficial barn sale mascots.

I wasn't aware, until I downloaded this image, that I'd caught a mystery shopped in the old mirror hanging on the wall.

margie's free coffee & cookies

This is Margie. She is perhaps the most interesting person I've met in the 11 years I've lived in the country. Her and her husband built their place in 1948 on 5 acres just down the road from me. In the beginning there was no running water, indoor plumbing or central heat. In the wintertime, water turned to ice as she scrubbed her kitchen floor. She's just one of those wonderful, honest and hard working people who are the strong foundation of our community. Her and her husband continue to work - she runs antique and estate sales, and he's a farrier, shoeing horses for local farmers and equestrian centers.

Unfortunately, the new people moving in, attracted by the developers promises of "Large Homes - Less Money", will never take the time to get to know Marge. After all, she doesn't shop at the Coach Handbag store over on Randall Road.

This is probably not a very good portraits, as portraits go. The details on her sweater are blown out, and the lighting on her face a little strange. But perhaps, just perhaps, I've captured some of the "stuff" that this woman is made of. I caught her at the barn sale, and it seems fitting that she's surrounded by her stuff. I found some great little treasures, spent $11 and helped myself to her free coffee and cookies!

corn husk dolls

In addition to the adult volunteers, the Durant Peterson Museum House is lucky enough to have a group of school age kids who interpret the lives of the children who called this house their home. They volunteer their services for the various special presentations, including the annual Summer Frolic.

Last Sunday, three of the young volunteers were busy in the kitchen, which was added to the original house in 1880. It's always time travel for me. The girls were sitting quietly at the table, attending to their work and in the background a beautiful cast iron cookstove. If you visit in the wintertime, the stove would hold a belly of burning wood and a tasty stew would be bubbling in a pot.

A young girl who lived in the house described in her journal the advent of an exciting new pasttime - stringing buttons on thread! Times were simpler, choices were fewer, life was hard and lots of work. But those who have spent some time in the past (participants in the PBS "House" series), especially the children will tell you that it was actually less stressful and more fun!

If you're interested, you can scroll down to the next entry to see how I transformed a color photograph to a fake tintype. If you live the Chicago area, the Summer Frolic is Sunday, July 17 from 1-5 p.m.

2005 to 1880

This is the color photo I started with.

Usually I convert an image to monotone using the Channel Mixer mode in Photoshop, but for this purpose I needed to follow these steps:
Image > Mode > Grayscale > Discard all color information? > Click OK

This produced the following black and white image:



I then converted the image to a duotone:
Image > Mode > Duotone > (Drop down menu) Type > Duotone
Color #1 is black > Click on color #2 > I chose Pantone 134C

Here's the duotone:



In order to produce a tin type effect I then created a vignette:

Grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool and draw an oval selection where you'd like the light to fall on your subject.

Add a new layer in the layers palette. Hold the Alt. key and click once on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
Next, in the Layers palette, click on the large thumbnail of the layer you just added. The thumbnail appears all black. Press "d" to set the foreground color to black, then hit Alt-backspace to fill the layer with black.
Click on the opacity slider and set it to anywhere between 40-50% and your photo should now should have a dark border with a transparent oval in the center.
In the layers palette click once on the Layer Mask thumbnail (the thumbnail with the black oval).
Go to the Filter menu - Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Pull the slider all the way to the left and start moving it to the right until your find a pleasing blend.
Click OK.
You're done.



Now....run out and get some vintage clothing, or find some of those Civil War reenactors and you can create yourself some fake tintypes.

barn loom

Our community is fortunate to have a dedicated group of historical preservationists and volunteers who maintain a number of living farms, museum houses and even a restored one room schoolhouse. Yesterday the Durant-Peterson House and the Prairie Shoals schoolhouse were open for tours. Linda Saxer and her well-trained docents demonstrate living skills from the mid 1800's. This is the barn loom that stands in the back corner of a room that was added on to the original home sometime after 1843. The loom is position between two windows, one facing east and one facing north. This provides the necessary daytime light with which to work. The loom is beautifully constructed, and make for a lovely image of wood, warp and weft.

silo

The silos all have some type of ladder system to enable the farmer to climb to the top. The Harvestore at the old Anderson farm has a ladder that is built onto the outside. This is an older type silo, one made of a concrete substance, and the ladder is encased in its own space attached to the side. Silo climbing is certainly not for the faint of heart, or those afraid of heights or tight spaces.