Inspiration in Iowa

St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Dubuque, Iowa has a collection of over a dozen windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany. It is regarded as one of the 5 finest religious Tiffany collections in the world.

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the places you can, All the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.
                                                                                                      John Wesley

It's just a checking account.

While in college, I banked with the Bank of Lansing in Lansing, Illinois. They called themselves the "willing community bank." They walked the talk and set the standard. There are decent financial institutions out there. But you have to search for the George Baileys.

Pay a fee for a checking account? Dream on, Mr. Mooney. If you can't run a simple business like a bank and make enough money on the spread, you aren't talented enough to be handling other people's money.

Why accept torture? Switch banks if yours is acquired. And not all credit unions are created equal.

Beyond Form 1040

I've started a second blog, Beyond Form 1040. It's an archive of my tax column, as printed in The Boone County Journal. There is a link to Beyond Form 1040 in the right-hand column. Feel free to submit a tax question!

Christmastime

This year I decided to try my hand at baking cookies for selected friends. On the tray are butter cookies, brownies, chocolate cranberry tarts, apricot almond cookies, butter crumb cheesecake cookies and cherry mints.


The light fixture is a favorite of mine from my Mother's dining room.

Cranberry Tarts

In early November, I took some cranberry tarts that I made to a Thanksgiving potluck. Last week, I read that an almost identical recipe for cranberry tarts won honorable mention in the Chicago Tribune Christmas cookie contest. The difference was a chocolate cream cheese filling and white chocolate drizzled across the top.

Mmmmm. Guess what I am making for Christmas?

Motown

A wonderful period of gorgeous Autumn weather was all it took to convince me to head "north of Canada" and see the sights in Detroit.




Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House.


Thomas Edison's Labratory, Greenfield Village.


Henry Ford Museum.


The dining room in architect Eliel Saarienen's house at Cranbrook.


The lobby of Renaissance Center with Windsor, Ontario across the river.


It's the 100th anniversary of Chervolet! And Dinah Shore invites you to "Make a date today to see the U.S.A."

Deere Crossing

Eero Saarinen is one of my favorite architects. In the 1960s he designed a corporate headquarters for John Deere in Moline, Illinois. After lecturing to undergraduates in Davenport, Iowa, I got to see the Deere facilities. The Deere people are very generous in accomodating visitors.

The Wright Stuff

Every Autumn, the Smithsonian Institution sponsors a free museum day. Given the choice, I decided to go to the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois.

Reliving the days when my Aunt lived in a Wright home on Forest Avenue, I decided to take pictures of the various Wright buildings in Oak Park. There are 27 of them! I've posted pictures of them on Picassa. Use this link to view the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=109902147989161286051&target=ALBUM&id=5682013365337450737&authkey=Gv1sRgCIf9mICTzcHgUA&feat=email


Shouldn't every suburb look like this?

The Land of Sky Blue Waters

An hour north of Madison is Devil's Lake, one of the most popular state parks in Wisconsin. As part of my project to explore close-to-home attractions that I've never seen, I chose a perfect, low-humidity, cloudless summertime day to visit.

This lake was originally part of the Wisconsin River. When the glaciers came along, they deposited a moraine to the east and another on the north, forcing the river to take a different path. Because of the moraines, the remaining lake has no outlet.

Today it is the quintessential northwoods Wisconsin lake.

Blue Ribbon Kitchen

Good food shared with good friends is important to me. So in my kitchen, I am displaying my award for Mango Cream Pie from the Walworth County Fair.