Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Happy Statehood Missouri
clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.orgIt was on this day [8/10] in 1821 that the state of Missouri was admitted to the Union. Missouri is called the "Show Me State," a motto dating back to the 1890s and a speech where Congressman Willard Vandiver declared: "I come from a country that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me."
For the past several decades, the mean center of the population of the United States has been in Missouri.
Missouri is the center of America in other ways, too: St. Louis, Missouri, is considered the farthest west of America's Eastern cities, and Kansas City, Missouri, is thought of as the farthest east of America's Cities of the West. In the past, Missouri was a Southern state; now it's generally thought of as a Midwestern state.
It's what's called a "bellwether state" in politics. Missouri has voted for every winning U.S. presidential candidate since 1904, with just two exceptions: the 1956 election and the 2008 election.
Missouri was settled by German brewers and has always had among the most lenient drinking laws in the nation. When Prohibition fever swept the rest of the nation, Missouri never enacted statewide prohibition. State law specifically bans arrests for public intoxication. Open containers of alcohol are permitted in moving vehicles (passengers can drink).
Missourians count among their ranks: Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, T.S. Eliot, Sara Teasdale, Tennessee Williams, William S. Burroughs, William Least Heat Moon, Joseph Pulitzer, J. William Fulbright, Walt Disney, Walter Cronkite, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Jesse James.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Drake Homestead
[The Drake homestead was built by my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Drake.]
OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP — The Kalamazoo Garden Council will team up with the Oshtemo Historical Society
The historical society has been working on renovating the homestead for six years, and while it still has some polishing to do, the garden council saw it as the perfect place to display its petite flower and horticulture displays.
The Drake Homestead, built in 1852, is the former home of Benjamin Drake, one of Oshtemo’s first settlers. The historical society has plans to transform the brick farmhouse into a community and cultural center for the township. OHS member Kay Oppliger said the flower show is a perfect way to showcase the Victorian style of the home because of the Victorians’ penchant for flowers and floral decor.
“The Victorians loved flowers: big bouquets, floral wallpaper, floral rugs, everything had flowers on it,” Oppliger said. “This is a great way to feature the progress of what we’ve done in the Drake Homestead.”
The small flower displays will be placed in nooks, niches, small tables and bookshelves throughout the home. Beattie-Ihrcke said all entries at the show will be “petite,” meaning 8 inches or less. There will be three divisions of plants featured: horticulture, design, or small displays with a theme, and special exhibits, or decorative displays made with dried flowers.
Themes for the design division include ‘tiny toys,’ ‘fun and games’ and ‘doll’s tea time.’ The special exhibits include a small box or hat decorated with dried flowers or a small dried bouquet.
In addition, Eric Newton, president of the Bonsai Society of Kalamazoo, will show some of his most prized bonsai pieces for an invitational exhibit.
The show will be judged by nine accredited National Garden Club, Inc. judges from outside Southwest Michigan to retain impartiality, Beattie-Ihrcke said.
Admission to the flower show is free, but donations are welcome and will go toward further renovation of the historical landmark.
on Friday and Saturday for the council’s biennial flower show, titled “A Floral Tribute to the Drake Homestead.”
OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP — The Kalamazoo Garden Council will team up with the Oshtemo Historical Society
The historical society has been working on renovating the homestead for six years, and while it still has some polishing to do, the garden council saw it as the perfect place to display its petite flower and horticulture displays.
The Drake Homestead, built in 1852, is the former home of Benjamin Drake, one of Oshtemo’s first settlers. The historical society has plans to transform the brick farmhouse into a community and cultural center for the township. OHS member Kay Oppliger said the flower show is a perfect way to showcase the Victorian style of the home because of the Victorians’ penchant for flowers and floral decor.
“The Victorians loved flowers: big bouquets, floral wallpaper, floral rugs, everything had flowers on it,” Oppliger said. “This is a great way to feature the progress of what we’ve done in the Drake Homestead.”
The small flower displays will be placed in nooks, niches, small tables and bookshelves throughout the home. Beattie-Ihrcke said all entries at the show will be “petite,” meaning 8 inches or less. There will be three divisions of plants featured: horticulture, design, or small displays with a theme, and special exhibits, or decorative displays made with dried flowers.
Themes for the design division include ‘tiny toys,’ ‘fun and games’ and ‘doll’s tea time.’ The special exhibits include a small box or hat decorated with dried flowers or a small dried bouquet.
In addition, Eric Newton, president of the Bonsai Society of Kalamazoo, will show some of his most prized bonsai pieces for an invitational exhibit.
The show will be judged by nine accredited National Garden Club, Inc. judges from outside Southwest Michigan to retain impartiality, Beattie-Ihrcke said.
Admission to the flower show is free, but donations are welcome and will go toward further renovation of the historical landmark.
on Friday and Saturday for the council’s biennial flower show, titled “A Floral Tribute to the Drake Homestead.”
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
From the Writer's Almanac
Suddenly it is August again, so hot,
breathless heat.
I sit on the ground
in the garden of Carmel,
picking ripe cherry tomatoes
and eating them.
They are so ripe that the skin is split,
so warm and sweet
from the attentions of the sun,
the juice bursts in my mouth,
an ecstatic taste,
and I feel that I am in the mouth of summer,
sloshing in the saliva of August.
Hummingbirds halo me there,
in the great green silence,
and my own bursting heart
splits me with life.
From the Writer's Almanac
Marge Riley 11/25/1917 to 07/26/2010
clipped from obits.oregonlive.comMarjorie Rockwell Riley
| Visit Guest Book
Riley, Marjorie Rockwell 92 11/25/1917 07/26/2010Marjorie Rockwell Riley, age 92, passed away peacefully July 26, 2010, in Los Angeles.
She was an art collector and loyal friend and generous benefactor of the Portland Art Museum, the Hallie Ford Museum, the Oregon Ballet, the Nature Conservancy, and other arts and environmental organizations.
Born in 1917 in Las Vegas, Nev., to Leon and Bessie Rockwell, Marge graduated from Woodbury College in Los Angeles. She married Otis Riley in 1937 and then moved to Portland in 1940. After divorcing in 1952, she raised her two children, Michael and Judith, on her own - even overseeing the design and con-struction of her own house.
For almost 20 years, she served as the social director for the Multnomah Athletic Club, organizing numerous events and trips across the globe. She also nurtured her own lifelong interest in nature and travel, avidly hiking in the Columbia River Gorge and touring countries on nearly every continent. Asked recently if she had ever ridden an ostrich, she replied with characteristic speed, "I rode just about everything that would let me get on it!"
Her friendship with the Oregon artist Charles Heaney nurtured a deep interest in Northwest art. Over time, Marge developed a modest, but important collection of paintings and drawings by the likes of Heaney, Kenneth Callahan, and others of the Works Progress Administration era along with contemporary artists and Northwest Indian basketry. She gave the bulk of her collection to the Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University.
After retiring from MAC in 1983, she became an active volunteer and patron in the arts community, supporting the Oregon Ballet, serving as a museum docent and on several council boards at the Portland Art Museum. In the 1990s, she provided a pivotal gift for the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for Graphic Art with the Marge Riley Education Center. She quietly sponsored the center's loyal assistant curator, Pamela Morris, in her graduate studies in Boston. Marge's continuing love of nature led her to support the Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservancy.
Known for her kindness and style, her vast circle of loyal friends, her unique and lightning wit, and to her many younger friends as their "Portland mom" she earned the ultimate Portland honor: a drink named for her. Go to Ken's Artisan Bakery where she went every morning and ask for a "Marge," and you will receive a tall double-latte with skim milk - extra hot. The Northwest District's neighborhood dogs were also big fans, a friendship nurtured with the dog biscuits she always carried on her walks.
Marge's daughter, Judith Hylton, passed away at age 60 in 1999. During her final four-month battle with cancer, Marge visited her every day at the Hopewell House and after Judith's passing Marge became a supporter of Hopewell.
Marge is survived by her son, Michael O. Riley of Warrenton; and grandchildren, Justine Halliday of Los Angeles and Dylan Riley of Palo Alto, Calif.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to the Marge Riley Fund, which supports the natural environment, education, community cultural organizations and human needs, at the Oregon Community Foundation, 1221 S.W. Yamhill Street, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97205
A party will be held in her honor from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010 at:
Skyline Farm
12735 N.W. Skyline Blvd, Portland, OR 97231.
RSVP to celebrationofmarge@gmail.com by Aug. 16, 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
