Catching Up

I need to catch up on what's happening here in my world.

My little Brewers snowman is sitting on my window ledge. He is melting just a little bit, but is hanging in there.

The beautiful house is on the eastside of Milwaukee, known as "The Lion House" - currently home of The Bradley Foundation. You can't tell very well because of the snow, but the lions are decked out in Santa caps and scarves. This house is on Franklin & Prospect.

Friday, I took a ride down to Racine with a business associate to drop off a Christmas present at SC Johnson (Johnson Wax). I've seen alot of pictures of the SC Johnson headquarters designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but it as been a while since I was looking right at it. Very funky considering it was built in 1939. Racine is an interesting place - it is home to some major industry players, SC Johnson and Case as well as home to some incredible Danish bakeries and their specialty pastry called kringle. The architecture in downtown Racine is really remarkable - lots of Federal style buildings. Its harborfront is really nice and the beaches are noted as some of the cleanest beaches in the US year after year. I was looking for a certain restaurant downtown, but got turned around a bit and ended up going to The Ivanhoe - a nice pub/restaurant in a historic building. The building was built in 1891 as a tavern serving beer from The Bohemian Brewery in Chicago. It eventually became a Pabst Tavern and made several changes throughout the years. I am glad to see it is still a pub and has lots of character. Many of the original fixtures, etc. are still intact. And the burger was good too!

Thursday night Mike and I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see the Martin Ramirez exhibit. We had seen this exhibit highlighted on CBS Sunday Morning and just had to check it out while it is still in Milwaukee. Martin Ramirez came to the US from Mexico in 1925 during hard times to try to make some money to support his wife & children. He was found homeless on the streets in 1931 and diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. He spent the rest of his life in mental institutions where he drew amazing pieces of art on paper with crayon that he made himself from paper bags, newspapers, cups, etc. that he glued together with his own saliva, flour and bread dough. Remarkable stuff - makes you think... The exhibit goes on through mid-January.