coveted modern ranch

between dealing with the ever-clogging eaves and all the "trees of significance" around here, ted and i are hatching plans for our dream house. he wants a modern ranch, something kinda swank, i think, befitting his smoking-jacket and martini tastes; something with a roof he can fall off of without killing himself. i'm all for it, so long as we can have an interior courtyard.

my current plans for the home of our dreams derive both from mies van der rohe's tugendhat house and newark ohio's own baker house, the short-time location of my former employer, osu-n's department of physical facilities. (it's now home to some labs and the Newark Earthworks Center). the picture above is one of the ceramic peek holes in the oak wall behind the front door. it's like mies's onyx wall, just in a different place, and not translucent, and not onyx.

here are a few other images:













a portion of the facade. it's wide, even for a ranch. i couldn't stand back far enough to get it all in.













in addition to its interior courtyard and greenhouse (this used to be full of salmon colored geraniums), the baker house had an interior lap pool. the earthworks folks have added a sweat-lodge and native garden out back.













this used to be the living room. the tile fireplace with bench, some of the modern light fixtures, and the courtyard are visible. the door leads to the greenhouse.



















the statue (from one of the paris expo's, i'm not sure of the year) was added when osu-n took over the property -- and the healthy looking boxwood shrubs, sometime later.

modern architecture

not much new with our architecture lately, so the next couple posts will be of other architecture.

we used to pass this place in milwaukee on our walks with scout. it still makes me smile.

click on the picture for the full, creative, effect.

pataskala street fair weekend '08

our view of the festivities: close, low, and somewhat impeded.














linda and faye, enjoying the weather and several "cold ones." (link to video of linda answering faye's e-mail [note: linda wears disguises and calls faye "dan waters" sometimes], followed up by one of faye's cross-stitches.)












kelly and old friend from high school (and miami u), corey. caught up on 18 years in an hour or so.














kathy displays her signature drink, the "shirley temple black." or was it the "shirley temple. black."?












bob, faye, and a heated game of pinochle.














bill and ted's excellent glider.

saucy jack: a play in one, interminable act

scout, in a cockney accent: food please.

people: stop begging.

scout: food please.

repeat.

how the garden grows

like the yard, the garden is really small. even still, there's enough to feed two from time to time. this year we have oregon snow peas, mediterranean cucumbers, 2 types of tomatoes, french green beans, red leaf lettuce, parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, lavender, rosemary, cayenne and jalapeno peppers, and on rare occasions, a single perfect strawberry.

mundus / thonet / kohn

ted and i took the egyptian disco fabric off the new/old chair and found nothing special (i.e. nothing clean) underneath. we're not even certain that the seat is original. if it is, the chair would seem less old than the manufacturer's mark suggests (pre-1914). covering the wooden base and the horse hair padding was a dirty yellow, texturized, plastic (?) coated upholstery. for the meantime, we just tacked a bit of canvas over it.

but here's all of what we've found out, starting with the maker's mark:














what you see is the name "mundus" stamped inside the rim of the seat. i love the eastern european art deco lettering -- jugendstil, or youth style, if i remember (and guess) correctly. (check out the "d".) i also love the name, mundus. (this is also if i remember correctly, now dredging up dr. howe's old english.) mundus is latin for world, from which we speakers of contemporary english get "mundane," meaning "of this world" -- opposed to the world of the sacred from which come other things, though presumeably not this chair.

as to the company that produced the chair, it was very much of this (well, its) world.

in 1856 the thonet brothers (Gebruder Thonet) patented their process for making bentwood furniture which involved wetting, steaming, and forcing wood into iron casts to dry. they let the patent go in 1869 by which time a number of other companies were already making and improving on the bentwood process (and disputing their patent), most famously the father and son team Jacob and Josef Kohn. in 1914 Kohn merged with Mundus. in 1923 (or 28) Kohn-Mundus merged with Thonet, and the conglomerate company is still making furniture. somewhat like the Bauhaus, and Target, the companies teamed up with famous architects and designers to provide stylish furniture to the middle-class -- we of this world.

because there are no other marks on the chair, i'm guessing it's older than 1914. other people writing in with queries on the web have mentioned dual marks, j. j. kohn and mundus for example, but there's nothing else on ours except "made in poland" (krakow, most likely, where several of these companies had factories). it's possible a paper stamp might have come off, but i found no evidence that one had ever been there.

of all the Austrian bentwood furniture makers of the period, i've found out the least about Mundus. it's only ever referred to as a company that merged with the more recognizable figures in the bentwood story, and that may be because there are no figures associated with Mundus, the "Viennese holding company" and third "largest Austrian manufacture[r] of bentwood furniture" -- no one to fight over processes and patents. some forgotten manager probably just saw a bentwood cafe chair and decided to start making knock-offs at Mundus.

in my little research, though, i haven't found another chair that looks like the one we found in Brattleboro. i did come across a claim that the Thonet chairs fetch higher prices because Thonet is presumed to be the originator of the process.

the hammock district

here's a before and after sample of a photo run through photoshop elements:


















"la maison du hamac" (homer simpson would recognize that we were in quebec's hammock district, le quartier du hamac) shot at dusk with the night portrait setting. and again, after a little cropping, no sharpening, and correcting for the night time color cast:


















now it's morning in the hammock district.

driftwood warthog

one evening we had an excellent dinner on the avenue petit champlain (above) ((the night before we had another excellent dinner)) and came across one of the world's more fantastic private entryways:


















nevermind the driftwood seal pup with electric blue eye, the driftwood warthog is a masterpiece. notice the aggressive ear, keen yellow-glass eye, protruding tusks. how the whole body forms a snarl. and how that angry little body contrasts with its generous offer, a gift of potted petunia.

quebec, ca

we stayed near the quebec armory, at chateau laurier, so this was the view out the front door of the hotel. a fire destroyed the roof of the armory and caused significant damage, but the exterior walls seem mostly in-tact. builders were working with cranes when we left.












between the stone and the skies, the pictures look fairly grey. it sprinkled off and on while we were there, but despite a really poor job packing for the weather (we packed when it was 97 degrees, hazy and humid) we managed to walk the city for two full days, ducking into shops when necessary. all the museums were closed on monday, the rainiest day.












ruins of the old city. the ground here may be about 4 feet below the pedestrian street from which the picture is taken.












a view of chateau frontenac from the old port. we took shelter on a bench under the trees to the right. there were a lot of school kids touring around on monday. it seemed like we were well in advance of the high tourist season, though. we didn't have to share the hotel hot tubs with anyone.












the city from the citadel. the place des armes is behind the row of buildings on the right. there were a lot of cute boutique hotels there. it seemed like a good place to stay next time.













the citadel, canons -- walking back to the hotel.