Monora, 1911

Was digging around in the attic the other day and found the picture shown to the right. I had put it up there a while back because I didn't think it fit into the decor of any of the rooms in our house. And isn't it just the case that when you look on an object unseen for a time that you come to think of it in a new way, with new possibilities? "Hmm," I thought to myself, "This could work in your room now." It's a fairly dark frame and picture, so now that I'm rocking a light brown/dark brown theme, with 'antique brass' fixtures/doorhandles, this painting really fits in there.

What I have found out in a little online research today is that it is by Edmund Osthaus (though, I don't see a signature on the painting). The red "MONORA" near the dog's left foot threw me off the trail at first, because I thought that was an artist's signature. Monora, however, was the name of the setter bitch (that being 'female canine') that is depicted --- she was the 1910 National Champion hunting dog. According to a Red Fox Fine Art biography page, "Oshthaus ... produced a series of postcards, lithographs and calendar pictures for duPont, including every national champion from the first, Count Gladstone IV in 1896 through Monora in 1911." This print, listed in an online auction site, looks like a closer-cropped version of the image, with a slightly different background.

Brushstrokes and layering are visible in the painting, and looking at the back, it is stretched canvas on a wood frame. I don't know what this means as far as the painting being an original. Comparing to the postcard image's crispness and as a judgment call, I'm pretty certain the painting I have is a reproduction. I guess to find that out for sure, I'd have to take it to the Antiques Roadshow.

23 May 2009

Went to Sam's Club this week for the first time in over a month. Picked up some basics that were getting desperately low or we'd run out of a while back --- which includes good melting cheeses for my favorite comfort food dishes. I also had a photo of a bunch of daffodils (shown at right) developed in a 16" x 20" poster-size print (~$6) that I stuck in a frame that's been uncomfortably empty for a while. The Fuji film kiosk (I have always used the Kodak machine in the past) had its issues with my picture, however. The dimensions of my photo apparently didn't jive and when it brought up the image, part of the daffodil stems toward the bottom were cut off. Tried shifting the view window, but that would have cut off some of the yellow flowers. Then, tried to de-magnify the image which was not allowed. At this point you say, "Sh--!" But then came the compromise of magnifying the image to crop out the stems shortly below the ribbon. Was a little dissatisfied with how the darkness of the white background came out. But, having put it up in the frame it seems to work in that room. It would be nice to get a photo-quality printer to get a higher degree of quality control.

Also went to Lowe's to check out what they had for tomato plants, which wasn't much. All that was there were the $3.50/each Bonnie plants. In previous years, I've gotten the traditional black plastic 6-pack of smaller tomato plants there in different varieties. I've tended toward getting the Roma and Celebrity types because they have neater appearance and a better tomato 'flesh' ratio. Sure, Beefsteaks are large, but they are very seedy and have a lot of the placenta rather than the meat --- in this regard, the name is way off. Was also looking for some more herbs for another strawberry planter --- rosemary, sage, and I've been looking for a lady lavender plant to fill the wide top opening. I mean, aren't these pretty standard things to stock? Guess we need to go to a real garden center.

Otherwise, I mowed Hell's half-acre yesterday, trudging through the allergy agony that continues today. But before that, I drove around and did a second coat of white fence paint on our municipality's road signs. They consist of 4"x4"x8' pressure-treated posts, with routered 3" letters with the road names, painted white with black lettering, and then set in concrete at their respective intersections. This was a project that my oldest brother did for his Eagle Scout award... oh... about 15 years ago, now. Since then, we've done some general upkeep and I've finished a few signs that never got made and repainted some that badly needed it. Now comes the time that many of the signs needed to be repainted, and 6 need to be re-set as either the concrete has broken up or they have been vandalized through the years. Doing the white paint is the easy part as I just went around with a 3" roller. It's painting the black lettering that is very time-consuming.

15 May 2009

Did a little planting this afternoon --- put some petunias in a terracotta pot, and sowed some herb seeds (basil, parsley and dill) in small plastic containers. Also, sowed some Alyssum seeds - 'Mountain Gold' in a terracotta strawberry planter. It may be a little late for these, but we'll see what comes up.

Got some rhubarb today as well. I don't have any of the ready-made pie crusts that I've grown accustomed to using. I used to make pie crusts from scratch using a recipe from an old Amish cookbook, whose author I believe was on the Crisco payroll. That has gotten to be more time-consuming these days, but I may give it a try tomorrow if we pick up some strawberries. And as Garrison Keillor says, you need to make sure to use "six cups more sugar than how much you think you need to make it really sweet." Rhubarb is not for the faint of heart, don't you know.

Played a little game of catch with my nephew, using a tennis ball. I think it may help get him acclimated to fielding, learning proper form for catching pop-ups and grounders. And the softness of the tennis ball removes the negative of getting beaned by a baseball while learning these things. Kids who get beaned early on can become afraid of the ball, producing a slight wince and hesitation which can lead to even worse things. I was at a game last year where said nephew was hit smack on top of the head with a practice fly-ball throw (the coach didn't have an ice pack in the first aid kit either). After a bit of crying he got back up and took a few more throws before the game started. Throwing like that today reminded me of when I was younger, and I would throw the tennis ball off of a basketball backboard and catch the bounce in my baseball glove. I would literally be out there for hours at a time.

Still musing over the season finale of LOST that aired on Wednesday. It is my steadfast opinion that this show is the best television series, ever. To this point, I've discussed individual episodes on a message board site, and I think I'll just continue that route. Posting my thoughts here at this point in the show --- with five seasons worth of thoughts and theories to go through --- would be far too daunting to start.

Pulling Dandelions

Rather than Pushing Daisies (I believe the final episodes of this show will be airing this month on ABC) today I found myself pulling dandelions in the yard and the adjoining boat launch. It's something I do every year with a tool whose name I don't know. It is a fork-tongued piece of steel attached to a 4' wooden handle. Place the fork-tongue at the base of the dandelion, shove it into the ground, do some lever action to loosen the soil, and pull the dandelion up by the roots. That's the theory. The reality is that half the time, you slice through the root and end up leaving half the root in the ground... to grow once more.

But, it is a "green" method of weed control. All it takes is a couple of hours, a 5-gallon bucket, a few hundred calories and a little dedication. No internal combustion motor, oil or fuel mix. Doesn't use fertilizers with weed-killers that will leach into the lake and cause algae blooms, among other nasty problems.

Many would view this as an exercise in futility. I see it as putting a little time into the grounds-keeping that pays dividends later on. We don't have a quarter the number of dandelions as the neighbors' properties. And pulling the dandelions saves the grass from being "crowded out" underneath the serrated leaves. Doubtless that I am labeled "control freak" in the minds of people who walk or drive by while I'm filling the bucket with the yellow heads and green/purple stems. Well, that's OK. I am a bit of a control freak that way. The truth doesn't bother me none.

If the weather cooperates, I may start planting the garden tomorrow morning. Still haven't quite figured out what I want to put in there this year but it usually consists of the staples of a Northeast victory garden --- zucchini and squash, tomatoes, cucumbers (I let them grow up into an old potting rack) and Swiss chard. For the past several years I've included one experimental vegetable. A couple of years ago, it was Brussels sprouts and last year, sweet corn that didn't do very well, which surprised me. Not sure what this year's experiment will be.