Decorate with Winter’s Bounty

Door Spray at Old World Wisconsin

A Welcoming Door

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time for home.  ~Edith Sitwell

Winter Perspective

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin

Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance. ~ Yoko Ono

Rankinen Farm at Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin

We traveled to Eagle Wisconsin to attend The Spirit of Christmas Past at Old World Wisconsin, a Wisconsin State Historical Society site. Old World Wisconsin is a settlement depicting 19th- and early 20th-century rural Wisconsin located on almost 600 acres of wooded hills in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. The Crossroads Village and the Finnish Settlement were open the past two weekends, and provided a rare opportunity to photograph the outdoor rural museum dressed in a winter cloak.

I liked the way the Rankinen Farmstead was tucked into the landscape. Though I was wishing for blue skies dotted with lots of fluffy clouds, the gray skies seemed to enhance the reflection effect in this photograph. No complaints about the weather – the afternoon was pleasant with mild temperatures in the low 30s and no wind. I used the Olympus Pen’s pinhole art filter to balance all that winter white.

The Rankinen Farm was moved to the museum site from Bayfield County in northern Wisconsin and is depicted as it was in 1897.

Hanging Pails All in a Row

Metal Pails

Metal Pails © 2008 Bo Mackison

Don’t throw out the old bucket until you know the new one holds water. ~~ Swedish proverb.

These buckets are hanging in the Old General Store at Old World Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Historical Society’s re-creation of Midwestern living in the mid- to late-1800s. An interesting place to visit, but I don’t think I want to live there.

Just a Simple Yellow Bowl

Yellow Bowl, circa 1850

Yellow Bowl, circa 1850 © 2008

Let’s see. It’s been a long day. And my cat is making odd noises in the kitchen – never a good sign. But this yellow bowl was rather nice when I spied it sitting on a shelf among other antiques. A basic shot of a very old  bowl sure beats a synopsis of the economic news or the political scene bashing. I think I’m going to go indulge in a hot fudge sundae. When in over-drive, think chocolate.