Fox Snake

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Roger

I happened upon a three-foot Western Fox Snake while hiking through the prairie at Hickory Grove. At first I didn’t know which end was which — it’s tail was in the tall grass and it’s head was in the center of a weed in the middle of the trail. I think it thought it was hiding.

When I first spotted it.

When I got close and started taking photos, it started coiling. It also rattled its tail against the ground to make a sound somewhat like a rattlesnake’s rattle. I wasn’t fooled for a second. I circled it a couple times, and as I did so, it coiled more and more. I tried to get it to move, but it steadfastly refused. It seemed to want a fight, so I gave it my shoe to bite, which it did three or four times, giving off a little hiss each time. I left it coiled in the trail, but when I went back two or three minutes later, it was gone.

When I left it, eight or ten minutes later.

Posted in Wildlife | 1 Comment

Great Painting #2 — The Arnolfini Wedding

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Roger

This double portrait was painted by Dutch artist Jan van Eyck in 1434. While oil painting had been around for a long time, van Eyck was responsible for making it popular. The portrait is thought to be of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini, a cloth merchant from Lucca, Italy who was living in Bruges, Belgium, and his wife, Giovanna Cenami. (You can click on the painting a couple times to make it much larger.)

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat — Giovanna is not pregnant. Her husband supplied fine cloth to noblemen, and it’s to be expected that she would wear the full skirt fashionable at that time. I don’t know if it was also fashionable to hold up the front of it, but that’s what she’s doing in the painting.

There’s a lot of symbolism, or so I’m told.

  • Their shoes are off, indicating that they’re standing on holy ground (of matrimony).
  • The dog (which looks like it just realized it’s not in Kansas anymore) symbolizes fidelity. (The Latin word for “trust” is fido. Get it?)
  • Behind the couple, the curtains of the marriage bed are open.
  • The small figurine on the headboard is Saint Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth.
  • The broom hanging nearby symbolizes the domestic duties of the wife.
  • The oranges on the windowsill symbolize fertility.
  • The single candle burning in the chandelier is supposed to remind us of the all-seeing eye of God.
  • The small circles around the mirror show scenes from the Passion of Christ and symbolize God’s provision of salvation for those reflected in the mirror, including the happy couple.

Again, to give you an idea of how successful all this was … One of the few things we know about Giovanni is that he had an affair. And the couple died childless (although they may have had some children that died before they did).

The writing on the wall above the mirror says, in Latin, “Jan van Eyck was here,” and the artist may have painted himself as one of the tiny figures reflected in the doorway looking on.

Historically, I find it fascinating. As for whether it’s a great painting, I can’t tell you because I can’t get past that hat. What do you think?

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

Great Painting #1 — The Wilton Diptych

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Roger

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m reading through 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, by Stephen Farthing so I can learn about the great works of art. When I happen upon a work that sparks my interest for any reason, I’ll look for more information and, if I’m still interested, write a blog post. I made it through the first 43 paintings in the book, and almost out of the 1300’s before I found one that qualified.

A diptych is a painting that covers two panels, usually hinged like a book. In many cases, they were used as portable altars that could be carried about and opened to create a suitable place to worship. The Wilton Diptych shows King Richard II of England being presented to Mary and the infant Jesus. (You can click on it to get a larger view.) The painting is done in the International Gothic style, and it is thought that the unknown artist was probably French.

The panel on the left shows Richard kneeling in a forest on earth. The three men behind him are (left to right), Edmund the Martyr (holding the Danish arrow with which he was killed), Edward the Confessor (holding a ring) and John the Baptist (holding a lamb). Richard wears his personal emblem, a white stag, around his neck. Other stags, and seed pods (the symbol of France) can be seen on his robe.

The panel on the right shows Mary holding baby Jesus in a garden in heaven. They are surrounded by angels, all of whom also wear Richard’s white stag emblem. One angel holds the banner of St. George.

Farthing writes, “The diptych emphasized the sanctity bestowed on the monarch by God, but also provided a salutary warning against the vanity of kings.”

Richard was born in 1367 and became king in 1377, when he was 10. As he grew in years, he also grew in arrogance and love of wealth. He picked his close friends as his advisors, which naturally angered those who thought they should have some influence. An uprising against Richard in 1388 resulted in his loss of any real power and the death or exile of his followers. In time, he gained his power back, but he hadn’t learned his lesson and soon claimed absolute authority in the kingdom. Henry of Bolingbroke, with a large force of his own, captured Richard and forced him to abdicate. Henry became the next king, Henry IV. Richard was imprisoned and died early in 1400, when he was only 33 years old — which should give us some idea of how effective the diptych was.

From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, the painting doesn’t move me much, although, in my opinion, it is one of the first in the book that appears to have been painted by somebody who knew how to paint. I guess what I find most fascinating about it is the massive amount of extra-biblical “fiction” that had crept into the church at that time — the “sainthood” of men, the exaltation of John the Baptist and Mary, the angels as “royal retainers,” the perpetual babyhood of Jesus. I can’t help wondering if Richard had, or thought about, the diptych while he was dying in prison.

What do you think of it, from the standpoint of art or of history?

Posted in Illinois | 3 Comments

Anderson’s Candy Shop

Posted on May 23, 2009 by Roger

My wife and I were in Richmond, where she picked me up at the end of my 28-mile hike to Wisconsin. A visit to Anderson’s Candy Shop is on my list of things to do in McHenry County, so we stopped.

We probably shouldn’t have. To begin with, I still looked (and smelled) like I’d just hiked 28 miles. In addition, I could hardly move after sitting in the car for half an hour at Dog n Suds. But there we were, and there we stopped.

The girl behind the counter gave me a very odd look when I took the inside photo. My wife picked a milk chocolate caramel. We bought a milk chocolate mint chip for our daughter, who was at home. I bought a dark chocolate lars bar, which I was told was something like a turtle. It was pretty good, although a bit dry.

I wouldn’t recommend making a special trip, but if you happen to be heading to Richmond for Dog n Suds (which I’m sure all of you will eventually do), you might want to stop.

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Walk to Wisconsin (chapter four)

Posted on May 23, 2009 by Roger

As I neared Richmond, I spotted something rather strange. Every quarter mile or so, there was a fire hydrant, even though the trail ran between a strip of woods and a field with no buildings in sight. Perhaps they were for the convenience of hikers who walked their dogs on the trail?

I stopped at a trail-side store and bought a bottle of Slice and a bag of Strawberry-Peanut Butter M&Ms. (I didn’t open them until the evening, when I shared them with my wife and daughter. Our opinion? “Better than expected.”)

Here’s a railroad bridge that crosses the path. Is this art or is it decoration?

As I approached Richmond, I had a moment in which I thought I was in Arkansas.

I had the path to myself for three or four miles except for one gentleman on a bike who actually rang his little handlebar bell to let me know he was coming. It was quiet enough that this turtle found the path a good place to lay her eggs.

Richmond is full of old frame houses, like this one that is for sale at the moment.

I spotted this old church and immediately thought of American Gothic. I didn’t have a pitchfork, but I found a handy stick and came as close as I could. Is this art or decoration or …

As I walked through Richmond, my wife called to see if I was still alive. I told her she should leave soon to come get me because I was getting close to the Wisconsin border. I got my third wind (or would that be my second second wind?) as I passed downtown.

Here, for the record, is the Richmond water tower.

As you can see, the rain had stopped and it was clear and warm again. A couple miles north of Richmond, the trail became noticeably less traveled.

And then I came upon this sign.

State line?

I assumed it meant that I had reached Wisconsin, but it didn’t say that. I wanted some photographic evidence that I’d made it to another state.  Not only that, but the path had veered away from Route 12, where I was supposed to meet my wife. Now what? I didn’t want to walk the two miles back to Richmond. About 50 yards beyond the sign, the path stopped. There was access to a neighborhood, but it was west of the path and I needed to go east. I don’t have GPS on my cell phone (I just barely have cell phone on my cell phone), so I couldn’t direct my wife to where I was.

I spotted a narrow deer path that led through some trees to a field to the east. I walked over and took a look. Across the way, I could see a water tower with Genoa City painted on it. I knew that was in Wisconsin. I also saw the top of a BP gas station sign, that I guessed might be on Route 12. The field was fallow, covered with knee-high grass. I headed across it diagonally.

It was a big field. But it turned out that my guess was right. The BP station was just off Route 12, right where the road becomes a limited access highway. I walked along the shoulder, heading back south.

As I walked, I admired the Wisconsin scenery I’d come so far to see.

Finally I found the Wisconsin sign I’d been looking for. I was so bushed by this time that I had to take five photographs before I got one in which I managed to smile a little. Since I was last in Wisconsin, it appears that the state has tilted a bit to the left.

I walked on. My wife called to say she was at our meeting spot, which was maybe half a mile away. When she volunteered to come meet me, I gladly accepted her offer. She picked me up by a truck weigh station. (Have you ever seen one of these in Illinois that was open?) I crawled into the car, and we went for supper at the place where all walks should end.

An amazing corn dog and two glasses of root beer refreshed me some, although my muscles started stiffening up as soon as I sat down. The ride home took us most of an hour, and I kept saying, “I walked this!” We made one more stop, which I will cover in a future post.

From the time I left home to the moment I climbed in the car, eight hours and 55 minutes had passed. Based on my somewhat accurate pedometer and the trail map, my best guess is that I walked something very close to 28 miles.

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Posted in Stories | 4 Comments