A Menorah and a Wreath

Today is the last day of Chanukah, so it's high time I share this picture with you, taken at the Pritzker Military Library last week. The library overlooks Michigan Avenue at the intersection of Monroe, pretty much right across from the Art Institute. I love how the menorah fits in nicely with the scene it looks out on, both in color and in shape.

When my kids are off from school, I like to go exploring with them, and last week my son and I spent an hour savoring the serene atmosphere at the Pritzker Military Library, which we had not been to before, but which we had noticed many times driving by. They currently have a stunning exhibit of Associated Press photos from World War II - several of which I was familiar with, such as the famous one of a sailor and a nurse kissing on the street in New York, but many I had not seen before. The photos are still copyrighted, so I can't show them here, but you can get a feel for the exhibit on the Pritzker Military Library site.

It was a contemplative hour of seeing those photos in the original, all the while taking in the serene atmosphere of the Library. Their reading space alone made me want to come back to just savor the quiet.

On the northside, the library looks out at the University Club building, and I love how the giant wreath plays against the ornate facade of that building. It has such an Old World feel to it. The Twelve Days of Christmas are still on, so this wreath is a little Christmas greeting to all my readers who celebrate Christmas - I hope you had a good one and are enjoying this time between the years.

Photo Essay: Christkindlmarket Chicago

Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, a visit to the Christkindlmarket downtown Chicago is obligatory - mainly because I can find favorite German delicacies there that I remember from my childhood - roasted almonds, for instance! And every year, the appearance of the giant menorah celebrating Chanukah delights me. Only in America will a menorah share prominent space with a Christmas tree.

Last year, I had the most serene visit - the market was nearly empty, probably because it was rather cold and not five yet, i.e. the downtown office workers weren't stopping by yet. This year I went with my daughter, and it was after five, and crowded!

Sipping my customary Glühwein - an item to cross off my winter list!

Did I say crowded?

English buffs will appreciate this sign in the Sweet Castle. My daughter noticed it; I was too busy examing the Lebkuchen tins.

Guest Blog By Kelly Hashway: Digital Voice Recorders: A Writer’s Best Friend

Following up on my blog post "When Inspiration Strikes," I am happy to welcome fellow blogger Kelly Hashway today, who will share her nifty trick for capturing ideas. Kelly and I "met" through the Writer's Digest group "Today I Blogged About." and have been commenting on each other's blogs ever since. Kelly is a children’s author represented by Lauren Hammond of ADA Management. Here's her guest post:

Let’s face it. Ideas don’t always come at the best times. How often have you been in the shower, driving to work, or cooking dinner when an idea strikes? Inspiration is a great thing, and we need it to survive as writers, but what if you can’t get that great idea on paper at the moment? If you’re like me, you repeat it over and over aloud or in your head until you can write it down. On numerous occasions, I’ve run from the shower to my notebook or held my hand up when someone tried to talk to me while I was frantically repeating my thoughts so I didn’t forget them.

I recently discovered a solution to this problem, a digital voice recorder. It’s a tiny little device that allows me to speak my ideas out loud and capture all those great thoughts before I lose them. With the click of one button, I can record. I’ve used it while cooking dinner, in the car, and even on the treadmill. I bring it with me everywhere, and I never lose my thoughts to bad timing.

Digital voice recorders come in all levels of simplicity. Mine is very basic, but it still allows me to store things in different files according to which manuscript it’s for or even what chapter. Yes, there are folders within folders for chapters! Some of the more expensive models even transcribe your thoughts to your computer. I prefer to type my thoughts into my drafts myself. While you have the option to let your thoughts sit on the recorder for as long as you’d like, I typically get them on screen the same day. I feel better having everything in its place.

So if you struggle with inspiration striking at inopportune times, you might want to invest in a digital voice recorder. A basic one is only about $20-$30, and believe me, it’s well worth the money.

Photo Essay: Lincoln Park Zoo

My 11-year-old is off from school already this week, and wanted to go to the zoo (Who knew?). So yesterday we spent the morning at Lincoln Park Zoo. I hadn't been there in years, and I felt as if I was retracing the foot steps of my younger self, as the zoo was nearly empty, and the only visitors around were young mothers with toddlers. That used to be me.

What amazes me about taking photos is that often a photo makes you see things you didn't see before - for instance here I was focused on capturing the sea lion and the glorious blue surface of the pool, but when I look at the photo now, I love how the reflection of the skyscrapers mingles with the world of the sea lion. And throughout these photos, a vantage point emerges that I hadn't even contemplated: animals in the city.

That sea lion did us the courtesy of not only poking his head out of the water (see above), but also of swimming by right when we were in the underground viewing area.

One of the pavilions at Lincoln Park Zoo - it has such a serene, end-of-season feel to it.

Lincoln Park is famous for its Zoolights before Christmas, and if you click that link you'll see that the season is far from over as the zoo really comes to life after dark on December evenings. It was nice though that we got our own version of Zoolights here early in the morning with the sun pouring through this giant red teddy bear decoration.

One ice sculpture was still standing...

... for the rest it was too hot at 41F.

The polar bear was swimming his morning laps, again amidst the reflection of the city around him.

The Pygmy Hippo Viewing Area in the Regenstein African Journey: No hippo in sight, but a stunning crowd of fish, although sadly I couldn't find a plaque anywhere that told me what kind of fish.

Three silhouettes: bare trees, a giraffe, and the John Hancock Tower.

You gotta wonder...

The Farm-in-the Zoo - the smell in the cow barn almost startled me with its familiarity. Not only because we used to watch the cows being fed with the kids when they were smaller but also because I grew up with that smell, riding my bike by the barns in Bavaria on my way to school. Very different silhouettes there, i.e. the peaks of the Alps in the distance, but still, the same smell.

When Inspiration Strikes

Why do great ideas always strike at the most inopportune moments? Like when I'm brushing my teeth, or taking a bath? Or, like the other evening, while I'm chopping fruits for dinner? And then, of course, the idea must be captured, but my notebook is nowhere near, so the kitchen post-it notes will have to do, see my not-so-photogenic picture here. My fingers were too sticky anyway from the oranges to handle my notebook, or worse, to touch the laptop, and I had eggs going on the stove, so no time to trek to the other side of the apartment and write down that idea. Later I must take care to deposit those scribbled-on post-its in my notebook or else they will get lost. It often takes more than one post-it, because as I am chopping, the idea develops further, turns of phrase occur to me, and a good title, and people to talk to.

So the point is that something to write on must always be near, even if it's just a napkin (Isn't it true that so many big laws, or treaties, were cooked up on dinner napkins?), and of course a pen must be near as well. Which is why almost every room in our apartment contains a cup with pens and pencils, or at least a spot where a pen can always be found.

The second point is that ideas always tend to occur when the hands are busy: cooking, brushing, soaping, knitting. So there must be something to that as well: Keep the hands busy and inspiration will come.

My Winter List: Things to Do in Winter

We had the first dusting of snow in Chicago last week, and temperatures dipped below the freezing point over the weekend, so clearly the weather is telling me: It's winter. Thus it's time to think about what should be on my winter list.

Given that I have a list for making sure I "have a summer," and a list for fall to savor my favorite season, I figure I better have one for winter as well. After all, there are many things that make a winter. For me, they are:

• Go sledding
• Go iceskating (perhaps, this year, even some ice skating lessons)
• Sip Glühwein (hot spiced wine) at Chicago's downtown Christkindlmarket
• See the play A Christmas Carol
• Make S'mores in the fireplace
• Bake Striezel (my grandmother's braided sweet yeast bread)
• Knit something
• Photograph homes with kitschy Christmas decorations
• Have a Chanukah Open House
• Roast chestnuts

Leaves gathered during our hike in Starved Rock, now pressed
my guide book.

Looking back on my fall list, I am happy to note that I did everything, except roast chestnuts, so that's why that appears here again. And we didn't manage to go hiking in the Indiana Dunes, but since we go sledding there, that state park will see us soon enough.

Did you have a list for fall? And how about one for winter? Even if winter isn't your favorite season, there are still plenty of things to enjoy, and it's especially good to think beyond the holidays to counteract that January slump in spirits.

Guest Blog by Elizabeth Garber: Artist Residencies - Stimulation at VCCA versus Serenity at Jentel

Following up on my post “Why a writer’s residency is a good idea,” I am happy to welcome my writer friend Elizabeth Garber of Maine, whom I was fortunate to meet at my last residency at VCCA. I asked her to share her experience of having had residencies at both the VCCA and Jentel:

Elizabeth: What I learned from spending a two week residency at VCCA (where I met Annette) and later going to a residency at Jentel on a cattle ranch in the wilds of Wyoming, was how different the experiences of residencies can be.

At VCCA, residents were arriving and leaving regularly, and meal time conversations were stimulating with a wide variety of artist companions, often followed by evening presentations. One night I might share a table with five writers of memoir and the next with a composer who performed jazz trombone and ukelele. We visited studio presentations with painters of cows, archways, installations, and mazes. Each day, I returned to my studio jazzed to research other people's suggestions, to read, and to plug away on my project.

Houses and studios at Jentel in Wyoming.

Jentel in Wyoming was a very different experience. Each month, 4 visual artists and 2 writers find their way to this remote ranch to live in a spectacular modern house nestled by a creek below desert foothills. Every morning for a month, I woke to a view of the Big Horn Mountains in the distance, from blizzards to dazzling sunrises. We were surrounded by vast space and quiet, and we maintained our own quiet. We each disappeared to our studios to work, coming together for dinner (we each cooked one night a week) and then returning to quiet.

Jentel in the snow.

It appears that each group is quite different as journal reports from each month chronicle the creative history at Jentel. Many of us took breaks to follow cow paths up into the hills, watching out for rattlesnakes and cacti, or biked down the valley on the dirt road where we were passed by perhaps two pickup trucks an hour.  Even though we had some time together, we spent a month in the vast presence of our own focus. The days were great expanses with enough time to immerse deeply. I remembered my dreams vividly. And I wrote, and wrote and wrote, ending up with ten new chapters to complete the first full draft of my memoir. I've never written with more focus and intensity. By the end, I felt like my mind was a razor cutting out what wasn't essential to get to the heart of each chapter.

Clearly, residency programs have different flavors and styles. The trick is finding what programs seems like the right match for what you need.

Writing Exercise: Color List - Gray



Driving towards downtown Chicago recently

It seems like all the color is gone now outside, and days like the one in my photo here are more prevalent. Thus, the color for December's exercise is gray.

For the uninitiated, the idea here is to come up with ways to evoke gray without mentioning the color itself because one of the challenges in writing effective descriptions is getting the color just right. Each month on this blog we work on one color, so far we’ve done brown, orange, red, green, pink, blue, and yellow.

Since you all did such a great job in coming up with shades of brown, I shall just tip you off again with a few words for gray, and see what else you can contribute:

concrete
fog
pewter
silver
steel
smoke

Encounter with Art

When you first approach the Midway, you wonder:
What shines so bright between the trees at night?

In Chicago you don't have to go to a museum to experience art. Rather, you'll encounter it on your everyday ramblings. Case in point: The other day I dropped one of my sons off for an appointment in our neighborhood, and as it wasn't quite dark yet, I took the opportunity to walk the nearby Midway Plaisance, one of Chicago's big boulevards. It is so wide that it houses an ice rink and soccer fields between both lanes of traffic.

Looking west, the sabers frame the sunset.

These days it is also home to the "Light Sabers," and it was such a treat to meet them in their illuminated glory. Officially called the Light Bridges, they were designed by New York artist James Carpenter, and stand sentinel along Ellis and Woodlawn Avenues, across the Midway. The crossing at Ellis is special to me because as a grad student I used to live south of the Midway, and thus walked along Ellis to get to campus. I remember the walk as cold and drafty, with the sidewalks cracked and the scraggly traffic lights swaying the wind.

Now it's a brave new world with brand new concrete sidewalks that curve around those light beams that beckon through the trees. And lots of people are walking back and forth since there's a new dorm south of the Midway. But mainly it was a treat to see how those beams of light enlivened a formerly dire area, and how they played against the cobalt sky and the black silhouettes of the trees.