Terrace Talk

Notes for November

A Time To Be Thankful

As we reflect on this time of the year, let us be aware of the many good things that life has brought to us. Thinking of words from that old hymn, “Count Your Many Blessings”, (name them one by one). The word GRATEFUL describes in the best way our feeling of appreciation for all that we have.

During a time when all my family was together, as we sat around the Thanksgiving table, each of us shared our number one reason for thankfulness and happiness over the past year. Soon, we had a long list, each reason unique to a specific person.

At this moment in life, we are all residents at Saint Anne’s Terrace. It is a good life again, with so much for which to be thankful. Especially important to me is the close Family we are. Caring and Love prevail as we live together, break bread together, and support each other.

-Tom Deimler

I Remember Group

I Remember

By Pat Royalty

North of our farm in Wisconsin was the broad, slow-moving, beautiful Wisconsin River. Before we went across the bridge to the small town of Spring Green, we went right by Taliesin.

It seemed as if everyone I met had known Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, he was referred to as Frank, nothing much more than the eccentric man with the interesting house in the valley before you got to the river, whom one saw once in a while. Wright had been born and raised here and built the house that has become an international heritage site and a national historic landmark. After all, Taliesin was started in 1911. Frank, though odd, was a local boy.

Adding to the sense of familiarity were the architectural students studying at Taliesin, who were famous in our nearby market town of Dodgeville because they were the best customers for the contraceptives found at the counter in the back of the drugstore, where they were kept secretively. I knew because one of my best friends worked there, and this news was handed around amongst the scandalized and intrigued Dodgeville teenagers.

Actually, my mother wrote to Wright in the late 1930s to see if he was interested in building the house she planned on the ridge overlooking my grandmother’s farm. Wright replied in a letter that he would love to build a house “in my own little valley.”

Friends were horrified and told her how difficult he was, giving her dire warnings that if he saw something he didn’t like or changed his mind, he would rip it out, bringing the building costs to three times the estimate. He was known for his casual attitude toward money and artistic temperament. After the house was built (a standard four-bedroom, two-bath, normal house, built of huge blocks of Wisconsin limestone, with a 40-mile view), he was seen parked at the gate looking at it. Did she keep the letter? No.

When our friend, Jeanne McCutcheon, went into Madison to her dry cleaners from her dairy farm 20 miles away, she walked in on a commotion. A man’s voice yelled from the rear of the store, “Dammit, bring me my pants!“ The cleaner, going about his business, was calmly repeating, “When you pay your bill.“ The story being acted out in front of her was evident. An angry man was in the changing room, pantsless: “Dammit. I want my pants!” Obviously, the voice owner had been leaving his suit to be cleaned, but was planning on walking out of the store wearing the clean one, without paying.

Eventually, cash was handed over, and he emerged in his clean suit, with as much dignity as he could manage, which was considerable. Glaring at the owner, he said, with grand savoir faire, “I’ll see you next time.” Wearing his signature broad-brimmed black hat, Frank Lloyd Wright nodded to Jeanne and exited with his trousers on.