America's Greatest Architect

Today we had a special treat thanks to M's brother, Daniel and wife, Linda, to visit the office/school and western home of America's greatest architect.... Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959).  Some would argue with that description but not Frank.  I'm told when he was called to testify under oath and was asked to give his name and occupation, he described himself by just those words... "America's greatest architect."  (Notice the hammer)

Later when his wife chided him for his arrogance, he responded: "But what could I say, I was under oath!"

Using the materials from the 640 acres of desert land he made his office and a variety of other buildings to house his western location for his home and school (Taliesin West).

Having seen Taliesin East in Wisconsin last October, it was fun to have this special two hour tour of Taliesin West.  It is a very popular tourist stop and we probably wouldn't have forked over the money for the tour, but thanks to Dan and Linda we got to see it.  Dan has been a board member on the foundation for years.

Wanting to address a place for children of the students to play, he put in some grass... one of the few non natural features of the place.  The people who sold him the land thought he was an ignorant Wisconsin man who had just purchased a piece of the desert.  He only paid less than $5 an acre for the land but it had no water.  He dug a well and tapped into an aquifer that they still use to this day.

When the government brought power lines near his view, he contacted every politician including President Roosevelt demanding that they not spoil his view.

Unsuccessful, he was ready to leave but his wife convinced him to stay.  Instead he reoriented the view away from the valley 180 degrees to look on the mountains behind.  His private quarters used to look at the SW view but he put up a wall and trees to hide the power lines.  (Many of the ceilings originally were stretched canvas but now treated to make them last longer.  They let in beautiful filtered light).

These windows reflect the reorientation and look to the mountains and is where the students attending his architectural school have their work places and where the new dining room faces.

Red was his favorite color and this auditorium reflects that.  The story has it that he took one of his payments for a project and bought expensive cars for his students living at Taliesin... all red.  He died at 91 with 100 projects in the works including the Guggenheim Museum in NYC which he never saw completed.

Needless to say the grounds are full of art work and beauty in the Arizona dessert.

Our final stop was a room mostly underground with phenomenal acoustics used for piano and other concerts for him, the students and guests.  You can still enroll in his school and if accepted it will cost you 30 grand a year... but meals and working in the kitchen are part of it and living in a tent for part of the time. 

While waiting in the bookstore for our tour, M recognized a lady from GF.  Actually she lives directly behind our home and grew up in Iowa near my brother's home.  Small world.  This seeming mess was a reminder of another architect who used pieces from the natural world too to build something in a very hostile environment... a cactus.  

Imagine going in and out of this nest and raising your brood in that prickly spot.

This architect didn't mind the power lines but kept on singing her lungs out in spite of them.

The little architect who chose to build on the grounds of "America's greatest architect," is a cactus wren.

For the life of me I could see no bleeding or protruding stickers on this architect and seemed to be not the least bit arrogant.

He was much more humble than Frank.  When I approached to get a closer look...

Rubies and Sunshine

Sometimes if you are lucky, you get a picture you don't expect.  This blog has several.  This Northern Flicker was sitting on the side of the palm tree when it dropped off headed for somewhere else.  The camera caught him before he started flapping his wings... lucky shot.

While hiking the other morning I saw this Loggerhead Shrike sitting on a top branch quite far away.  They are bird hunters and can quickly "catch" other birds... but they don't "release."

Late this afternoon we were walking when I spotted this male Ruby Throated Hummingbird.  They are the ones we have in Minnesota in the summer time. 

He was stretching and moving around like I do when my bones ache.  He must have had a long day.  What was neat was that the sun caught his beautiful ruby colors which don't show unless the sun shines just right.

Even the back feathers caught the sunshine.

What beautiful little creatures.  I look forward to seeing them up north in about four months or so... or five.

Papago Park Hike and Taliesin West

We visited Papago Park and took a hike to these strange rock formations.

This picture gives perspective as to size of the boulders.  Look carefully and  you can see me visiting with some hikers from Canada in front of the tallest tree next to the rock.

The weather was gorgeous and so was the sky.

I wanted to hike up one of these but the trail was mainly gravel on the slippery slope.  Having nearly wiped out with my camera in hand, 
I conceded and gave up.

One of the rock formations was called "Hole in the rock."  Can you see why?  See the hole?  I took this picture at normal distance.

Then with some zoom we see more detail.

In the distance is downtown Phoenix with the haze of smog hanging over the city.  The white spot in the center near the covered shelter is Marilyn.

Then today we went to Taliesin West.  Having visited Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin in October, it was fun to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's western home/studio.

Marilyn's brother kindly offered to get us a tour next week of Taliesin since he has served on the Board.  So that will give us a tour of both the East and West sites of Taliesin because of his generosity.

Barrett Jackson Auction

Some people collect stamps, some coins, and a few very wealthy people collect cars... old cars and very expensive ones.

We happened upon some of the cars up for auction at this week's Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale.

The Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction has been going since 1971 and provides products and services to collectors and automotive enthusiasts.

Most of these beauties will not see the lines of a highway but will sit in some protected air conditioned garage and wait until the owner can emotionally give it up and let some other rich guy take it off his hands hopefully at a profit.

Here are some of the most interesting statistics from the week-long event of last year:

• A total of 1,343 cars were sold
• The $108,766,069 in gross sales is a 17% increase over 2012

According to the internet the most expensive car ever sold was a 1966 Shelby Cobra which sold for $5.5 million.  Aw shucks, I traded my 1967 Mustang in on a Pontiac years ago.

Can't you see yourself driving down the lane for dinner to Downton Abbey in one of these?

• 300,000 peak attendance in 2013.
• At $4.62 million, the 1966 Batmobile was the most expensive car sold.
• Each of the top 10 sales topped a million dollars.

I don't know about you but I like the way the old cars looked better than the new ones.

Cars had class and they didn't all look alike.

So for those of you that have a couple million you want to invest in a classic car better hurry and get here.  The rest of us can catch glimpses of the auction on TV as various networks will carry it.  By the way, I won't make it.