Schnormeier Gardens

Schnormeier Gardens, just south of Gambier, Ohio, held its annual public Open House June 5th - 9th. Joan and I had never even heard of this gem until our neighbor Laura mentioned it a couple of years ago. Although I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to go, I'm glad I did! We attended on the first day, June 5th.

Started in 1996, the gardens of Ted and Anne Schnormeier have grown to 75 acres of lawn, numerous lakes and ponds, and nine garden areas. The history is fascinating, and the tasks were not easy or straightforward. I recommend reading about it here. The Schnormeier website is excellent, and I suggest following the links in this blog to each garden's extensive description. There are many corners of this marvel that I'm sure I did not discover on this first visit.

Google Maps doesn't know where Schnormeier Gardens is, by name, but it's easy to find. In this map it's everything to the left of Laymon Rd.

Here we are walking from the parking area (lawn) to the welcome center. That's the small structure at the bottom of the above map.

From there everything is accessible on foot; the brochure numbers the different gardens, but your route is of your own choosing. There are no trails except for the Woodland Trail. Almost everybody starts with #1, the Waterfalls Garden, just below the welcome center.

The waterfall is sheltered by trees, so my best picture of it came later in the day, when we approached from the other side.

By using a different exposure, a small sculpture is revealed in the shade of the trees. Over fifty sculptures have been placed throughout the Schnormeier Gardens; I did not even come close to taking pictures of them all. This one is titled "Kneeling Nude." (Click on any photo to see the enlarged version.)

Most visitors are immediately drawn to Swan Island.

From Swan Island, the entire expanse of the lake is visible, with the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Schnormeier residence on the left.

Along the shore in the shade of the trees is a Japanese teahouse.

A volunteer wearing a kimono played host in the teahouse.

There are many formally presented sculptures  in the gardens as well, ones with a base and identifying plaque. We saw this one, Beginnings IV, as we approached garden #2, the Stream Garden.

We walked along the streamside briefly, and then decided to visit #5, the Chinese Cup Garden. The pavilion, resting above the two cup gardens, has a resident guardian dragon, Draco Teribillis. He or she was the first sculpture in the gardens (1996).

Note the armillary sphere on top of the pavilion.

Here also there was a host to explain the various features of the pavilion. The framing circles created a sensation of expansion when I looked through them, as through a giant porthole or lens.

Climbing the hill towards garden #3, the Serenity Garden, we came to this statue of Ann and Ted Schnormeier, honoring the occasion of their 50th anniversary.

At the crest of the Serenity Garden is a Japanese garden house, which looks out over five ponds, two waterfalls, and a bridge.

The front is dressed in reflective, or one-way, glass.

The interior exudes tranquility. I could see spending an entire afternoon up there, when the crowds were gone.

Here is a wide view from near the front of the garden house.

These ponds bore clusters of water lilies. We would see many more hues of water lily today.

Spotted through some of the rare conifers was the Buddha.

From here we crossed the field to the upper terminus of the Woodland Garden, #8.

The trail is easy to follow.

Metal silhouette sculptures inhabit the fringes of the trail, including deer, wolves, owls, raccoons, bear, and more, as well as tree faces. A checklist sheet lists them all, but Joan and I didn't make the effort to spot every one. In this photo we see both the hunter, a Native American, and his quarry, a deer.

Along the trail is a resting house, a grandfather and grandson project, as explained in this plaque.

The resting house presents a gentle face to the trail.

As we approached the Meadow Gardens, #7, we came across this bridge and statue.

Here is a closer look at an enigmatic lady. Has she begun to fall into the stream?

Soon, at the lower terminus of the Woodland Trail, we came to the back entrance of the Meadow Garden.

This is where I began to photograph water lilies in earnest. Pink ones ...

deeper hued ones ...

pale yellow ones ...

and metal/enamel ones.

But what really overloaded my eyeballs was this peony. I haven't done any image processing on this picture except to crop it, honest.

 Lurking nearby was this pensive figure, "Thought of a Past Tense."

One pond features a zig-zag bridge. Evil spirits travel in straight lines, so any such that are hot on your heels will fall into the water when you zig. Or zag.

This lady, "Affirmation of Rejection," inhabits the far side.

Here's looking back on the Meadow Gardens.

Then it was time to walk partway up the gentle slope to the left, to reach the Hosta Garden, #4. After years of preparation, over 2000 hostas were planted in 2008. There are two entrances through the low stone wall that circles the acre of hostas.

After walking through the sunny meadow, the hosta garden is cool and relaxing.

Then we came to the Schnormeier residence itself.

Actually, from the hosta garden, we first arrived at the back of the house, where we saw this artful slice of open sky illuminating a snug and strategically placed tree.

Plants and warriors keep vigil along the front of the house. Reflective glass is used in the residence as well as other structures, so there is no peeking inside.

At the southern edge of the house the stream of the Stream Garden, which originates up at the Serenity Garden, empties into the lake. Note the fish sculpture.

From this spot, looking towards Swan Island.

As we left the house for the other side of the lake, the top of the Chinese Pavilion was revealed emerging above the roof of the Schnormeier residence.

On the far side is the Quarry Garden, #9. When the gentleman in center, wearing the brimmed hat, was asked "Are you a volunteer?" the reply was, "Not exactly. I'm the landscape architect."

Here is a better look at the gentle waterfall.

We briefly revisited the Waterfall Garden, and then returned to our car and drove into Gambier for an excellent lunch at the Village Inn. There we ended up sitting next to the gentleman in the green T-shirt who appears in at least two of my photos, and his friend, and doubtless other Open House visitors that we didn't recognize. On our return drive we stopped at the Whit's outside Johnstown for some A#1 frozen custard, another tip from Laura, and the cap on a spectacular outing.

Schnormeier Gardens is highly recommended. Keep an eye open for the 2014 Open House dates.

Fairfield 7: You Won't Go Hungry in Fairfield

Early this spring I returned to Fairfield, Iowa for two weeks, as has been my wont. I'd like to start this entry with a picture of the Easter Pig, who lives a couple of miles east of town on Highway 34.

In comparison to last spring, which was extraordinarily warm, the spring of 2013 was chilly and seemed to go on forever. Here, along the crest of Dr. Robert Keith Wallace Drive, are some of the buildings of the Maharishi Internatonal University (MIU) after yet another light snowfall.

From left to right you see the Dreier Building, the Henn Mansion (nestled behind some trees), the Veda Bhavan, the McLaughlin Building, and the Argiro Student Center. In the map below, the order is reversed, because I'm taking the picture from the northeast towards the southwest.

A couple of sunny days melted the snow.

But not all mornings were sunny. I've never taken a photo of a fog-bound Argiro before:

The Sustainable Living Center is finally 100% complete.

Walking around campus, I came across an interesting homemade tricycle. I'd like to see how well that steering mechanism works: it appears that the pedaling plane would change as you turned.

The deer still love to visit, especially in the small valley between the Student Center and the Domes.

I decided to document the abandoned south entrance to the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge, also known as the Men's Dome. It was built well before the rules of Sthapatya Ved -- auspicious architecture -- had been revealed to the TM (Transcendental Meditation) community, and it turns out that a south entrance is about as inauspicious as you can get. It's been padlocked and out of use for at least 16 years.

This post won't linger on campus, for not much changes over a few winter months, but I did get a couple of photos with good evening light, such as this one.

There was also a standout cumulus cloud one evening.

Zooming in,

One night there was an informal hip-hop (or was it rap?) class in the lobby of the Student Union. Here the crew is setting up and testing their colored lights.

I also captured some downtown scenes. Here, a woman is test-riding a new trike outside AJ's Bicycle Shop.

The Co-Ed movie house had closed in 2011 after 102 years; it was part of a regional chain. Now a group of local investors is completely renovating it.

It also includes a performance and rental space, the Orpheum Theatre. This sign faces the parking lot behind the building.

Here are the courthouse and convention center together in one frame.

Prowling around the alleys between downtown blocks turns up unexpected discoveries. If a building has an inauspicious west entrance in front, just use the back door instead!

On the side of Finnywick's is this safari painting.

I briefly checked out the First Friday Art Walk, whose April theme was song. Here is a photo of one of the performing community groups.

But now it's time to move on to the main theme of this post, which is ... eats! Fairfield, with the influence of the University and an influx of people from around the globe for almost four decades, has an impressive number of restaurants for a town of just under 10,000. The Iowa Source magazine's reader poll for 2013 includes many Fairfield establishments.

We shall take a rapid tour of the eateries at or near the town square. Please note that due to the challenging nature of the restaurant biz, some of these establishments may be gone if you visit Fairfield in the future. There will be new ones. Also, I'm sure to have missed a few.

Traveling from the campus to downtown, I often pass by the sign for the Crepe Escape Café, located in the same building as Everybody's Whole Foods.

There's a concentration within a couple of blocks of the town square. Next to each other are Ila

and the venerable Revelations.

Across the street from Revelations there's the Earth and Water Tea Lounge and Artisan Pottery Shop. (They also have homemade baked goods.)

Inside the Earth and Water, the atmosphere is quiet and soothing. The owner says she wants to create a genuine teahouse experience. I hope she can sell enough tea and cookies to make a go of it.

On the corner of the square is the Cafe Paradiso (mixed coffee shop, cafe, and performance space).

Around the square itself, we have, on the north side, George's Pizza and Steaks

and Johnny's Place.

Along the west side -- difficult to photograph because of the sunny day's reflections -- are the Chocolate Cafe,

Gupta's,

and the Noodle House (Thai).

On the south side of the square are the newly opened Gardens Seasonal Kitchen

and the India Cafe.

Within a block or two of the square, you can choose from the Thai Deli,

Shokai Sushi,

Torino,

the Top of the Rock Grille, on the second floor above the Red Rock Tavern,

the Green Gourmet,

the Istanbul Grill,

which is housed in the old Fairfield Telephone Company building,

and the 2nd Street Coffee House.

Just beyond the two-block line is Aranda's Mexican restaurant.

Interestingly, Aranda's also offers a buffet in the BP service station across the street from Everybody's.

To the south, walking from the square to the town library, was the Doc's Inn Café, the place for local organic buffalo burgers.

Still within walking distance, if you've got the hankering, is the Sweet Spot.

Going further afield, my friend Cary and I drove to Washington, Iowa, for a luncheon at Cafe Dodici, on that town's square. I had a pizza with black olives,

and Cary had a veggie burger.

We shared desserts, each a smaller size category whose name I forget -- they were larger than samples and smaller than full-price. Cary had a coupon from the previous month's issue of the Iowa Source for free desserts of that size; when Cary presented it, the waiter said he'd have to check. It was now April and the coupon had expired. The owner came out and exclaimed that she "just had to honor it" because we were the First Persons Ever to redeem one of those coupons!

You may be a meat-eater, or you may restrict yourself to organic ingredients, or you may be vegan, you may prefer tea or you may prefer beer, but you won't go hungry (or thirsty) in Fairfield.