Belleville has a good deal of cool mid-century modern architecture, and one example of this is the former Associated Bank building on East Washington that was designed by Eugene Hausmann and Lyman Wiesenstein in the 1960s as the Citizens’ Bank and Trust Co. The thing that immediately catches my eye are the circles in the windows…they suggest bubbles floating up to the sky:
The entrance itself also has a cool mid-century modern aesthetic:
I’m not sure what is currently planned for this building, but I hope it finds some use, because it is a fantastic example of my favorite type of commercial architecture!
For this edition of “The Space Between” I’m taking a look in between two buildings on Main Street in Belleville, IL. What I really like about this in-between space is the brick path between the buildings…it looks like it has some interesting stories to tell!
I have mixed feelings about our town’s City Hall. On the surface, I should love it. Built in the 1950s, it has a great mid-century modern vibe. It has a lovely archway in front, and fantastic windows. But I have seen pictures of the old City Hall, and it was an amazing, old, imposing, building, and I have some sorrow that it was torn down and replaced with something much less stately. But it is what it is, and like I said, I do appreciate the mid-century design of the current building.
A real treat can be found inside the building…the familiar outline of the town fountain, against a background of beautiful mid-century tile work!
Sometimes I wish I could see our downtown the way it was, with the old grand City Hall adjacent to the equally grand old county courthouse building on the town square, but I do appreciate the design of this building as it is now (even though I will always think the “new” county building is an eyesore!).
I love taking pictures of my town’s Main Street. There is so much lovely old architecture there, that sometimes I feel like I know exactly what it was like in the 50s. Inspired by that notion, I thought it would be fun to use a black & white filter on a photo I took yesterday, to get a “then & now” perspective:
I decided to make “The Space Between” a regular feature here on my website. There are so many great alleyways and other in-between places to discover, and I’d like to highlight as many of them as I can. Today I’m looking at a spot on Main Street in Belleville that is not only visually interesting, but would also make a great home to an installation like the Umbrella Sky Project!
It’s that time of year again…a new Christmas apron from Rare Dirndl has been added to my wardrobe!
This is a newer tradition that I really look forward…once fall hits, I start wondering what this year’s apron will look like. I was super excited to see this green velvet variety with holly-print ties (it was also offered with plaid and Santa-print ties)…velvet just screams “Christmas” to me!
It’s so luxurious, and is such a great match for my elegant brocade dirndl!
I accessorized with a tiny pair of wreath earrings, an Erstwilder brooch worn as a necklace, and a stack of Splendette duchess bangles:
I love wearing a festive dirndl to the Christkindlmarkt in downtown Belleville!
I bought a new pair of ankle boots to go with some of my Miss Candyfloss dresses, but I discovered that they are also a perfect match for my Magician dirndl!
This is such a fun way to dress for Christmas!
What festive fashion are you planning this season?
The Day After Thanksgiving continues to be a big deal in our house, and Chickadee may be the one who enjoys it the most! Even though Moose wasn’t marching in the town Santa parade this year, she still wanted to go…we had a lot of fun!
And she, Moose, and I went to the town square after dinner to check out the Christkindlmarkt, the gingerbread houses (Chickadee’s favorite was one inspired by Taylor Swift), and see the tree lighting. We also ran into Santa while we were there!
It’s such a great way to kick off the holiday season!
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone far too quickly!
Our annual celebration started with Pie Day(s). Like I did last year, I split the work of the pie baking up over two days…we made 10 pies plus the cranberries and stuffing.
I love that our table looks a little bit different every year!
I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have later, so I checked in with Franklin to see how his dinner preparations were coming along:
Bunny wasn’t able to join us until Thanksgiving Day, and had to leave again this morning already, so we did things a little different. We ended up watching the Macy’s Parade twice on Thanksgiving Day (only one game of Parade Bingo, though), along with the dog show and a few of our favorite Thanksgiving shows (Mad About You‘s “Giblets for Murray,” Gilmore Girls‘ “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “Talking Turkey,” Scrubs’ “My Day Off,” A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and M*A*S*H‘s “The Yalu Brick Road.”).
We had our traditional dinner…turkey and gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and green beans with almonds, cranberries, and rolls:
It’s always a pretty plate!
And so many pies to choose from!
I went with pecan, Nutella, and pumpkin:
I had enough time to pop back into Animal Crossing to help Franklin procure the final ingredients for dinner on the island:
This morning started with pie for breakfast…this time, Nutella and Biscoff cookie butter:
Chickadee and I went to the town Santa parade:
I love a turkey sandwich on rye the day after Thanksgiving!
For lunch dessert, I tried the caramel apple pie:
The Lego Winter Village set was built over the course of two days…I have mixed feelings about this year’s model (I really wish it was just a post office, not Santa’s post office), but I do think the mail sorting system is really cool, and I love the hot air ballon. We got a bonus set of a delivery truck, and it’s really cool, too!
Dinner was turkey soup (of course):
And then Moose, Chickadee, and I went to the town tree lighting:
We also enjoyed checking out the gingerbread house contest…here are some of my favorites:
And one more piece of pie for dessert!
We get to have another leftovers dinner tomorrow (and more pie of course!), but that pretty much wraps up this year’s Markel Family Thanksgiving…on to Advent and Christmas!
It’s time for a look back at all of the Oktoberfest fun we’ve enjoyed over the last month or so!
We started close to home toward the end of September, with Belleville Oktoberfest, which begins even before the big celebration in Munich. It’s not my favorite Oktoberfest, but it’s easy to attend, and I love any reason to wear a dirndl!
Next up was my favorite area Oktoberfest, in St. Charles, MO. This year’s event was interesting because it was super muddy, but still a lot of fun, with music, dancing, food, and shopping.
We went back to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo…they still have the best pretzels!
New to us this year was Soulard’s Oktoberfest in St. Louis. There was more good music with the added bonus of a stroll through the Soulard Market.
And finally, our family Oktoberfest, once all of the other area celebrations had wrapped up. We started with an Oktoberfest Eve meal of brats and sauerkraut, plus German tater tots inspired by the ones we tried in Soulard, and apple strudel made by Ladybug for dessert.
Of course I had to put together one more look featuring Rare Dirndl, and it was also a bit of a Disney Bound, as a nod to the Disney Princess with my favorite fashion sense, Rapunzel!
We made pretzels, and instead of fondue, I made Obatzda, a German cheese spread that’s great on the pretzels.
For dinner we had all of my German favorites…Schweineschnitzel, spaetzle, and rotkohl….all homemade, too!
Every good holiday deserves a special drink…I made an apple pie mocktail with apple cider, caramel syrup, cinnamon, and ginger beer. It tasted like fall in a glass, and I even learned how to make an apple fan for a garnish!
And for dessert, one of our family’s all-time favorites–Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte!
I’m kind of sad that Oktoberfest season is over already…it’s become something I really look forward to every year!
I think this mural on West Main in Belleville is one of the original designs from the Belleville Mural Project, but I didn’t have a chance to photograph it until recently. I love that it covers two walls of the building…it has so much color, and contains so many local references!
