…and a few other this and that’s…
This busy week before Thanksgiving is a time of easy distractions—at least for me and I suspect for many another American. Family’s coming, the house needs to be ready and the menu not so much finalized as whittled down. (This year there seems to be a particular obsession with pies. I have seen so many ‘must-do’ recipes for pies just in the last week that I already feel like I have eaten one too many. What a happy problem. Too many pies...)
And so this week of easy distraction, I offer more of ‘small plate’ approach—a few things I want to make sure to mention, beginning with Chobielin.
Chobielin, a mystery destination if ever there was one, that is unless like me you have just finished 'Radek Sikorski’s Full Circle, A Homecoming To Free Poland. Chobielin is both a tiny dot of a village and the name of its manor house. Sikorski and his family spend the 1990’s, the first post-Communist decade for Poland, restoring this gracious country house, a restoration focused on warmth and rightness, on making the ruined and centuries-old house a home again. It’s a fascinating tale that in the end is not so much about the house itself but the history that has washed around it for its many centuries. It’s a gripping read, one that brings the necessary granularity to each epoch without ever devolving into a mere history lesson. A rare feat especially when one considers the epic sweep of Poland’s story. I finally feel like I begin to have context for that which has been eluding me for quite some time now—Polish history’s ‘big picture’ and how that has shaped its culture. I highly recommend the book to those who will be traveling with us to Poland next year. I also highly recommend it to those who will staying home. It’s just a good book and history lover’s dream.
Another and I think terrific ‘that’…we’ve added an ‘Option #2’ to our Detroit Pop Up Trip: an excursion to Cranbrook House, Garden and Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills Michigan. Click here for a bit more info.
Next up--there are a few more spots left on The Architecture of England—and I’d like to include a special shout to our new friends in this adventure The Beaufort Historical Association.
And finally if you need one more reason to consider our summer trip to Scandinavia, check out NYT’s 36 Hours in Oslo from November 1. We’ll be there a bit longer and in all honesty, we’ll be going a bit deeper—but it’s still a fun read. And come on—a floating sauna? How cool is that?
Happy reading and all the best for a very happy T-day! AT