Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" Goes Gingerbread

Forget about decorating a roof with gumdrops, window frames with Skittles, and shutters out of candy canes! Culinary artist Melody Dearden knocks it out of the park with this gingerbread house based on Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecturally brilliant Fallingwater,  located in Bear Run, Pennsylvania. The cookie version (complete with a candy waterfall) took 12 hours to design, and 40 hours to assemble the 164 different pieces made from roughly 12-square feet of gingerbread. Do the math, and you come up with a daring creation (above) that is a close replicate of Wright’s cantilevered wonder (below).

With Frank Lloyd Wright’s great-granddaughter on the judging panel, Dearden received first place in the Gingerbread Bake-Off. The blue-ribbon winner also received the following comment of distinction: “Well done… and entirely deserving of FIRST PLACE. Great-grandfather FLW would be proud! Your rendition was festive and infinitely more attractive than the ‘thrown up candied Santa intestines’ of your competitor. There is just no accounting for taste.”

Let’s eat!

Gift Idea: A copy of "Pound Ridge Past" (Read about Tallulah Bankhead, the Inn at Pound Ridge, ice storms, carnivals + more!)

Did you know that the Wizard himself from the "Wizard of Oz" was a former Pound Ridger? That the high school created a big brouhaha in the 1940s? That The Inn at Pound Ridge was a palooza watering hole for such characters as Tallulah Bankhead and Jackie Gleason? Read on!

POUND RIDGE PAST -- with graphic design by Gina Federico and photography by Fran Collin -- features stories about town carnivals, one-room school houses, air-raid drills during World War II, harrowing ice-, snow- and rainstorms, cocktail parties among the journalist and advertising set, and lots more about life in this American town from the rural 1920s to the swinging 1970s. 

Click the following highlighted links for more information on where to purchase signed copies of POUND RIDGE PAST. (Many thanks to these generous merchants for supporting local authors.)

Pound Ridge:

Booksy Galore

Bedford:

Red Fox Gallery 

(in The Bedford Store on the village green)

Katonah:

Katonah Reading Room

Little Joe's Books

* If you would like a personally signed copy, ping me at bonnibrodnick@gmail.com

Wishing all of my kind readers a happy holiday season!

My American Red Cross Holiday Cupcake Award

The annual American Red Cross holiday party for our region took place the other night. (I'm a volunteer in the media relations/public affairs area.) It was so nice to be with this group of selfless people who volunteer their time and services to help others in need. 

One of the activities at the party was a cupcake decorating contest. Although my cupcake was, BY FAR, the ugliest one on the table, I won an award for "Cupcake That Shows the Most 'Holiday Spirit'"! (I was going for a Dr. Seuss towering effect.)

Huffington Post: "Conversation Etiquette Tips for the Holidays (And Always)"

Hey Peops,With party season is full swing, don't check your manners at the door. Listen up! Here's my Huffington Post:

Conversation Etiquette Tips 

For The Holidays (And Always)

Bonni Brodnick Author; Lifestyle Columnist

FLICKR: SARAH_ACKERMAN

I was recently at a party speaking with a friend who went on and on (and on and on) for a 20-minute monologue about a recent trip to Europe. She then winged into how brilliant her son is, how athletic her daughter is and how great, perfect and amazing her life is. The woman simply did not come up for air.

Hellloooo?

I tried to send social cues that I was bored, that my poinsettia mimosa needed refill and that there were other friends at the gathering with whom I wanted to chat. I even looked down at my shoes a few times and tried to convey that my heels were killing me and I needed to sit down. Still no pick up.

As my mother would say, “Is this what the younger generation does nowadays? They don’t give you a chance to speak?”

Let’s prove my 85-year-old mother incorrect. Listen up.

With the holiday season in full swing, many have calendars bursting with engagements — from office, glögg and yuletide gatherings, to cookie exchanges, snow balls and other jolly paloozas. It’s as good a time as any to review the etiquette of social intercourse. Let’s start with:

1. Holiday gatherings are not the place to have mega-catch-up conversations. It’s one of the reasons the phrase, “Let’s have lunch” was invented.

2. Learn to pick up hints of apathy. If the person with (notice we didn’t say “to“) whom you’re speaking starts to look around, cringe, fidget, stare at their napkin or play with their hors d’oeuvres somewhere in the last 15 minutes of your discourse, you lost your audience. Be aware of how much time you’ve “got the floor.” Attenuated monologues get monotonous real fast.

3. If the person in front of you is standing with an open mouth (and s/he is not about to eat that afforementioned hors d’oeuvre), it is likely that they have something to add to the conversation. Give them a chance to say it.

4. Parents take note: Don’t harp on your progeny. Though they may be virtuosos in all of their endeavors, keep the regaling brief.

5. A savvy person understands that it’s acceptable to circulate at social gatherings. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “So nice to see you, (name). Have a wonderful holiday. I just want to refresh my glass of (wassail/egg nog/cranberry spritzer).”

6. Speaking of which: if you were introduced to someone, remember his or her name. You will score major points if you end your conversation by using their name as a drop-in. (See 5.)

7. Remember the mantra: “No politics (especially after the persistent mood after this last election), sex or religion.”

8. Think before you speak. I was once chatting with friends and one of them said to the other, “It looks like your bald spot is getting bigger.” (I am not kidding.)

9. Enunciate, especially when speaking to elders. If someone bobs their head more than a dozen times, it’s likely they don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. Or for that matter, can’t even hear you. In this instance, speak up and speak clearly.

10. Feel free to share these tips with your extraordinarily exceptional children. It’s never too early to learn conversation etiquette.

T’is the season to charm us with your witty chit-chat and bon vivant-ness. Just don’t be a bore. In fact, screen legend John Wayne framed it best: “Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.”

But enough about us. How are you?

...//|||\\...

~~   Click here to read my "Etiquette" shpiel on Huffington Post ~~ 

There's a RED FOX on Bedford Green

Before you make your loop of holiday parties on Saturday, December 10, from 4-6:00 p.m., you'll want to stop in at Red Fox, a pop-up gallery located in The Bedford Store on the village green. The first-floor space is a clever way to utilize and steward this historic location that is also home to the Bedford Historical Society.

Bernadette Durham, equestrian, nature and landscape photographer with a keen eye for the aesthetic in all media, has curated this delightful collection of fine art, rare vintage furniture, collectives, photography, furniture design, installation art, ceramics and video art.

  

"I created Red Fox with great passion so that I could showcase art that allows for openness and understanding of our society and issues around the world," says Durham. "As a photographer, the theme I share with the artists whom I'm featuring is Vérité. Much of their work is about activism and climate change. A flower installation, for example, made from plastic and paper goods, represents repurposing materials for a fresh new look. The furniture is also carefully curated to honor meticulous craftsmanship and beautiful design." 

Along with representing artists William Abranowicz, Will Carter, Bernadette Durham, Karrie Hovey, Carey Lowell, Stephen Proski and Hana Sackler, I am pleased to announce that Red Fox is also carrying my book, POUND RIDE PAST: Remembrances of Our Townsfolk. (A portion of sales will go to Special Olympics of Hudson Valley, N.Y.)

Red Fox is located in The Bedford Store, on the village green, at 612 Old Post Road in Bedford, N.Y.

This Week's ICP Assignment: "Shades of Blue: Embracing Sadness"

At International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC, esteemed photographer Palmer Davis teaches a course called “Inspiration, Insight and the Creative Process.” At a round table of eight enraptured photogs, writers and artists, Davis discusses talent and passion as gifts one is born with. Skill and vision require education. The course parallels what we seek to do as writers: imagine, create and bring our readers along on the journey.

This week's class assignment was "Shades of Blue: Embracing Sadness." Davis sent us out on assignment to find the beauty in pathos. He explains how human pain/despair/loneliness/melancholy and struggle can be a means of discovery.

Please have a look at my homework images. Do they completely bum you out and make you feel sad? (I hope so.) 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Photo:  Bonni Brodnick

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo:  Bonni Brodnick       

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                      Photo:  Bonni Brodnick

                                                                                                                                                             Photo:  Bonni Brodnick

A Day of Reflection

It was clear skies this afternoon after two straight days and nights of rain, rain, rain.

Today, December 2nd, is particularly special to me because it's my darling daughter's birthday. I always look at the clock at 12:33 p.m. to embrace the exact moment this amazing young woman was born. (She just started med school and her goal in life is to help others.)

Here are two photos I took to capture the brilliance of the blue sky and puffy clouds on this winter day. It was a day of reflection for this proud mother.

 Beam Me Up Scottie              Photo: Bonni Brodnick

Squares + Clouds                 Photo: Bonni Brodnick

Making a Point on MEDIUM: "My New Pencil Sharpener: What a Tool!"

                                                                                                                       Photo: Bonni Brodnick

It's the little things in life that intrigue me. In my new post on MEDIUM, join me for an up-close look at what's happening on my desk.


Click here for "My New Pencil Sharpener: What a Tool!"