News Archives

December 11, 2008

Gallery Closed for the Season.

My apologies for the long delay between news updates. I guess the first season was quite a handful for one person to launch and to manage while also maintaining my full software engineering work schedule with Adobe Systems Inc.

I learned quite a bit during the first year and am already making exciting plans for the next season with the plan now to be opening again to the public in early spring 2009. (More info on that soon.)

Until then, I wish you, your families and friends a wonderful winter holiday season and happy new year.

Sincerely,
Gregory Fischer

December 2, 2007

Autumn In Iowa (video)

October 11, 2007

Fall Means Football.

With October comes the footall season in full force, so naturally now that I am so close to the my family again, I could not pass up a weekend visit to watch my Nephews play their homecoming games. Enjoy the photos.

For those that might want to print out any of the above images here is zip file with printable versions.

August 30, 2007

Welcome "Old Blue".

Growing up I could always understand why farmer's had at least one pickup. Hauling hay, fencing supplies, tool box for fixing tractors, etc. This all seemed quite logical. However, it was not until I became a home owner in Iowa did I realize why the non-farming citizens also required a pickup. The truth is to maintain a home there are numerous needs to haul stuff from point A to point B.

Welcome my first pickup to the Granary Homestead. I call this 1985 GMC High Sierra Pickup "Old Blue". Yep, "my boy blue." Once again I feel self-sufficient and can now satisfy all my stuff haulin' duties and urges.

June 26, 2007

Ten Inches of Rain in Just Two Days in Iowa County.

I guess it was about two hours into the second day of rain that it dawned on me that we were getting a lot of rain -- and I mean a lot of rain. The Post Master heard it rained two inches in an hour on Friday morning, June 22nd. However I never learned the full extent of the rain until the local morning news on Tuesday reported Iowa County, which is where I live, recieved over ten inches of rain in total. Ten inches!!! I do not recall ever experiencing such a dilluge, so when the rain turned to a constant mist on Saturday morning I went for a drive to see how my neighbors and neighborhood survived.



Marengo, the Iowa County Seat, was worst hit I believe. Many of the streets on the East part of town were still covered by too much water for even me to feel confident to drive through with my all wheel drive vehicle. The baseball complex -- the part of town closest to the Iowa River banks near the town to the North-- seemed to be the worst hit.

With water filling the outfield, only the diamond area was saved. Perhaps at some point the diamond too was covered



but managed to drain through the pourous limestone dirt which is often used around here in baseball diamond construction. (Good for drainage, but speaking from experience it is horrible to steel a base and slide on.)



There was this strange quiet after the storm as I drove around the streets and highways near the Granary. The more I drove the more I realized a strange beauty that occurs after a storm such as what had just occurred. The unexpected sight of items no longer where they should be, but victims of the flood waters depositing them here, there, and where ever. Or like the image below shows, items such as bike racks are rarely focused upon



in our day to day comings and goings, but when orphaned in the middle of a field of water their reflective patters further enhance the surreal nature of the wholy natural scene.

June 8, 2007

Welcome to the South Amana Granary Blog

The day I signed the mortgage papers and recieved the keys to the front door I began the second floor renovations turning the old granary loft into a "comfortable home". It was a lot of hard work and I ended up requiring knee surgery because of all the DIY, but now a few months after surgery I have moved back to my home state of Iowa and into my new home in the South Amana Granary.

My progress in renovating the first floor art studio and gallery space has been hampered a little bit my slow recovery from the knee surgery, but I have set a goal to have the grand opening on August 11th, the weekend of the Amana Arts Festival. If I buckle down, get a little help from my family (which I am so glad to be near once again after some twenty years) and spend all the remainging weekends of June and July painting the walls, refinishing the floors, hanging gallery lights, picture framing, Art displaying, and of course endless runs to Menards... well then,I just might make it.

Gregory Fischer