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The trees reveal the passage of time in rephotography projects. A seedling in the 1950s is an overgrown tree turned stump half century later. The Hi-Way 8 in Ladysmith has survived severe storms for decades and the the influx of chain hotels and restaurants. The rates are cash-only cheap (less than $45 with taxes for two). The room we last stayed in had a vintage pink tile bathroom and a microwave and a coffee maker. Since the 1990s, we stayed there each time we traveled to Ladysmith to see dance performances at ChaliceStream.

The important art in Milwaukee was once housed in the basement of the county owned 1958 War Memorial Center--located on a street named after Abraham Lincoln. The futuristic Eero Saarinen building has been expanded to accommodate the growing collection of art and programs based on the designs of two additional architects: Kahler completed a brutalist concrete gallery expansion to the east in 1975 and Santiago Calatrava completed a white and glass winged wing to the south in 2001). A third expansion is again being contemplated for this crazy quilt of a building at 700 Art Museum Drive.

Spotted on a spring bike ride, the Serendipity Storage facility in Appleton is described online as: "Categorized under Household and Commercial Storage, our records show it was established in 1995 and incorporated in Wisconsin, current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $180,000 and employs a staff of approximately 3." Shopping for appliances and furniture in 2011, we checked Craigslist where we found people liquidating items they'd found in a storage space they bought. A&E premiered the reality TV show Storage Wars in December 2010 thus indicating some advanced stage consumerism side-effect where ordinary people paid monthly rent to store material possessions they would ultimately lose.

Sometimes hidden in the trees, buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright haunt the landscape of Wisconsin. Taliesin holds forth in Spring Green offering guided tours while the Annuciation Greek Orthodox Church hovers in Milwaukee offering a futuristic spiritual retreat. Racine is graced with the Johnson Wax headquarters and Wingspread both commissioned by Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. about 1938-39. Family continues to run the company, but Johnson's house, Wingspread, was donated to the The Johnson Foundation twenty years later in 1959 for use as an international conference center emphasizing causes related to water, health, and community.

Completed in 1884, the former Temple Zion is now home to Wahl Organbuilders. Houdini's father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, was brought to Appleton as the city's first rabbi and the Temple Zion was to be his synagogue. He was dismissed before it was opened because he preached in German in a time that English was becoming prevalent. The German craftsman style building served as a synagogue until 1932.

Holy Innocents Catholic Church (affectionately known as HI), dedicated in 1950 by Bishop Bona, features a giant light-up rosary (far right). Hovering over statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, praying children, and lambs made of concrete, the grouping commemorates the secret message of Fatima. The blue electric rosary remains one of our favorite after-dark Manitowoc sites and is easily viewed from the car while cruising down Waldo Boulevard. The church was named for the martyred Holy Innocents more specifically for the male infants that were "slaughtered within two years following the apparition of the star to the Wise Men." HI and five other churches were "consolidated" into one named St. Francis of Assisi Parish to serve all of the city of Manitowoc in 2005.  Names like Holy Innocents or  St. Boniface were jettisoned and the facilities are now referred to as the Waldo site or the Marshall site, etc. relating to their street address. We knew these churches best through their basement rummage and bake sales held in the fall and spring and orchestrated by community-members to raise funds for church operations. In the 1990s, these sales were ripe with mid-century consumer goods like dishware, rhinestones, wool suits, statuary, hankies, and LPs for sale for nickels and dimes. In contrast the St. Francis website features an apparel store along with the church bulletin, a media center, and updates on the school. The mission statement remains as mysterious as the Virgin Mary's message at Fatima: The Manitowoc Catholic Community exists as a sacramental body of Christ, to love as Christ loved, by boldly proclaiming our faith, teaching our youth, spreading the Good News of Jesus, and serving one another and others in an ever-changing community.

Located in a residential neighborhood yet near to a Citgo, Pizza Hut, ATM and Video Now Productions the Apostolic Truth Church (ATC) is devoid of grandiose pretensions. The functional yet vast architecture shows only minimal symbolic decoration and features ample parking. ATC has three core "desires" according to its informational website. Members want to: "know Jesus Christ, grow in Jesus Christ, and show in the love of Jesus Christ." Musicians "who love Jesus Christ prepare church-goers to hear the Word of God" at Sunday services.