Frank Lloyd Wright and the Tragedy of Taliesen

I've just finished reading a really good, superbly informative and astonishing book, Loving Frank, written by Nancy Horan. Loving Frank is historical fiction based on the romantic relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his clients, the beautiful Mamah (pronounced May-muh) Borthwick (June 19, 1869 - August 15, 1914)

The depth and emotional impact of this book are remarkable. This is definitely a "can't-put-it-down" read, packed with details regarding Frank Lloyd Wright's family life, creativity, and perplexing personality. 

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But the star of this book is the remarkable Martha "Mamah" Borthwick. Her story is truly a case of fact being just as sensational as fiction.

Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick met when Wright designed and built a house for Mamah and her husband Edwin Cheney in Oak Park, Illinois.
When Wright and Borthwick impulsively fled Oak Park for Europe in 1909, they left behind Wright's tenacious wife, Mamah's baffled husband, nine aggrieved children (including a daughter of Mamah’s dead sister) and a rabidly interested American press.

Upon their return from Europe, they settled in Wisconsin, where Frank designed his legendary prairie house Taliesin as their new home.

In the tragic and startling outcome of this true story, Nancy Horan depicts the events as devastating, almost beyond comprehension, and she writes this book vibrantly enough to make her readers agree. For any reader who is unfamiliar with the horrific tragedy at Taliesen, the conclusion is shattering. 

One of Those Nights

Have you ever had one of THOSE nights? Dreamtime goes totally to the Twilight Zone? I knew things were headed in the wrong direction when I saw the really big orange and green plastic centipede on the floor, headed beligerantly in my direction. Have I mentioned that I harbor an irrational fear of centipedes and wonder why they even exist?

He looked like this, but his head and mouth looked more like a dragon, like this:

Actually, now I realize it was a many-legged dragon. Instead of running away in terror, which was my first impulse, I picked up a golf club and whacked the centipede/dragon and broke its jaw, killing it dead, much to my relief. After it was killed, it turned to dust and disappeared.

But then I was immediately accosted by assailants who were roaming around in great numbers throughout the region, and throughout my dream, trying to zap me with a small round weapon that looked very much like a hockey puck.

I saw them zapping lots of other people, causing some of the victims to vaporize like the plastic centipede, but leaving most of them in a zombie-like trance at the mercy of the assailants who were, by the way, very scary, and were obviously in cahoots with the lately deceased plastic centipede/dragon.

So for the rest of the night, I hid, avoided, ran, evaded, took refuge here and there, including at Regions Bank and Leeds Jane Culbreth Library, trying to not be zapped and turned into a zombie. After I woke up in the middle of the night and breathed a sigh of relief that THAT was over, I went back to sleep and the dream continued. At one point I deftly pretended to have been zapped and rendered zombie-ish. But one of the bad guys called attention to me and said "She's not changed. I can smell her; she's not changed!" And the whole herd of attackers came after me with their round black zappers.

I never got zapped, but by the end of the dream, everyone else had been zapped, including the teller at the bank who was suspicious because I was making a withdrawal and she insisted that the computers weren't working. I nonchalantly said "Oh, they're all messed up at the library too, but it'll work okay. Just do the withdrawal anyway and I'll be on my way!"

Then a little boy on a bicycle pursued me, leading the throng of evil attackers after me in a most insidious way. I ran down a path under some trees and evaded them all! But I think they were still chasing me when I finally woke up this morning. 

So, what did you dream last night?