Holiday housewalks start early this year
Here's one way to beat the lousy weather that sometimes hits us in December: Hold your holiday housewalk in early November.
Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness is doing just that.
Four updated and new homes decorated for Thanksgiving and Christmas will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7.
A whole day's events are planned, including a box lunch and an evening wine and cheese reception at Honquest Furniture in Barrington. One $30 ticket covers all this.
A Trim the Home Floral Expo/Show at Holy Family Academy, 2515 Palatine Road, Inverness, also is planned. The chance to buy decorating treasures starts at 4 p.m., with how-to demonstrations beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets to the expo are $20, and dinner is available for an additional $12. The whole day except for dinner costs $40.
Tickets are available at the school. Register online at www.hfcaholidayhousewalk.com or by calling (847) 907-3461.
We're talking sleek and no-frills here
If you know what Modernism is, you know whether you like it or not. We're talking the anti-Victorian. Clean lines and simple styles started showing up in the late 19th Century and bloomed through the 20th.
One example is this chair from the Treadway-Toomey Galleries in Oak Park and Cincinnati. It's designed by Charles and Ray Eames and priced at about $800.
Actually, most people will find something they like in these major movements: Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Art Moderne, Art Nouveau, Prairie style or Mid-Century and Atomic Age.
Dealers from across the United States and Europe will sell furniture, paintings, prints, jewelry, metalwork, pottery, textiles and clothing at an upcoming event devoted to the style.
The Modernism Show runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9. Tickets are $15, and include free lectures. A special cocktail reception starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday for $125. This is all at the Winnetka Community house, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka.
Call (847) 446-0537 or visit winnetkamodernism.com.
Call them squirrelly or maybe nutty
If you're a fan of feeding birds, you might be a little ambiguous about squirrels. Believe it or not, there is a club for folks who like squirrels and enjoy feeding them and reporting on their cute exploits.
The Squirrel Lovers Club, based in Elmhurst, has its own newsletter, "In a Nutshell," that comes out six times a year.
Membership in the club costs $28 a year. Visit thesquirrelloversclub.com or write to 318 W. Fremont Ave., Elmhurst, Il 60126.
Tip: Set up a feeding station especially for the squirrels, and club members insist they'll stay away from the bird feeders.