Episode 2: Upcycled Flowers

 ran into Jeff in Mount Carroll. I wrote in a blog post -- which you can find at dirtysacred.com --  a while back about hanging out on the street in Mount Carroll, where I am blessed to have met many friends… Jeff among them. He splits his time between there, Waukegan, and the greater world at large. We’d sat around our share of campfires and drank and talked. He and his wife Kat are both amazingly talented and generous people. When he heard that I was probably going to end up spending the night in the Harrison Street bus station -- a place I’ve spent many nights in and had no interest in doing so again if I could help it --  he offered his hospitality for the night. He even offered to pick me up from the bus station, I happily took him up on both.

Waukegan is about an hour north of Chicago along the western coast of Lake Michigan.  I was going to be able to hop on a Metra the following afternoon and ride back into Chicago to catch the Capitol Limited Eastbound to Cleveland. Jeff scooped me up and we got to his house in no time… at which point, after a little socializing, I slept. Hard.

I woke up the next day refreshed and with some time to spare. Jeff and Kat’s house is an older house, well maintained and full to brimming over with elements of their eclectic personalities. One of my favorite spaces is this little nook off the front room… a little sunroom, painted a bright green color. It’s my favorite because I love warm colors and it was still chilly outside at that time of year, and because of the wall art -- these hand-crafted, aluminum flowers. Some of them incredibly ornate and crafted. Jeff told me they were all made by his grandfather, Frank Price. 

In this day and age when recycling is more common and upcycling and freeganism has gentrified dumpster diving, it might be easy to dismiss Frank’s creations.  But it wasn’t just the creations; it was the story Jeff told me behind them. 

Frank was born in Waukegan in 1913 to parents who immigrated from Slovenia. He moved to Lake Forest when he was 15 and started working at the Onwentsia Country Club, where he met his future wife, an Irish immigrant. He eventually became a tennis pro and was very well liked -- so much so that his dumpster diving, which could have been looked at much more disparagingly, was tolerated. Jeff also told me that in addition to the flowers, Frank also built birdhouses, trellises and miles of fence from used hockey stick.

Waukegan is an interesting place; like a lot of midwestern cities, it’s had its share of boom and bust, and the lines between the haves and the have nots are startling and stark. It was the birthplace of Jack Benny and of Ray Bradbury, who has a small park named after him.  It’s hauntingly beautiful place, too, especially along the lakefront with it’s dunes and rocks and water-carved driftwood. They’re battling lakefront erosion and an eroded local economy. But it never ceases to amaze me how small moments of beauty and art bubble up in places, sometimes with hardly anyone noticing at all. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant and to pay attention. Beauty and craftsmanship is out there. 

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe on Podbean and Google Play, and check out my blog at dirtysacred.com as well as my Instagram feed, @dirtysacred. Thanks again for listening. May the road forever rise to meet your feet.