Margaret Philbrick

Author. Gardener. Teacher. Planting seeds in hearts.

Author. Gardener. Teacher.

Planting seeds in hearts.
  • Home
  • About the Author
  • My Books & Articles
  • Contact
  • Media/Speaking
  • Blog
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.   1 Corinthians 3:6
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ

Grandma’s Painting is Finished!

November 11, 2022 by Margaret Philbrick Leave a Comment

Like Emma Toft before her, my Grandma Lehwald was one of Door County, Wisconsin’s early women entrepreneurs. In the 1960’s she told her husband she wanted to open a “hot dog stand” as a small hobby. We all know how “small hobbies” go. Today, almost 60 years later this humble hot dog stand is the the full service Summer Kitchen restaurant on highway 42 in Ephraim, WI.

My parents came to Door County on their honeymoon in 1961 and they stayed in some pretty swanky spots like Gordon Lodge and the White Gull Inn. When they returned home they raved about the gorgeous landscape and the magical beauty they experienced. In less than a year, grandma and grandpa were buying land and building their retirement project, originally called the Red Barn Restaurant because it stood right across the street from the big red barns, today the Island Lavender Company. This little hot dog stand served hamburgers, shakes and hot dogs through the window where you placed your order, but over the years it grew into a full service restaurant and cottages. Grandma ran the kitchen and cottages and Grandpa loved tending the driving range, especially riding his big mower to pick up golf balls.

The right side was the original Red Barn Drive-In, left side dining room added later.

I celebrated my first birthday here and our family gathered for holidays, especially Thanksgiving. There was an abandoned red barn way out back where me and my cousins “made” our own pies by smashing red berries (probably poisonous) into rusty found objects. Grandma let us sneak into the kitchen and dip our fingers into the always heated hot fudge pot. Clara Appel baked the pies and back in the day Grandma managed to always find the reliable help she needed. After several years they sold the business and built their dream house in Sister Bay right next to St. Rosalia’s cemetery. Our memorable holiday gatherings moved over to Maple Lane and we savored walking down the road to bowl at Sister Bay Bowl when we were old enough to go into town without adults.

Grandma Lehwald lived to a wise old 97 years of age. She painted with oils, kept a full candy drawer for her grandkids and great grandkids, attended art classes at The Clearing and became proficient in embroidery, cross stitch and tons of card games. She also cheated (or at least it seemed like it) on her strokes when we played “pee-wee golf” at The Red Putter.

When my father sold his house this year, I found one of Grandma’s unfinished oil paintings in his attic. The painting featured the Red Barn hot dog stand, roughed out on the canvas. My own mother was a proficient oil painter and I saved all her paints when she died. So I bubble wrapped the canvas and shipped it up to Baileys Harbor where I spent last few seasons finishing Grandma’s work. 

Grandma’s finished Red Barn painting, her baptism portrait in background (from 1913)

The painting needed life. The colors were muted and she didn’t include any people in her composition. Long ago, I found a post card of her Red Barn restaurant in an antique store so I used that to convey authenticity in the building design. Her restaurant patio was covered in a pink corrugated roof which made all our food look pink no matter what we ordered. As a four year old girl this was a wonder work of beauty. I added my cousins playing hide and seek and grandma walking to the kitchen with her buckets of apples for Clara’s pies. I couldn’t resist painting their Lincoln Continental in the gravel parking lot and the little wooden train at the campground next door which we snuck over to play on when Grandma wasn’t watching.

I adored and respected my grandparents. They worked hard all their lives and how they loved us. They taught us to love and respect the land of Door County and the invaluable bonds of family. I’m so thankful that today their work continues at the Summer Kitchen restaurant in the capable hands of the Jauregui brothers who still serve homemade pies. If you’re up in Door County, stop by and walk into 60 plus years of serving home cooked food to residents and guests in need of a bowl of soup or a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie on a crisp fall day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Filed Under: Art, Family Tagged With: #mygrandmaswasanentrepreneur, Door County, Ephraim, grandmas art, oil painting, women entrepreneurs



Archives

  • February 2023
  • November 2022
  • August 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013

Categories

  • Advent
  • Art
  • Books
  • death and dying
  • Devotion
  • Family
  • Gardening
  • Gratitude
  • Holidays
  • Home
  • Hope
  • Inspiration
  • Love
  • New life
  • Poetry
  • Reading
  • Seasons
  • Suicide
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • Our Own Expiration Date
  • Grandma’s Painting is Finished!
  • Leftover Lace
  • God’s Secret Trousseau
  • Faith Deconstruction and Reconstruction
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Blog Email Posts

Enter your email:

A Minor: A Novel of Love, Music & Memory
Redbud Writer's Guild
afghan-women-writing-project
© Margaret Ann Philbrick 2014. All rights reserved. / Contact
Website by Paraclete Multimedia / Portrait Photography by Stephanie Hulthen