FEATURES

Making an Impact: Ruth Robarts

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At their 2018 Community Volunteer Awards, the United Way recognized Ruth Robarts with a Distinguished Service award. Robarts, 71, has volunteered for the past eight years with the Literacy Network, teaching classes in English and citizenship.

Fine Wines

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Micca Hutchins has a thing for good wine—especially wine from Southern France, made by family vintners with generations of experience.

An Eye for the Finer Things

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Elegance and artful functionality define Susan Colby’s approach to life and her clothing design business, Avedon & Colby International Outfitters, her latest venture after a lifetime of design industry work for top-tier brands.

English garden

Where Beauty is in Season

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Mike Collins’ lush backyard garden in West Madison is part English garden, with its lilies and daisies, and part prairie garden, bursting with asters and coneflowers. And, there’s another whole section Collins calls a mosaic garden.

That Sentimental Feeling

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There are some homes you walk into and you can immediately sense the emotion and heart behind every design choice. Heirloom objects hang in places of honor, and practical, everyday items somehow find their way into the décor, too. Every piece has a story to tell, a nostalgic tie to the family who lives there.

Throwback Escape in Three Lakes

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The first time I walked into the lake cottage we bought in 2014 just north of Three Lakes, it looked just as it must have in 1950. The former owner hadn’t been in it in years, and he’d left it a time capsule of mid-century clothing and furnishings.

Tall Rocks, Still Waters

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The Dells’ character may seem type A—the biggest, fastest rides, and most shocking, stimulating entertainment jockey for your attention from screaming billboards. But what first drew people to the Dells decades ago was the natural beauty of the Wisconsin River and the lakes that feed in to it, along with the dramatic Cambrian sandstone formations towering above.