Sunday, July 31, 2016

Grandsons do Living Treasures Animal Park (7/31/2016)

Sunday, July 31, 2016
After braving terrific rainstorms and traffic backups from motor vehicle accidents, we arrived in Maryland yesterday. This morning we picked up the grandsons, Dylan and Pete, and headed back to Ohio. To break up the long drive, we stopped for a leisurely lunch, and then at the Living Treasures Animal Park in New Castle, PA.
Phoenicopterus chilensis/Chilean Flaminoes
on their nests, one has an egg!
Dylan and Pete "pose"
Dylan, Grandpa S, Pete
The aviary had cockatiels (and love birds)
A joey in the pouch! Macropus rufus/Red Kangaroo
The joey out of the pouch!
Pete feeding a Macropus rufogriseus/
Bennett Wallaby
Dylan feeding a young Red Kanagaroo;
this park seemed to be all about feeding
the animals, but only with park-provided food
Who's is supposed to be on guard? Cynomys sp/Prairie Dogs
Mandrillus sphinx/Mandrill made of keys, forks, spoons, etc.
Albino Hystrix cristata/African Crested Porcupines
Big lazy kitty: Panthera leo/Lion
Pete with a distant relative
Dylan: What does that sign say?
White Panthera tigris tigris/Bengal Tiger;
the park also has a white American Bison 
Grandpa watches Pete feed the Giraffe camelopardalis reticulate/
Reticulated Giraffe
Dylan also fed the giraffe, whose long black tongue
was quick to grab that piece of lettuce!
Next: Museum of Natural History.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Cincinnati (7/26/2016)

Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Another hot sunny day. We took advantage of having a car, and drove to Cincinnati, first making our way to the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.
Harriet Beecher Stowe moved here with her family in 1832,
and stayed until she married Calvin Stowe in 1836;
the house was built in 1832 by Lane Theological Seminary that
had hired Harriet's father, Lyman Beecher, as president
Next to Eden Park on land the city had purchased in 1869.
View of the former waterworks and the Ohio River
Former Eden Park Station No. 7 (1889),
where water was pumped from the
Ohio river into the reservoir
Remaining walls of the reservoir, built 1866-1878
On top of the reservoir wall (Karen & Kathy) 
Karen, and people "rock climbing" on the wall
Next, the neighborhood of Mount Adams, originally called Mount Ida where the trees were cut for timber. In 1831 it was developed into a vineyard, cultivating Catawba grapes to make Golden Wedding champagne. Diseases destroyed the vines in 1860, and the land was donated to the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. President John Quincy Adams delivered the new observatory's dedication address in 1843, and the area was renamed Mount Adams. The observatory moved in 1871, and the building became the Holy Cross Monastery and Chapel, managed by the Passionists. At the time Mount Adams was a Catholic working-class community composed of German and Irish. (Later the monastery buildings would be replaced.)
Two dogs guard the entrance of #951 Paradrome Street (1890)
#1212 (1875), #1210 and #1208 (1880) Louden Street,
with house numbers above the door
Slanted garage door
Mt Adams Bar & Grill at #938 Hatch Street (1880)
The speakeasy at this location was the first to receive
an Ohio liquor license after the 1933 repeal of Prohibition
The Roots of Vision mural (2012) uses colorful Rookwood tile and paint
to honor the famous luminaries of Mount Adams
The "visionaries" featured on the mural include pioneer Ida Martin (namesake of Mount Ida), Nicholas Longworth (the Father of the American Wine Industry whose vineyard was here), Maria Longworth Storer (founder of Rookwood Pottery), John Baptist Purcell (Cincinnati's first Catholic Archbishop who built the Church of Immaculata), and Ormsby M Mitchell (builder of the first observatory in the USA).
#1135 (1950) and #1137(1940) St Gregory Street,
Mount Adams is known for a mix of old and new buildings
The former Mt Adams Public School (1984), now condos
Mt Adams Public School entrance
Terraced cafés on Pavilion Street
Monk or Bacchus statue
The Former Church of the Holy Cross (1899-1901)
Looking down steep Pavilion Street that appears to end abruptly 
Karen & Kathy at the top of Mt Adams Steps
1911 concrete steps replaced wooden ones
used since 1860 for the annual Good Friday
pilgrimage where the Rosary is prayed as
the faithful ascend these 85 steps, plus
65 from the base of Mt Adams, ending at
the Church of Immaculata at the top
View from the Church of Immaculata
Interior of the Church of the Immaculata (1859),
with paintings (1863-1870) by Johann Schmitt 
An alley address?
Alley gardens on Fuller Street
#966 Hatch Street (1890) where they
painted only the front of the building
#952 Hatch Street (1880), shorter and not as deep as other buildings
Kathy and Karen on high-heel shoe seats
Next we drove downtown, and found a parking spot in front of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (2004). It was after 12:00, and I was getting nudgy as I am used to eating on a regular schedule. Hunger pains then just make me grouchy! We figured since we paid for the parking spot, we should do the museum first. I figured I would be okay if a) we didn't take the whole two hours in the museum, and b) I could always get something in the museum café to tide me over.
View from the Freedom Center of the Ohio River and the
John A Roebling Suspension Bridge (1856-1867)
One of the carved relief panels of
Flight to Freedom (2004) by Karen Heyl
We started on the fourth floor with the Genealogy Department where you can get free help to research your ancestors. Karen and Kathy got information on places closer to home where they could do research. Next was the third floor and From Slavery to Freedom.
Depiction of The Arrival, where a Portuguese ship captain
haggles with a slave owner while the newly arrived
enslaved Africans sit under the watch of a Spanish soldier,
somewhere in the Spanish Caribbean
Unfortunately, this museum was mostly written information panels, with a few "dioramas" like the one above, and a very few artifacts. Also, the information covered was that of the entire span of Atlantic Slave Trade until it was banned in 1808, when the slave trade became internal; that is, within the Americas. The history of slavery in the Americas was followed until its abolition, in 1865 in the USA and Brazil was the last in 1888. There was a little on Reconstruction. Mixed in with that history was the history of women's suffrage in Western civilization, and the plight of the First Nations/Native Americans. The mention of the Underground Railroad was a teeny tiny piece of all the information on the third floor.
We heard thunder, and when we went to see the Eternal Flame, we also saw streaks of lightning with thunder closely following, as it poured rain.
Eternal Flame
Nearly two hours had passed, and there was no place to get food in the museum! We hurried through the second floor, which had a small section called Escape: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad, which included videos of actors acting out the stories of escaping slavery, and a map on the wall with several lighted arrows sweeping northward.
A "Slave Pen" (early 19C) brought from Kentucky
Another exhibit, Invisible: Slavery Today, outlined all the modern instances of slavery in the world today: forced labor, bonded indenture, child slavery, sex trafficking and domestic servitude. The Struggle Continues addressed the "unfreedoms" of hunger, illiteracy, slavery, racism, tyranny and genocide.
Journey I and Journey II quilts by Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson
Washboard Stories (2004) by Malaika Favorite,
one (and a half) of 20
We ran out in the rain to the car shortly after our two hours were up, and drove to the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, cruising along 9th Street West to City Hall, then weaving back and forth along its streets. This working class area is thought to be the largest intact urban historic district in the USA. The early residents were Germans who crossed the Miami and Erie Canal to go to work, resulting in the canal being nicknamed the Rhine. We found parking at Findlay Market, and paid for an hour. First we looked for a place to eat, and settled on the Cake Rack, a bakery that also offered sandwiches and drinks.
Findlay Market (est. 1852), the oldest continuously
operated public market in Ohio
Buildings alongside Findlay Market
A giant Adirondack chair
Cake Rack for lunch
After lunch we paid for another hour of parking, to tour Findlay Market and the area.
Inside Findlay Market
Odd assortment of flavors of "fudge"
Spices for every need
Mural in progress on Pleasant Street,
with Kathy and Tamiko (photo by Karen)
Over the Rhine Community Center
#1716 and #1718 Race Street (1900?),
with unique window pediments, looking
like piano keys on the left
Karen was fascinated with the counter-weighted
bottom portion of fire escape ladders
Still lots of renovation work needed in Over-the-Rhine
Tamiko and Karen on a giant Adirondack chair
(photo by Kathy)
Now having eaten something, I was ready to go on, but we decided to head back to Dayton, and Kathy's house. We shopped for a light dinner/snack, and then talked and laughed ourselves silly.
I headed home the next day.