Hither & Yon

Grotto Falls

Here is another in my occasional series of favorite travel photos. This one, however, wasn't taken by me. It was taken by my son-in-law Kevin, on our May 2012 trip to Gatlinburg. It's a view of Grotto Falls, one of the waterfalls in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. He didn't see the rainbow effect until after he snapped the photo.

Travel Regrets: Missing the Monastery

The lovely Robin and I traveled in Egypt in 2010, before the Arab Spring and uprisings in Egypt in early 2011. It was a wonderful trip, during which we visited the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings, and so much more. I'm so glad we went.

But I do have a regret. I wish that I had planned and pressed to visit a Coptic monastery while in country. One of the most impressive is in Cairo: the Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner (above).

Saint Simon the Tanner (St. Sama'an, in Arabic) lived towards the end of the tenth century. At the time, the Copts (Egyptian Christians) engaged in handicrafts. St. Simon worked as a tanner, a craft still practiced today.

The monastery was erected and dedicated to him a thousand years after his death, behind "Mansheiyet Nasser," the village of garbage collectors. This village was created in 1969 when the Governor decided to move all the garbage collectors of Cairo to one of the hills of the Mokattam. There, they built themselves primitive houses of tin, and tens of thousands live there now.

The monastery contains seven churches and chapels hidden in a series of caves in the Mokattam (Muqattam) hills, one of which is pictured below:

It may not have been possible, though my tour company has always bent over backward to respond to such requests. Reaching the monastery is reportedly quite an ordeal. It must be reached through narrow village streets, navigating past trash carts piled high with garbage, plastics, and tins.

But I wish I had at least tried. It might have been as close as I come to another dream, and that is to visit St. Catherine's, the world's oldest monastery on the slopes of the traditional Mount Sinai, in the Sinai peninsula.

Family Fun Day

Here's something I've never done before.

Butler Rural Electric Cooperative's annual Family Fun Day was today. So I arranged to take two of my four grandkids, Miles and Mia (the other two weren't available, more's the pity).

They had a fun slide in the shape of a fire truck.

They had fun games to play, and prizes to win.

We won sunglasses, a trophy, a shark on a stick, lollipops, Skittles, handcuffs, a gooey stretchy thing, and more.

We cooled off in the spray tent.

We petted little goats and turtles and bunnies and chickens and horses in the petting farm.

We got our hair painted. Well, Miles and Mia did. I couldn't decide on colors, so they kicked me out of line.

And we met Mr. Lightbulb, whose secret identity had been divulged to me. But I kept the secret. So far.

We spent just under three hours there, and had a great time. And the best part of it was, it was all free (because we're coop members). But free is right in my price range.

So thank you, Butler Rural Electric! And thanks, Aaron and Nina for letting us go.

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Location:Lanes Mill Rd,Hamilton,United States

Pinch Me Places: Ford's Theater, Washington, DC

It was a surreal experience to me, on the occasions (two or three times) when I visited Ford's Theater, in Washington, DC, where President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth.

The lovely Robin and I visited here in 1978, I know, in the company of my brother and sister-in-law, Don and Arvilla, and my father. We also visited when our children were young (fourth or fifth grade, maybe). Ford's Theater, used for storage and office space in the years since the 1865 assassination of Lincoln, was finally renovated in the 1960s and reopened as a museum and functioning theater in 1968. The lower level of the theater holds a Lincoln Museum, which includes artifacts such as Lincoln's clothes worn on the night of the murder and Booth's derringer.

In addition to the theater (and the box in which the president and Mrs. Lincoln sat, above), we also viewed the Peterson house across the street, where Lincoln was taken after the shooting...and where he died the following morning.

Those places--and especially the box where the shooting took place, which can be viewed from the theater and from the hall outside the door, where a guard was supposed to have been on duty that night--are "pinch me" places for me.

Old City Council Chambers

On my impromptu tour of the Heritage Hall in former Hamilton (Ohio) Municipal Building at High and Monument Streets, my guide took me through the former city council chambers for the city of Hamilton (above). It's a beautiful room, still very nicely kept, at the center of which (behind the dais) is a large mural.

The mural by artist J. A. Willard, who also painted the murals at Hueston Woods Lodge just a few miles away, depicts the establishment of Fort Hamilton, which would have enclosed the very spot where the mural stands. The figure at far left is General Richard Butler, for whom Butler County (of which Hamilton is the county seat) is named. It made me sad that so few people see this painting these days. But I did. So I'm happy about that.

The Robert McCloskey Exhibit, Hamilton, OH

Last Friday while running some errands in and around downtown Hamilton, I decided on the spur of the moment to duck into the Heritage Hall Museum in the former Hamilton Municipal Building at High and Monument Streets, immediately east of the High-Main Bridge.

I asked the gentleman at the desk inside the entrance to direct me to the Robert McCloskey display. McCloskey, who was born in Hamilton and lived there as a boy and young man, was an author and illustrator of eight children's books, two of which won the prestigious Caldecott Medal, the American Library Association's annual award of distinction for children's book illustration. The most famous and beloved of his books are Lentil, Make Way for Ducklings, and Blueberries for Sal.

The man at the desk did far more than direct me to the display. He gave me an informed, guided tour, starting with the McCloskey-carved totem in the entryway, the models for the building's bas reliefs, and the cast aluminum window design over the entrance:

Then I was led into the single room housing the McCloskey treasures, which include copies of his books, including this signed Lentil:

Also included in the exhibit are the author's Caldecott Medals, as well as his artist box with easel (below):

Other items include his famous harmonica, photos of him and his meetings in the White House and elsewhere, and numerous other proclamations, degrees, and certificates.

The display also features a number of original McCloskey paintings and drawings, including sketches he made when he was a counselor at Camp Campbell-Gard (where he carved the totem pole as well), and this painting of his boyhood home (which still stands, though it no longer looks like this) on G Street in Hamilton:

The guide then led me to the elevator and up to the second floor, where he showed me the doughnut machine, featured in several stories in McCloskey’s Homer Price book. The device was donated to the museum by Mort Schindel, of Weston Woods (a company producing McCloskey videos) and totally refurbished back to working order by a team that included my friend Carl Schwab (a placard near the machine credits those involved in the restoration). My guide told me the machine runs, but has not been used to make doughnuts since its restoration.

Finally, I exited the building and turned west where, on the corner of Front and High Streets is the tiny corner "Lentil Park," where a statue of Lentil, the subject of McCloskey's first book, stands:

It was a short visit, though I could have stayed longer, but one I'm glad I had the opportunity to make. I recommend it to anyone interested in Hamilton history, children's books, or art.

The Heritage Hall Museum is open to the public (and free) Fridays 9-4 and Saturdays 9-2.

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