Anniversaries

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. We have dinner reservations at the Cincinnatian's Palace Restaurant. I've been there only once before for a business dinner a decade ago when I worked for Mercantile. It is a wonderful restaurant.

November 2009 has a lot of interesting anniversaries.

Here are a few:

40 years ago Dave Thomas opened his 1st Wendy's restaurant in downtown Columbus, Ohio right across the street from the Ohio Secretary of State office. I know that location because I had to go to Columbus to get Ken Blackwell's seal on our adoption dossier paperwork in 2006. Anyhow, our recent economic downturn lead to this flagship restaurant's closing last year.

Sesame Street celebrated it's 40th anniversary this month with special guest First Lady Michelle Obama.

November 9th, 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. I can not believe it has been 20 years. I was living in Dayton at the time of this event.

This black and white picture was taken on November 20, 1961 (exactly a year before I was born) and is of East German construction workers building the wall which started in June of that year.

The Berlin Wall coming down prompted the Velvet Revolution (November 16 - December 29, 1989) in Czechoslovakia which was a non-violent revolution that overthrew Communist government in that country. This picture shows protesters holding flowers up to the police. A friend and I took a trip to Eastern Europe in November 1992. We stayed in Prague with a very sweet local woman. I remember how proud she was of her little (and immaculate) home, the strength of the dollar at the time and how much the locals liked Americans and despised Russia. The same was true in Hungary. Unfortunately I lost my journal (along with the many addresses of some interesting people we met) on an overnight train on this trip.

50 years ago today the Sound of Music opened on Broadway. This was the first theatre movie and one of my all time favorites.

80 years ago the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened (building on the left behind the Plaza Hotel on the right) 9 days after the stock market crashed. The next picture shows the MoMA today.

100 years ago Orville (left) and Wilbur (below) Wright founded the Wright Company in Dayton to manufacture commercial aircraft. They moved their company to Columbus in 1910.

You might be adopting from China if ...

1. you know that I-600 & I 171 aren't highways ...
2. you've been expecting a baby for over 3 years ...
3. you understand that it's 2006 in some parts of the world ...
4. you've "paid for" 3 citizenships, but never brought anyone into the U.S. ...
5. you know that waiting for China has nothing to do with Macy's or dishes ...
6. your homestudy is followed by a number (i.e. #3 or #4) ...
7. you never know how many days next month will have ...
8. you know that babies come in batches ...
9. you've been fingerprinted four times, but never committed a crime ...
10. you look twice when you see a lady bug ...
11. you're more interested in what will happen in April 2006 than April 2010 ...
12. you know people who understand when you talk about 2 day months & 5 day months ...
13. your due date hasn't changed by days, but by years ...
14. you know who the Rumor Queen is ... AND ... you don't know who she is ...
15. you know that forecast don't have anything to do with the weather ...
16. you've waited so long, they re-checked your fingerprints to see if they changed ...
17. when you speak of "that time of month: you're talking about CCAA updates and referrals ...

18. You might be adopting from China if you love someone you've never met with all you heart. I found the above "you might" list on the following 3 blogs... not sure if any are the author: http://www.journeytogracie.blogspot.com/ http://www.findinglilygrace.blogspot.com/ and http://www.youaremyflower.blogspot.com/ Based on what I have read or learned in classes here is my list of you might be anticipating travel to china for adoption if...

1. you try not imagine the season you will travel
2. you are hoping for exit row seating but not expecting it
3. you expect to be stared at
4. you expect scary traffic, pollution and squatty potties
5. you expect chairs not tall enough for you (or 6'6" spouse) to sit straight legged
6. you expect to be tired but will need to remember not to drink the water
7. you plan on packing hallway appropriate sleepwear
8. you anticipate making friends with travelmates experiencing same/similar milestone
9. you anticipate exploring one of the wonders of the world even though this is not a tour trip
10. you appreciate your type A tendencies are greatly diminshed
11. after 3 long years, you now believe packing light for the trip over may not only be possible but preferable
12. you hope to visit your childs orphanage and her finding spot but not banking on either
13. you know you really need to kick up your exercise routine NOW
14. you pray your baby and travel group babies will sail through the medical check
15. you try not to engage in "magical thinking" re: referrals ... but
16. you know the red stamp is all powerful

Last night's film @ Carnegie

Wednesday evening John and I went to the Carnegie to see Getting Home a comedy drama presented by Cincinnati World Cinema.

This is the second CWC art film we have seen based on the Chinese proverb "a falling leaf returns to it's roots". Traditional Chinese belief is a deceased body must be returned to his/her birth village so the body does not transform into a "hungry ghost". This custom is complicated by the fact it is illegal to hand carry a dead body. This 2 hour subtitled movie is based on a real incident in 2006. In the movie 2 rural middle age migrant construction workers in a big city promise to transport either's body if they should die while they work away from home. One dies in a work related accident and the film then becomes somewhat of a road trip while the other friend carries his dead friend to his home near the Three Gorges mega-dam.

This movie was a drama / comedy but based on the reaction from the Chinese ladies seated behind us it is safe to say John and I missed some of the humor but definitely not all. Anyhow, the film did confirm Asian values/themes we have read or seen in other films including:

1. the value of friendship;
2. mother's greatly depriving themselves for the comfort of their children; and
3. family shunning "imperfect" (disfigured or diseased) family

and then some other realities that were new to us:

1. wealthy rural people sometimes fake their own deaths to find out who really loves and respects them;
2. construction companies sometimes will cheat rural employees by paying them in counterfeit money;
3. some unscrupulous highway restaurants overcharge patrons and use thugs to extort payment; and
4. there is an effort to crack down on the seedy blood banks that will buy blood from even the infected.

The film divides people rather neatly into 2 types: one that has empathy for others and the other that is self interested and generally portraying the rural poor in the first type and new rich in the latter. One other thing you have to overlook with the film is that the body never decays, but overall quite thought provoking.

The other Chinese art film based on the "falling leaf" proverb that we rented a couple of years ago was The Road Home. In this movie a middle aged engineer returns to his birth city after his father has died. His mother insists the son hand carry his father's body from the city morgue to their village. The son does not want to but after listening to his mom tell the parents love story he agrees to her wishes. Most of this film tells how the parents met and fell in love in the 1950's when she was a farm girl and the father was an older teacher sent to her village by the government.

Another film we saw 2 years ago at the Art Museum was The Blood of Yingzhou District. This was a 39 minute short documentary that won an Oscar among many other international and humanitarian awards in 2007. This film was about the effect of AIDS on orphans in Anhui Province.

Pictured below is the Director Ruby Yang, a Chinese-American documentarian who founded the Chang Ai Media Project with a mission to promote AIDS understanding and prevention. This film follow a year in the life of 6 children orphaned because of AIDS. Some of the children were infected and some were not but all were shunned by being associated with this disease.

The name of the little boy in the cap above is GaoJun. He was infected. His heartbreaking story was briefly uplifting when he was adopted by two HIV positive parents and he blossoms under their loving care.

The picture of the 3 Huang children were orphaned because of aids but not infected themselves. They were ostracized by their neighbors but succeeding in their studies providing some hope for their future. The 3rd little girl was infected and rejected by her family. Her name was NanNan and it was heartbreaking how excited she was to be a flower girl in her sister's wedding even though her sister would not disclose her condition to her in-laws and was conflicted about affiliation with NanNan.

The good news about this film is that it may be at least partially responsible for changing attitudes towards AIDS. Four of the children in this film were invited to visit Premier Wen Jiabao on World Aid's Day December 1, 2006.

The director of this documentary was also the editor of a fascinating PBS series we own by Bill Moyers from 2003 called Becoming American: The Chinese Experience. We learned a lot from this series including the 3 designations Chinese Americans often categorize themselves:

1. ABC - American Born Chinese;
2. FOB - Fresh off the Boat; and
3. Twinkies - yellow on the outside and white on the inside.

Orchid Show, CAC and Carew Tower

Fall weather arrived almost like clockwork this year.

After John went to Findlay Market this morning we went to Alms Park to see the thermal system recently installed in the caretakers cottage. This project cost the park board $20,000 and is expected to pay for itself in about a decade. Since install the average utility bill is around $25 / month.

On the way to Alms we stopped by Krohn because I wanted to show John the Motawi tiles we received on Friday. We are considering the pine landscape tiles as a Christmas gift from us to us. This weekend Krohn is hosting an Orchid Show and the judging was going on while we were there. These 3 purple ones are similar to one of our dining room orchids that Dianne painted.

These white orchids remind me of ballerinas.

From the photography competition.

This one looks like it has an alien face in the center with angel wings above.

The showroom (pre-Orchid Show setup) current show is Backyard Birds and Wildlife. And a picutre of the newly installed bridge in front of the waterfall. Not only is it safer I think it looks better than the old one.

So after we got home from Alms I decided to do a little urban hiking and headed downtown because I wanted a book from the CAC gift shop. I took the Columbia Parkway route from the Hill Street steps. Pictured above is P&G world headquarters.

On 4th Street I walked past Lytle Park and this "rare" statue of Abraham Lincoln. It is supposedly "rare" because he has no beard.

As luck would have it yesterday the CAC had complimentary admission in honor of Harris Weston, a patron and former CAC Chairman who died a couple of months ago. I did not have a lot of time because I wanted to stop by Carew Tower and had to be home by 4PM so we could get to Ault Park for the Reggae Run. But I was not going to turn down a free opportunity to breeze through this fascinating building. I think steps and the angles in this building are amazing. The exhibits included video, sculpture, sound and light. Even if I had more time I can't say I would understand most of the contemporary art on display. Overall my impression was that the exhibits were less graphic than the last time I visited.

As the pictures below show there weren't many visitors yesterday.

Most of my time there I spent on the 6th floor in the Unmuseum, the Children' floor.

The tables and chairs on the sloped floor.

This interactive station "Paavo's Hands" allows kids to stand on the podium and "conduct" the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra playing The Firebird Suite. Paavo Jarvi had been our city's symphony conductor since September 2001.

At this station kids can light up the squares by pushing on different buttons.

The entrance to an exhibit I think could scare some kids. But they would probably appreciate the low door knob.

This is the Sensory Elephant. It was made to appeal specifically to blind or seeing impaired children. Here kids are encouraged to explore art through senses other than sight by opening the drawers to discover what you feel, hear or smell.

This could be an empathetic experience for sighted children as well. The next picture is the view of Carew Tower from the Unmusem. Carew was where I was heading next and has some fascinating history. It was financed by the Emery family, whose wealth came from manufacturing and real estate. This Art Deco building (also the style of Krohn and Cincinnati Museum Center both built in 1933) is an early example of urban mixed use development in the US. And it is gorgeous. Carew Tower was John Emery's idea and here is some interesting history on the timing of this development from the Walking Tour & Pocket History at the Netherland Plaza :

"Emery's vision of the Carew Tower led him to make some bold financial moves - which ended up working in his favor. Emery had approached the bank to underwrite financing for the "city within a city" project. The bank did not share the vision of the multi-purpose facility and declined the loan. Emery, convinced his project would be a success, sold all of his stocks and securities, despite advice from his financial advisors. The plans and the financing for the Carew Tower were in place ... and then the stock market crashed. Had Emery left his stocks and securities tied up in the stock market, he would have lost everything. But instead, with his money going toward the building of Carew Tower, the project could continue as planned. In fact, the construction project became one of the city's largest employers, giving men jobs during that dark era after the market's crash."

Emery took his money out of the market 1 month before the crash. It cost $33M and took 13 months to build this 49 story building. Carew will still be the tallest building in Cincinnati until 2011 when the Great American Building at Queen City Square will be complete. Great American's building will be 86' taller.

According to the Walking Tour pamphlet famous visitor who stayed at the Netherland's (Carew's hotel) include Winston Churchill who like the bathroom in his suite so much he had it reproduced for one of his English country homes. Elvis Presley who supposedly really liked the hamburgers served in the Netherland Orchid's restaurant. Eleanor Roosevelt who frequently dropped in unannounced and caused some panic for the hotel management and staff. Bing Crosby who drew huge crowds and when the staff offered to take him out a side entrance said "When they stop recognizing me, I'm in trouble." John and Jackie Kennedy who held a function in the early 60's in the Hall of Mirrors on the 3rd floor of the hotel. Other more recent visitors include President George H Bush and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. It is also where our wedding quests stayed in 2002.

So I went to F.Y.E. (for your entertainment) in Carew's Tower Place to see if they had In Treatment available. I was a little surprised but thrilled to find one copy! This is an HBO series I saw on the flight home from England. So now we own 43 episodes on 9 discs of this thought provoking show. On the cover the description by the New York Times is "Hypnotic...addictive...irresistible."

Fortunately I made it home with a half an hour to spare before we needed to leave for Ault Park.

Today I bought Fall 2009 bulbs

After I took an inventory of the bulbs we have left (1st receipt was 3 weeks ago) I decided I better buy mine now. So today I bought 50 bulbs @ conservatory to plant in our garden and kitchen window boxes. In Spring 2010 I'm hoping to see: these muscari, an unusual species called Bellevailia Pycnantha. I will plant these on the front border of the courtyard tulips. These crocus will go in the courtyard near the lamppost as well as a few in the window boxes.

These Hyacinths (Peter Stuyvesant blue and Jan Bos red) are best sellers for the conservatory but I have not had much success in our garden. Most of mine have rotted. So I will be planting these in our window boxes. If they bloom they will provide a wonderful scent when we open the house in early spring.

I adore these little Leucojum. The picture does not do it justice but these delicate little flowers have the sweetest little green dots on each petal flair. And besides being easy to grow this this flower naturalizes! We already have these in the garden so I'm trying these in the window boxes and then will transplant in summer 2010. The soil on the lower perennial bed still needs more amendment's added so this will probably be all the bulbs I buy for fall. With the exception of tulips... I will most likely buy more tulips.

The horticulturist at work say Thanksgiving is not too late to plant but the weather already feels fall like now. I think I will wait until mid- October to plant.

Just to remember how far we have come I attached this picture from Summer 2006.

21C may be coming to Cincinnati!

That title only sounds snarky. This could be really exciting news for our downtown's "Backstage entertainment district".

According to an article in the Business Courier yesterday "Downtown Cincinnati boutique hotel might replace low-income flats". And the #1 contender is 21C! Although the article does go on to say 21C spokesperson won't confirm their interest.

Last December we spent a fun weekend in Louisville and stayed at this hotel. I blogged and downloaded pictures about this trip. If the City can work out the displacement issues this location would be ideal. According to this article it will take at least a year to move approximately 200 low-income residents of the Metropole to other housing. After that probably another year to re-hab this 97 year old building currently valued at $3.8M according to Hamilton County tax records.

The Metropole is located across from the Aronoff Center and around the corner from the Contemporary Art Center. Here is a quote in the article from Dick Rosenthal, CAC's main benefactor "Having actually stayed at the 21C, I could not be more excited about Ms. Brown bringing the concept to this site. It not only is a perfect mate for the CAC, but it fits so beautifully right into that entertainment district."

The Aronoff Center.

Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse and Bootsy's Restaurant

The CAC.

Rainy London and then home again

After breakfast Monday 9-14-09 we took this bus from Keswick to Windemere, painting in hand and at this point not sure how we are going to get it home. Once we arrived in Windemere we had 1 1/2 hours to find a way to mail our painting home. We struck out at the post office as their mailing supplies would not accommodate. The postal workers suggest an DHL office but we found the same problem. At this point we were kinda desperate. As we were making out way back to the post office we passed a gallery. On a lark we went in and asked if they happen to have any old packing boxes which they did not. So we asked the shop owner Caroline if we could pay them to wrap our painting and she did! This very nice woman only charged us 3.5 pounds so we bought a small print from her shop for 5 pounds. We thanked her profusely and head next to mail home to us. The cost to mail and insure was 50 pounds. The first leg was not so crowded but later it was and our painting would not have fared well. We arrived at the B. family home late afternoon. They live in a neighborhood near Holland Park. It is a 1960's development with green spaces between the buildings. Their home has lots of natural light. It has been about 5 years since we have seen their girls, Ellie (7 1/2) and Jasmine (5). Neither of the girls are shy which makes it nice as we have so little time to get reacquainted. Ellie has just learned how to ride her bike "without trainers" the previous day anxious to show us. Jasmine played her guitar and let me read a Dr Seuss book to her which hopefully she understood since her father's accent is similar. They showed us pictures of their school friends and were just as sweet as can be.

That night we ordered Indian for dinner and had fun catching up on what is going on in our lives.

The next day John and I went Greenwich and the V&A. It was also the first time since we arrived in England that it rained. And it rained sideways.

John and I took a boat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich.

We had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern hoping to wait out the rain. We both liked this fireplace behind our table, I particularly like the seating. This wood paneled restaurant is about 150 years old and was popular with many famous Victorian era Londoners (including Dickens). Politicians used to mark the end of parliament with dinners at this restaurant. After lunch John asked the bartender if we could see the upstairs ballroom. He escorted us up and showed us around. He said that they usually have lots of weddings, but this year they were scheduled to host VIP's for the Michael Jackson concerts and since that was cancelled they have not had many bookings. These rooms were filled with plaster ornamentation and marble statues. The bartender told us the view at night was stunning, not hard to believe.

When we left the rain was again coming down in sheets so we took in another gallery. Then another and another. Finally we were able to move on. We went to he Queen's House, a house built for King Jame's wife in the 1600's. This building is mostly empty except the galleries on the upper floors.

We finally got a break in the rain and headed to the Observatory. In the next picture I am standing in the Eastern Hemisphere and John in the Western.

From Greenwich we took the DLR train to Canary Wharf (the financial district) near the docklands and then the tube to the V&A.

We went through the Sculpture, Fashion, Japanese and Chinese Galleries as well as the 19th Century American.

Chihuly glass chandelier in the Lobby.

Princess Di's "Elvis" dress from her trip to Japan in 1989

The piano dress.

From the V&A we took the Circle Line to Notting Hill Gate and walked back to the B's flat. We got on the tube a little after 5:30 and experienced underground rush hour. Pretty much our timing was off all day. Once we got off at Notting Hill the skies opened up again and we arrived at their home soaking wet. We changed clothes and went to dinner with John and Nicolette just a short walk from their home. About 1/2 to the restaurant it rained as hard as it had all day. But once again we had a wonderful dinner catching up. Both John and Nicolette have lived all over the world and have some amazing experiences.

The next morning we had just enough time to walk around Holland Park adjacent to their home.

This is a fushia "tree".

This 2008 sculpture in the Napoleon Garden is titled T-Rex.

Nicolette drove us to Heathrow. Since we had checked in from their house the night before and only had carry-on luggage it was pretty much a breeze getting through the airport. It was an extremely long trip home as we had an additional 3 hour layover in Atlanta. Unfortunately I was not able to sleep on the flight home but at least there were some good options to watch from our seats. I saw 5 episodes of In Treatment with Gabriel Burns that were fascinating.

We arrived home after midnight to a very happy cat who almost sounded as if she was crying when she heard us come in. After that I believe she purred for the next 12 hours straight.

I had a much more difficult time adjusting to jet lag and had to take a long walk in Eden Park to try to stay awake long enough to adjust back.