Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year's Eve @ Nuckels

This last day of 2009 has already been "exciting" and it is only 8:30 am. Despite not sleeping well last night I willed myself to wake up at 5 am to go to the gym for Urban Iron class (weight training). Our gym is on the 2nd floor and ironically the only way to get there is by elevator. So this morning I got stuck in the elevator with my class instructor and an ultimate marathon couple. In Sesame Street lingo.... someone was not like the others. Anyhow, the situation got a little more interesting when the elevator emergency operator could not find our location to help us. Fortunately the front desk staff got us out and up to the 2nd floor via the other elevator. Also different today was there were only 12 people in class (about half as many as usual) which allowed our instructor more individual time to critique our form. Yikes.
So how I think my day will go at Krohn today... well the thing I'm looking forward to most is entering the final sales numbers. As of yesterday we were up +17%! Besides that and the fact we are ending with clean inventories we also brought up the average $ sold up. My boss and I were both pleased the Motawi tile sales this season. Motawi was new for us in November. Hopefully today I will be able to work on placing the balance of approved spring orders and work on recaps next week. When I couldn't sleep I started thinking about how different corporate politics is from non-profit which was also when I realized that I have worked with the park board longer than any other employer in my life. Also when I add the time I worked at the Zoo I'm close to same number of years working for a non-profit as I worked in corporate positions. The only other job I had prior to all this was waitressing for one semester. In some ways I was rather like Private Benjamin. This still seems crazy to me as I really had no clue what a job was like prior to graduating from college.
Tonight John is making pasta with jomama sauce and meatballs for dinner. Afterwards we plan on watching the 2nd half of a biography documentary on Truman, part of The Presidents series by American Experience. This PBS series was a Christmas gift from my parents this year. The series covers biographies of ten 20th C. presidents (T. Roosevelt to H. W. Bush) and it is fascinating. John and I had to take a couple days off after watching 2 nights on FDR because it was so thought provoking.
Who knows if my day will be anything like I expect, but one thing I'm fairly certain is that I will be in bed well before midnight. Just like last year.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Holiday on the Hill

Due to winter storms we stayed home for Christmas this year. I took this picture of the neighborhood tree at the St Gregory Piazza the day of the Egg Nog Jog, Saturday December 19th. That was the day we were supposed to be heading to W. Virginia to see Nancy and Dan and stay overnight in Lewisburg. The 12" of snow that fell on W Va and VA changed our plans. The big round silver and gold ornaments were personalized fundraisers for the garden club in 2005. Many of these ornaments were destroyed in a big windstorm earlier this month. I assumed ours was one of the crushed ornaments. But on our walk home I saw one of these ornaments laying in Kath Huneman's flower pot and was surprised when I picked it up to see that it was ours! And it is intact. I'm keeping it at home.
Luminary Night was Sunday December 13th.
We missed the Reingdog Parade this year as it was the weekend we were in Bloomington celebrating Christmas. This next picture is Pilgrim Chapel Sunday December 20th. The McBreen Family was the Holy family for this years pageant, last year it was the Milars. New this year was the addition of the "friendly beasts" which were all dogs dressed as cows, camels and even a dove. This was in memory of Shad who died in June and started the tradition of bringing your dog to church. Some people might think this is irreverent but I do not and it is one of the things I love about this church. The dogs even had their names and owner's name as well as role they were playing mentioned in the church program.
The pageant parade. Christmas Eve Candlelight service started at 7 PM. We are lucky to have CCM students play and this night we had an excellent violist, pianist and organist. The acoustics are pretty good in this little chapel and so beautiful at the end when the room was only lit by our candles for the final songs.
This morning we made a fire in the kitchen and had lemon blueberry homemade pancakes.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Mt Adams Luminary Night

Last night was Luminary Night in Mt Adams. The Garden Club sold luminaries (a deal @ 12 for $10), the neighborhood restaurants had specials and the kids lead a sing along at the fountain. John and the neighbors walking up to St Gregory.
The guy with the tripod at the top of the stairs is our friend Duffy. He is hoping to have enough pictures to publish a M.A. photography book to be published this coming spring.
We were lucky we ran into him as my camera's batteries died and he gave me a couple.
Because John was wearing this shirt we got a complimentary appetizer at Teak. Ida Street and our church, Pilgrim.
And a very dark video of the children singing.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Projections

This is RQ's referral projections that she posted earlier this week. John won't even go down this path ... but here's my thoughts.
Based on the small column (which I don't think has happened in 2 years) we could expect a May/ June referral and to travel in July / August 2010.
One of our minister's wives (we have 4 ministers not a polygamist minister) predicts our baby will come home in October. She has been consistent about this prediction for awhile, including last weekend when we ran in to them at the Wine Celler.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Hessler's Dance Studio

This is a picture of 1033 Monastery or the building we usually call Hessler's Dance Studio. This interior shot is current.
The view out these windows looks out at downtown Cincinnati all the way to Music Hall and Cincinnati Museum Center. Doris Mary Ann Kepplehoff (from nearby Evanston neighborhood) whose stage name was Doris Day was a student at Hessler's.
Tyrone Power (1914 - 1958) was also a student at Hessler's.
as was
Vera-Ellen Rohe (1921 - 1981) Below is an interesting article from the Winter Edition of Mt Adams Grapevine HILL YES! Who is Doris Kappelhoff?
by Jim Steiner
"The one story brick building at 1033 Monastery Street near the corner of Monastery and St Paul is an interesting part of Mt. Adams history. As the story goes, it was built by Maria Longworth Storer (granddaughter of Nicolas Longworth and also founder of Rookwood Pottery) in the 1890's to house French lithography students.
Lithography was a new medium, and Maria was a cutting edge lady so she wanted to jump on the other artists. Unfortunately, the students never occupied the building and Maria's plan died. Fortunately, the building didn't. In 1904, its neighbor across the street, Holy Cross School rented the building and used it as a commercial school.
When students finished the eighth grade at Holy Cross, they went to work or attended a secular high school. The two year commercial school allowed students to get further training in business courses to prepare them for office jobs if they didn't choose to go to high school. The commercial school was taught by nuns from the Sister of Charity who lived in a convent at 1113 St. Gregory St. The school was closed in 1927 at the behest of Cincinnati Archbishop, John T. McNichols who began directing the archdiocesan assets toward the establishment of four year parochial high schools.
In the late 1920s, the building was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hessler who ran the Hessler Studio of Dancing. The studio was the premier venue in the region for singing, dancing and acting instruction. It attracted students from the greater Cincinnati area and was the place where Doris Kapplehoff, Vera-Ellen Rohe and Tyrone Power went to get expert instruction.
Doris Kappelhoff, a Cincinnati native, became famous as Doris Day, a prominent film and TV star and popular singer. Doris Day is still living and works at promoting her favorite cause, animal rights.
Vera-Ellen Rohe, a Norwood native who shortened her name to Vera-Ellen, also became a Hollywood star and appeared in many movies. Her most enduring role was in the classic movie, White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. She also starred with Fred Astaire in Three Little Words and Gene Kelly in Words and Music where she did a famous dance sequence to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue".
Tyrone Power, his real name, was also born in Cincinnati and attended Purcell High School in Walnut Hills. He was a classically handsome leading man and played in many swashbuckling films, including The Mark of Zorro his most well known film where he starred with Basil Rathbone. Power was also a leading man in many Broadway stage productions. He was first divorced in 1948, an event which was frowned upon by the priests at Purcell High School prompting them to cover his 1931 graduation picture in black.
The Hesslers built a beautiful rock garden behind their studio and opened it to the public. They also loved their new community and were very active in promoting events and businesses on Mt. Adams. Mr Hessler was a very close friend of Vera-Ellen and maintained that friendship even after she became successful. He frequently visited her in Hollywood and said that despite all her fame she still treated him as she did when she was a young girl. The Hesslers closed their studio in the 1940's.
The building again changed hands in the 1950's when it was purchased by artists Carolyn and Bill von Stein. Carolyn was a painter but got into art restoration to make money. Among her many projects were restoring the paintings at Immaculata Church in 1982, and repainting Our Lady of Lourdes statue, also at Immaculata, the same year.
She and her husband painted a Mt. Adams Landmarks mural on a large wall at Holy Cross School lost when the building was torn down.
In the summer of 2006, I attended a party at Carolyn's. She had a jazz trio playing her her front garden, people elbow to elbow in her studio, food and an open bar for all attending. When I finally made my way through the crowd to her (she was in a wheel chair, on oxygen and balancing a martini on her knee), I asked her what she was celebrating. In her typical straight forward fashion she replied that she wouldn't be around much longer and wanted to go out in style. She passed away ten days later at age 83. Carolyn and Bill had no children, so the building was left to a niece who sold it to another artist.
The fate of the building is again in play as it's currently for sale. Hopefully, someone will buy it and keep it alive.
Thanks to Allen Bernard for contributing to this article. Other resources were the 1931 souvenir book of the dedication of the Ida Street Bridge and the archives at holy Cross-Immaculata Parish."
Jim Steiner's articles in our neighborhood paper are always interesting and this one certainly was not an exception.
Last night after dinner John and I randomly found White Christmas on AMC. Even though I've seen it several time I watched the whole thing again because of my new interest in Vera-Ellen. John bailed at the part on the train where the 4 main characters start spontaneously singing about snow. I like musicals. I also think V-E was an amazing dancer. One of our neighbors up the street, Kath Hueneman (who has lived her entire life on the hill) actually remembers Vera-Ellen. Kath told me that V-E was her older sister (who played the piano @ Belvedere for the silent movies in the 30's) contemporary and knew her much better than Kath did. Apparently every costume (including the nightgowns) that Vera-Ellen wore for this 1954 movie had a high neckline because she was battling anorexia which made her neck look old.
It seems the fate of this building is no longer as "in play" as when Jim's article went to press since this morning I saw it's MLS status is pending sold. The list price of $330,000.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Only Purple & Pink Days Left As Of Today

RQ's R5 report this morning is March 2006 is done. This means European agencies have received referrals this morning. Although it is only a 3 day month (represented by green links in the next picture) at least March (rumored to be a big month) is over! Come on speed up in April (purple links) and on to May (pink links).