Monthly Archives: June 2024

Asking For Directions

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Doesn’t this guy look like he’s giving directions? “Go through the door and turn right to head up the stairs. There’s a painting you’ll want to see……..”

This guy is a cool statue outside Kingwood Center Home.You can read about that place here. He isn’t likely to be helpful in way finding but I would encourage you to go see him and this beautiful attraction in Mansfield.

You should also consider asking others for recommendations even when you think you don’t need them.

Locals typically know the best place for a great meal. A museum docent can tell you about an obscure piece that they love. Regulars in a diner can tell you the best place to park for the festival in town.

Some of the very best experiences of my travels have happened because of strangers. An old guy at the counter in a Pittsburgh diner recommended blueberry pancakes with chocolate chips. “It ain’t on the menu but they’ll make ‘em for you. Best breakfast around,” he said.

He wasn’t wrong. They were delicious.

A security guard at the National Gallery of Art in DC sent me to the only Da Vinci painting that’s publicly displayed in America. A nice lady somewhere in Indiana sent me to an old movie theater turned Italian restaurant for the best veggie calzone I’ve ever had.

These are things I may or may not may not have found on my own. Regardless, all of these strangers were proud and pleased to help.

As always, safety first. You sometimes don’t want people to know you’re a tourist or think you don’t know what you’re doing. However, it’s a great way to gather intel if you think it’s safe. This works especially well in museums or other places where folks are accustomed to giving directions. It’s also good in small towns where people know everyone and everything that goes on. I’m from a small town and can promise you, we already know you aren’t local. No need to pretend for us. Ask away and we’ll typically try to help.

Have you benefited from advice in your travels? Tell me about it!

Upside Down

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Scout’s favorite vantage point is upside down. I’m not sure why but I like to think it gives him a unique perspective on the world.

Isn’t that what we all need sometimes?

If you’re stuck in a rut or too sure of your own thinking, it’s important to look at things from a fresh perspective. That rut could be cured by an impromptu excursion or by a small change in your life.

If you’re too confident in your thinking, it’s wise to consider the world from someone else’s vantage point. This seems all the more important in light of how contentious American society has become.

So, get up out of your chair and go enjoy this beautiful Saturday doing something you don’t ordinarily do. Try a new recipe, buy a new outfit for work, take a road trip, go to the movies, visit a museum, chat with a neighbor about something other than politics.

There’s more to life than what you’re doing.

Try looking at things a little differently! Trust me – or more importantly, trust Scout. He won’t lead you astray.

A Peaceful Retreat

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Doesn’t this look peaceful? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to sit in this room with nothing to do but to wile away the hours with a book from one of those shelves?

This library is in Lithopolis, Ohio and is well worth a visit if you’re in the area. I wrote about it once and you can read that story here.

A quiet place in a beautiful old building to just sit and think sounds so welcome right now. There are some days when it feels like I have no quiet at all.

One of these days, maybe I will leave my phone in the car and sit here for a morning to just read and think. How luxurious!

Beneath A Watchful Eye

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Patrons of the Carnegie Library in Chillicothe come and go every day under the watchful eye of an eagle. They read their newspapers and move through the stacks carefully choosing what next to read, perhaps without ever questioning why there’s an old metal weathervane hanging high on the wall beyond their reach.

That’s not just any old weathervane, the librarian says it’s the one that was installed over the first Ross County Courthouse in 1801. At some point, during the nation’s centennial year, it was displayed in the library on the top floor of the city building where it stayed until it was moved to above the circulation desk in the newly opened Carnegie Library in 1907. 

The library has since been remodeled, the circulation desk moved and the weather vane has been moved to another wall in the original part of the library. 

This weathervane is deeply intertwined in the library’s history as much as it is in the city’s history and in the state’s history as well. After all, this old eagle stood sentinel over Ohio’s first and third capital city for many years. That’s why it was exhibited at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus during the opening reception of a new Ohio Constitution display in 2018.

You have to wonder what it has seen over all these years.

Faith In Humanity

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A trip through a big box store is a sure way to question your life choices and the future of humanity. 

They were paving the parking lot so half of it was closed and people were even more temperamental than normal. For some reason, people kept driving the wrong way in the parking lot – up the down staircase, so to speak, causing traffic to back up even more than was necessary. 

It was hot. People seemed impatient. I was tired and in no mood for anyone’s nonsense. 

And then I saw it – an elderly man who seemed to be struggling to walk, pushing one of the store’s motorized scooters up the parking lot to a cart rack several spaces away. Evidently, the battery had died. 

He didn’t seem to be in any condition to walk very far, much less to push that scooter in the heat. I suspect he couldn’t get a handicapped space and was left with whatever parking he could find.

I felt bad for him but, before I could completely process what was happening, something fabulous occurred. 

From nowhere there came another man, young and strong, who helped push that scooter the remainder of the way and then escort the older man back to his car. 

Friends, let me tell you, I wasn’t having a great day. 

But in that moment, my faith in humanity was restored – at least a little bit. I hope the younger guy knows what it meant to some of us to see him helping another human in need. 

It meant the world to know that maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem.

Carnegie In Chillicothe

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When you’re a book nerd, most any place with lots of books will do. Bookstores and public libraries are favorite places for most self respecting book dragons. For this reason alone, Andrew Carnegie is one of the very best philanthropists in our nation’s history, if you ask me.

Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men in American history and he chose to spend much of his wealth helping others. He saw value in giving communities centers for learning and culture. To have a library where people could go for free programming and for books was a true gift, especially for the poor. 

Carnegie, like some other wealthy individuals of the day, seemed to feel responsibility to do something useful for the good of the world. This, of course, was at a time in our history when education and intelligence were things to revere. That doesn’t seem to be the case these days as we push kids toward money rather than learning and our own opinions over the expert’s experience. Most of our country’s wealthy tend to invest in their own dreams and missions rather than someone else’s. 

We could use an Andrew Carnegie right now. 

We went on a sidequest Saturday to visit the Carnegie Library in Chillicothe. This is one of about 2,500 libraries that Carnegie donated in American communities both big and small. This library was built with a gift of $30,000 from Carnegie and a ten percent match of $3,000 raised locally. That was in 1907 during the heart of Carnegie’s 46-year building spree. 

We got a quick tour of the facility from the library director. He took us outside to show us the building’s appearance today and then back inside to see old photos that depict the original look of the building. Most Carnegies were designed with simple but impressive staircases that lead to substantial front doors. Once you’ve seen a Carnegie library or two it’s easy to spot them.

When ADA access became a legal issue, these libraries were modernized in a couple of basic ways. The least obtrusive was to build on and add a side or back door with a ramp or elevator. Then there’s what actually happened in many communities including Chillicothe. They removed the front steps and made a new front door at ground level. Not only did this change the character of the building, it caused water drainage issues for this one. The director told us they are working on a plan to expand the library and restore the original entrance and steps. ‘

I hope they’re able to do it. 

It’s a nice library and the collection looked interesting. I have a card with their system but always go to a location across town. Now I want to go back!