Welcome to the Madison Theater. This beautiful old theater in Covington, Kentucky dates to 1912 and the days of silent film when it was called the Lyric Theater.. It later was adapted to show talkies as films with sound gained popularity. Now it’s a popular concert venue with a full schedule.
I caught a glimpse while driving down the street and was excited to stop on the way back through.
We were looking for something else but I was thrilled to take a minute to stop and admire this beautiful marquee. Do your best to never be so busy that you can’t stop to admire something fabulous along life’s journey.
It’s Friday. The weekend is near. Go enjoy fall. Live life and go around the block for a better look at some of those things that catch your eye. Make this weekend count!
Meet Winnie, the manager of Mulberry Street Books in Lebanon, Ohio. Winnie is a beautiful cat who takes seriously the responsibility of this job.
Winnie greets every visitor to the shop and sometimes follows them around to provide ample opportunity for shoppers to do the right thing and offer up ear scratches.
Winnie has truly unique markings and beautiful, knowing eyes that make you want to just sit on the floor and relax a while.
Shop cats draw me in and this one made me want to stay!
One way to access Spring Grove Cemetery is via this old tunnel. Isn’t it a grand view? I like finding different ways to frame a picture and new ways to look at my surroundings.
Have a terrific Tuesday, friends. Go look for a new way to view your world today.
These are the things I noticed first. Then I realized I could actually hear some street noises but the sounds of nature were so distracting, the city traffic took a back seat.
It was mid October but the trees were still mostly green around Cincinnati. It was a cool morning that felt like fall and the occasional small pop of color helped to make it feel more authentically fall even if the color wasn’t that much.
We walked part of the cemetery’s historic section twice last week, admiring the scenery and scrambling from one extraordinary headstone to even more magnificent ones. We read names and dates and tried to decipher the meanings of the iconography. I was reminded of a book on cemetery iconography that I should have bought.
There’s so much to see here. Some of the mausoleums are getting much needed TLC including the Dexter. This one is the crown jewel of Spring Grove and was probably the Bentley of mausoleums when it was built.
Scaffolding and caution tape distract from nature’s gifts but warmed my cynical heart because construction means that someone is caring for this historic structure.
Sea captains, infants, politicians and women who are known mostly as the wife of some man, all receive equal treatment here. Death knows no bounds and no mercy to young or old. All are gone from this earth but each have something to remind everyone else that they once lived.
And in the end, isn’t that what we all want? We just want to make sure that we will be remembered for having lived and that those we care about won’t be forgotten either.
Spring Grove. If you’ve never been there, you won’t understand the magnitude and the significance of this incredible place. If you have been, you understand why I like to return and why I wish to see it in every season.
It’s unclear how many bookstores are actually located in the greater Cincinnati area but we did our darndest to hit as many as possible between Tuesday and Friday.
In case you’re wondering, we made it to fourteen bookstores and a Half Price Books warehouse sale in the Cincinnati area as well as another small store in Lebanon on the way home. That’s a new record for us both.
I suggested we also stop at Wheatberry in Chillicothe Friday but Adam said that might be excessive. We had to draw the line somewhere, he said. Since he’s often the grownup in the relationship and since there was no more room for books in the backseat, we agreed to save Wheatberry for someday when we’ve forgotten how many books were acquired this week.
Every bookstore has its own vibe. A personality, if you will. While chain locations may look basically the same in terms of branding and display techniques, even they are different from location to location.
Locally owned book shops are my favorite. The Bookery is located on a quiet street near a beautiful old church. It’s family owned, quaint and charming. We both found books we didn’t know existed and didn’t know we had to have. The owner commented on the books we bought and it was clear that she knew her stuff. It’s amazing talking to someone who is truly invested in the product they sell. Another local store we both favored was Joseph Beth. They have locations in Cincinnati and Lexington, Ky. It’s a large store with the warmth and welcome of a home library. Again, we found things we didn’t know we couldn’t live without. I received excellent customer service from a young woman who both helped me find what I needed and seemed pleased to chat about reading and books for a few minutes after we found my book.
There were other local shops as well as a few Half Price Books and Barnes and Noble locations in the mix. Every Barnes and Noble feels drastically different in how they choose to organize their books and some are quite odd. Yet, they always have this lovely and relaxing smell that makes you want to slow down. Half Price pays literal pennies for the books they buy back and then sell for much higher prices and this irritates me to no end.
Yet, I will always value brick and mortar bookstores over buying from online superstores. I read both fiction and nonfiction. Adam is more of a nonfiction reader but a lot of local bookshops either have no nonfiction or a limited selection. So the larger stores are often more pleasant for us both and places like The Bookery seem even more special.
The Half Price Books Warehouse sale was just Friday and Saturday. We were stopping in on our way out of town and ended up arriving about twenty minutes early. Just before we arrived Adam joked that there may be a line to get in. We laughed until the store came into view and found at least twenty people lined up outside the door. So we joined the line, claiming our titles of bookstore groupies, and waited our turn to join the madness.
We both came home with a rather large collection of literary treasures so we are stocked up for a while. Not that this will stop us from braking the next time we see a bookstore!
