Monthly Archives: July 2025

Fine Arts At Cleveland Downtown Library

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When planning a trip, I always look up libraries around my destination. If there’s a Carnegie library or some other interesting building, it automatically makes the list of must sees. Sometimes I stop in anyway because libraries say a lot about the place. In these four walls, it is possible to simply exist. There’s no admission, there’s interesting stuff to see, and the library staff is typically knowledgeable about their community. Plus, there’s a free and clean public restroom! 

The main library in downtown Cleveland has been on my list for a while and there just hasn’t been a good opportunity to go in. That is, until last week! Adam and I revisited the gorgeous Arcade where an important scene was filmed for the new Superman movie. From there, the library was just across the street. 

Park once, visit two things. This is helpful when parking garages cost $15 a pop. 

This library did not disappoint. My friends, the security guard may have momentarily thought us crazy until he realized we’re just nerds. He handed us a guided walking tour and sent us on our way. But first, I had to admire this light!!

Look! The shade is a globe! Where can I get one of these for my house? 

The downtown library consists of the original building and the Louis Stokes Wing which is accessible via an underground tunnel. We explored the new building some but thought the real show stopper was the main library which opened just over a century ago in May 1925. 

The building features a number of architectural styles. Inside, Italian marble, vaulted ceilings and grand staircases are only upstaged by the paintings of historical and mythological figures.. It’s five stories and cost about $5 million to build in those glorious years of prosperity we call the Roaring Twenties. 

I read somewhere that times were tough for the library during the Depression just as they were for everyone else. President Roosevelt’s Public Works programs sent employees to clean, paint, make building repairs and perform other chores for a while. During that time, some federally funded art was given to the library via paintings and murals that remain today. Can we pause for a moment and recognize the value of funding art for public buildings? Putting to work starving artists while preserving art of the period and improving public spaces is a real gift.

We visited the Arcade last year and strolled through the beautiful reading garden but didn’t make it inside.  Incidentally, the reading garden is named for Linda Anne Eastman who was the first woman to head a major U.S. city library system and she was a pioneer in modern libraries who was once President of the American Library Association. When did she do that? She was the head librarian of the Cleveland library system from 1918 to 1938. She raised money to build this library and oversaw its construction. 

What. A. Rock. Star. 

And honestly, I could write an entire story about her accomplishments. But I digress. 

The library has an enormous collection of books as well as all manner of electronic items, programs for all ages, gallery space, a place for technology education and an impressive makerspace complete with 3D printers, laser fabrication and music and video production tools. 

They have done a magnificent job keeping up with the times. Plus, the library system has 27 branches as well as the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled. 

Sit tight and come back. I still have to tell you about their collection of Superman memorabilia and artifacts. He’s from Cleveland, you know!

What We Think About

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“We become what we think about most of the time.” —Earl Nightingale

And poof! I’m a bookstore! Although, I wouldn’t enjoy letting other people touch or take the books so that would be a problem.

Friends, tell me something. What thing do you think of most of the time? What would you be?

Is that thing worth your time and mental energy? Is it worth becoming? Perhaps it’s time to redirect your thoughts and energy for a while.

Think about it.

Writer Talk With Adriana Trigiani

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The whole point of our Cleveland trip last week was to see a writer I have read and admired for years. She was speaking at the Parma-Snow Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system and I just had to go. 

Adriana Trigiani is a writer first and foremost but her bio talks about the many hats she wears because she wants women to be inspired to pursue their own career aspirations. She’s billed as a women’s writer (although a lot of men like her books too) who has also worked as a television writer/ producer and a film director/screenwriter/producer. She also has a terrific podcast where she talks to authors about their books. I know her primarily as a fiction writer whose colorful books are true works of art that I look forward to with each and every release. 

When I learned she was coming to Ohio, Adam and I planned an adventure around this event. 

We were part of a lively audience packed into the Sari Feldman Auditorium at the library. Out of the 400 seats available that day, they all seemed full and they were mostly occupied by women. Adam was one of maybe two dozen men that I saw filter into the theater so the energy in this room just hit a little different. 

She’s an Italian American who grew up in the Appalachian community of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. My gateway into her world was a series based in Big Stone Gap that features a fictional character named Ave Maria, the 35-year-old self-proclaimed spinster of her mountain town. I actually listened to the series on CD in the car several years ago when I was driving more than I do now. I vividly recall many driveway moments when I simply did not want to stop listening and go inside. 

Since then, I have read everything she’s written except two of her older books (on my shelf and waiting to be read) and her newest book which I just acquired last week. It’s signed so it will eventually be moved to my signed book collection. All of her books pay homage to someone from her past and the contributions Italian Americans made to industries like dress making, music, shoemaking and more. They all are respectful and celebratory of these people and how they maintained pride in heritage while embracing a new life in America. These are immigration stories at their finest. 

They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes and I didn’t. However, I do feel like I met her. In fact, I bet most people in that room left feeling like they know her, at least a little. She sat down with Ron Block, an employee of the library system and co-host of the Friends With Fiction podcast (if you read fiction, you’ll love it and the hosts who are New York Times bestselling authors). They’re old friends and he had a list of questions to try to guide the conversation. Truth is, there’s no guiding this woman in a conversation. She tells fantastic stories with side stories and side treks off of those. 

I’m pretty sure she hasn’t met a rabbit hole she didn’t like and I appreciate that! 

Adriana  is relatable and funny and knows how to pull at your heartstrings too. She’s quick on her feet, fast with a joke and can paint a mental picture like no one’s business. It was like sitting in the living room of an old friend. 

I loved every minute. 

When we left, I was grateful that the event ticket came with a signed book and that I didn’t have to stand in line for it. We would have been there all night. 

Three ladies in front of us knew her from college. A woman they didn’t know who was sitting next to them gushed about what these books mean to her and was excited to finally see her in person. One man stood up to say his family ran the apartment building where she lived years ago. Another brought a pair of earrings Adriana  had given her twenty years ago. Adriana  took them off and handed them to her during a Q&A, the woman said. 

My only complaint is that it went too quickly. 

You can get a mini dose if you watch or listen to last week’s Friends and Fiction podcast interview with Adriana. Learn more about her here.

If you are a reader or just enjoy some good storytelling, I recommend you go listen to writers talk any time you have a chance. It’s always an enriching and fun learning opportunity! This one was filled with laughter and lots of wonderful stories!

Small Town Delights: The Ted Lewis Museum

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If you ever find yourself in Circleville, Ohio, look for a small storefront on Main Street called the Ted Lewis Museum. Then go in and have a look around to learn about the city’s most famous son who happened to be one of the great entertainers of the early 20th century.

We visited a few Saturdays ago while out enjoying a quiet day of book and ice cream consumption. The museum is free so we decided to venture in. I knew of Ted Lewis because there’s also a city park named in his honor and had looked him up once. 

He was a Vaudeville performer who had been on Ed Sullivan at least once and he was the son of Jewish parents whose Friedman’s Bazaar supplies local women the latest fashions.

That’s the end of what I knew. 

Adah, Ted’s beloved wife of 56 years, opened this museum in 1977 after his death from lung failure in 1971. Let’s stop here for a moment. This museum has existed in the same location since about two months before I was born. In other words, it has been there for my entire life and it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago I finally made my way there. This, friends, is a common predicament for local attractions because people just don’t think to visit the places close to home. 

But I digress. 

Who was Ted Lewis? 

Well, he was a bandleader, a singer, a musician and one of the great Vaudevillian performers. He was funny and he’s said to be one of the first northern musicians to emulate the New Orleans Jazz style that was so popular when he was beginning his career in the 1910’s. 

As a boy, he ran away with an old time medicine show so he could play clarinet to draw a crowd for the show. His father tracked him down in Chillicothe, a city several miles south of Circleville, and brought him home. His parents enrolled him in business college in Columbus but his job in a music store led to him joining the Vaudeville circuit.

From there, he was playing clubs in New York City, traveling the world, recording his music, making movies, then making television guest spots and more. No matter where he went, the museum docent said he never failed to mention his hometown which he called “The Capital of the World.” In fact, he remembered his hometown in other ways too, donating land for a city parking which opened in 1941 and then continued raising money to pay for its upkeep and expansion for the remainder of his life. He raised money for the hospital too. He and his wife made semi-annual visits to the city’s famed Pumpkin Show and he even celebrated his 80th birthday with a big party in 1970.

The museum has his musical instruments, tux, top hat, movie posters, records, furniture, and memorabilia. If you’re willing to stand and read some things on the wall, you’ll find some rich stories from his early life and career. There’s a small theater in the back with films playing from some of his appearances. We saw a charming performance from Ed Sullivan’s Toast Of The Town when we were there. 

As we watched this performance, I got to thinking about how generously Ed Sullivan celebrated the old Vaudevillians, many of whom didn’t make the transition from stage to film or recording as well as Ted Lewis was able to do. I was also thinking about how quaint or perhaps hokie his brand of entertainment must seem to kids today. Yet, this is what real talent looks like. Long before auto tuning, Artificial Intelligence and whatever else they’ve used for the last fifty years to make people who aren’t that good sound like superstars, there were people like Ted Lewis who actually needed talent to survive on stage night after night. He knew how to entertain but, more importantly, he knew how to engage and delight an audience.

How fabulous. 

His tag line that endured his entire career asked a very simple question: Is Everybody Happy?

I certainly was happy after spending some time in Ted Lewis’ world. If you get a chance, I recommend dropping by as well. The Ted Lewis Museum has a nice website with a lot more of his life story. Check them out for his story and for museum information. 

Also, catch a glimpse of Ted’s talent and charm in this video clip!

Time To Focus

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This blog has been weighing heavily on my mind for a while now. It began about seven years ago because friends said I should write a blog and I thought I’d give it a whirl. It quickly became a daily writing exercise that I gamified to see how many days in a row I could keep it going and without being too repetitive. 

It was mostly about the things I was seeing out in the world, namely while I was out weekend adventuring. Some stories featured pictures and stories of things you’ve seen and heard about but mostly I focused on the obscure, small dots on the map kind of stuff that’s off the beaten path. 

Then Scout came along and joined the mix. 

And then the Covid pandemic hit and the adventure stories came to a grinding, nail biting halt. We were all stuck at home, just trying to navigate this brave new world the best we could. I began telling some of those stories, began telling you about the nature around me, what I was reading and about the outdoor landmarks in my region. I began talking more about lifestyle related stuff and occasionally reaching back in the treasure trove for pictures and untold stories from past adventures. 

At some point though, I lost the regularity that I once enjoyed. The entire reason I forced myself into a daily writing exercise here is that I know consistency is king with me. I either write every day or I forget to write at all. But it’s hard when you’re not out running around in the world every weekend like I once did. 

It’s also hard when you feel like the stories you want to share aren’t welcome in this divided country of ours. I have gotten into the habit of thinking lots of things and feeling like I shouldn’t say most of them. So much for my First Amendment rights. 

All the same, the title of this blog is Make The Journey Fun. It’s not Let Me Tell You All That You’re Getting Wrong. 

And so, here we go again. Another rebirth of the blog where I attempt to keep it mostly light and interesting and where I sometimes take a deep dive into a place or just give you the 10,0000 foot view so you’ll want to go see it for yourself. You’ll still get a lot of Scout stories and lifestyle ones too. In other words, you won’t see much change except in publishing consistency. 

I owe you some stories and pictures now from the Sherman House Museum in Lancaster, Ohio and from last week’s trip to Cleveland. Plus, I realized that I never told you about the Ted Lewis Museum in Circleville, Ohio. We will go there next!

Back To The Country

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I took a few days off this week and headed north for a little adventure in Cleveland. We chose this destination because a favorite author was speaking and I was dying to go hear her.

We had a nice time but I am a self proclaimed country mouse and the concrete, noise and pollution of that city are hard to tolerate. There are benefits like bookstores, restaurants, museums and other cultural features that are hard to come by where I live. I love parking the car and wandering around a city’s downtown even though I didn’t get to do that this time. 

But the sirens, construction sounds, and challenging traffic situations make it hard for me to relax. Plus, it feels like there is no good way to get anywhere and it’s all incredibly spread out so that’s an annoyance.  

Once we left Cleveland and were headed south on less populated interstate followed by state routes through the countryside, and then backroads home, I noticed I was breathing better with each passing mile.   

As dusk turned to dark, the thick forests which line our rural roads began to crowd in, as though reaching toward the car in a warm embrace. 

We rolled down the windows and breathed in the cool air. It was about 74 degrees and the humidity had broken while we were away. 

Not only did it feel soft and pleasant, it smelled clean. We realized we hadn’t breathed clean air in days. 

And our country air didn’t disappoint. 

It smelled of pine, of earth, and sometimes of campfire smoke. 

It was eerie in places where rain had preceded us and left behind a light misty fog that clung to the pine trees.. 

Two small deer grazed by the road as fireflies danced around them. We didn’t see fireflies in the city. We also didn’t hear locusts, tree frogs or bull frogs where we were. 

We did spend some time at Lakeview Cemetery and were delighted at all the life that is found among the deceased including swans, ducks, fish, turtles and all manner of birds. 

As country people we are told that our life is backward. People might call it quaint or old fashioned. They make fun of us for being so far from civilization and call us hillbillies. They think we aren’t smart enough to know better and to want more for our lives like they have. 

But you know something? A ten minute drive into my county seat gets me to work and to a grocery store, pharmacy and hardware with most of what I need. A thirty minute country drive gets me to a larger town on a road where I’m not in a wall of traffic that’s either sitting still or driving 80 mph. 

Plus, I have nature and clean air. 

I’ll take my country home, far from the noise of traffic, where I’m immersed in the goodness of what the Earth offers over the steel and concrete misery that our nation’s cities have to offer.

It’s nice to visit. The bookstores, shopping options  and museums feel like a destination and a treat that way. Meanwhile, you’ll find me tooling around in my “backward” country life. 

If only those who criticize knew they are actually the ones who have it backward! 

Go breathe some fresh air, friends. If you’re lucky enough to live with it, don’t take it for granted. If you’re not lucky like me, your lungs, mind and spirit need a break.