Doesn’t she look like she could dance right off the wall? These are the things that make life exciting. These artistic tokens, left scattered about the world, are waiting for you to discover them.
This one is in downtown Cleveland. Go see it for yourself. Better yet, set out into the world and look for your own discoveries! Report back. I like to hear what you’re all finding!
Here’s one of my travel rules: if you’re in a city, always look for ways to get a view from up higher.
The best place to do that in Cleveland is at Terminal Tower but they were closed when we were there. So, we made do with a good view of one street from the Louis Stokes wing of the downtown library. We started at the main library building and then followed a tunnel beneath a reading garden to access the Louis Stokes wing.
This library is a lovely place to visit if you get a chance!
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!
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.
We were headed back to the car when this scene came into view. I was captivated by the lights, the signs, the brick and the mystery of what else lay ahead on this dead end Cleveland street.
When something like this catches my eye, it is hard to look away and keep moving. Unfortunately, we can’t follow every charming street and every inviting country road just because there might be something interesting to see.
No matter how tempting it may be to jump down yet another rabbit hole; we have to keep moving if we intend to get anywhere.
And boy, was it tempting!
High on a hill overlooking Cleveland’s famed Lake View Cemetery is a memorial to President James A. Garfield.
Ohio is sometimes called the Mother of Presidents because seven US Presidents were born here including Garfield who was our twentieth. Born in poverty and in a log cabin in northeastern Ohio, Garfield was a lawyer, preacher, Civil War general, US Senator and member of the US House of Representatives.
His was a life of service and he used his power to advocate for civil rights for African Americans, to support an educated electorate and to fight corruption in the postal service. He was a pretty progressive guy for the day in 1881 and even for modern times.
In case you don’t remember your history, an assassin fired and struck Garfield twice – one bullet caused a minor wound to his arm and another went through his back, shattering a rib and embedding in his abdomen. He died months later after unsanitary methods employed by his doctors caused infection to develop and grow.
He was interred in another location in this cemetery until his memorial was completed about nine years later and his body was moved. Our tour guide said that Garfield’s wife Lucretia was instrumental in choosing the location for the memorial and in planning its design. She chose the highest point in the cemetery, giving her husband, the President, the highest resting place in the cemetery as he had once held the highest office in the land.
You ascend twenty steps to enter the heavy front doors. A larger than life statue of the twentieth president stands beneath an impressive light fixture with twenty bulbs. Awe inspiring stained glass windows represent each of the original thirteen colonies and his home state of Ohio. Each of these windows features a woman who is holding something that represents that state in her outstretched hands.
Spiral stairs give access to the crypt where Garfield’s flag draped casket sits next to that of his wife. Go up stairs to an interior balcony that looks down on the rotunda and also get a better view of the dome above. One more flight of stairs up will give you access to an exterior balcony with a sweeping view of the cemetery and downtown off in the distance.
This memorial is extraordinary both in appearance and in atmosphere. It feels sacred. At first glance, you might mistake this space for a church and the women of those windows as angels.
You can tell that Lucretia Garfield and whoever designed this memorial wanted to honor the man and his place in history while emphasizing the weight and importance of the US Government. Reverence and respect were paid here.
I hated to leave this place and have thought often about our time there. Garfield was both preacher and politician. He fought for what was right and died because of some things that were wrong with his world. I can’t help but wonder how our country might have improved and grown had he served his entire term rather than a few short months. Would the civil rights movement have advanced more? Would we be less tolerant of the lies of corrupt politicians?
If you’re in Cleveland, Lake View Cemetery is home to this memorial and to the graves of many other famous people. We didn’t get to explore here long but it was one of my favorite things in Cleveland. Learn more here!