I'm a nature watcher, from way back. I like to get outside as much as I can and see what's happening. There are always birds and animals and plants to watch. There's always something different to see. Clouds, snowflakes, nothing is ever not unique in this ever-changing world. In short, there's never a moment to be bored. Life's just too fascinating and too beautiful.
I've been in Ohio for close to two years now. After a life spent in the foothills of the Pennsylvania mountains, living in flat-as-a-pancake,at least by my standards, Ohio is like stepping into a whole new world.
Of all the things I've come to know and love about Ohio, there's one that will always top the list. You can travel all over the world. You can see everything it has to offer. But for sheer, everyday beauty you'll never find anything to surpass Lake Erie sunsets. You may find a lot of things that are equally beautiful, but I'll bet you don't find anything more beautiful repeated in endless variety almost every day. Lake Erie sunsets. There's nothing like them.
Perhaps you too are a native Clevelander, and perhaps you too have frequently driven by the Cleveland Public Power building on Marginal Road, right in between the Shoreway and Lake Erie. If you have, you are guaranteed to have seen it: the Wall of Whales. Or, more colloquially, the whale building.
Well, it wasn't until this very evening (coincidentally enough) that I found out that the whale building was the work of a specific artist, Wyland, who specializes in environmentally conscious, marine life artwork. The Wall of Whales on the side of the Cleveland Public Power building features swimming whales, dolphins and scuba divers in an incredibly blue ocean. He's also done manatees, turtles, fish, rays, people (in the water) and lots of different kinds of whales.
Now, we could be cynical, and point out that there is just no way that you're going to get whales in Lake Erie (sigh), but what I find more odd is why Wyland paints whales! And other maritime fishes and mammals, of course. Well, for starters, it's Whale Wall #75 - Wyland is currently painting his 95th mural of whales. These murals are for one major purpose: to raise environmental awareness about the undersea world, through the work of the Wyland Foundation. (In fact, the 95th mural is in Key Largo, Florida, and will be dedicated on Feb. 12.) All of Wyland's murals are painted in life-size dimensions, and in a wide range of sizes and locations. Power generating stations, museums, boats, department stores and piers - nothing is too weird to show us what's under the sea. I think this is beautiful, and I'm proud that Cleveland and Ohio are part of a larger, environmentally loving tradition.
Award winning architect Frank Gehry is known for his work all over the world. Among his designs in Ohio is the University of Toledo's Center for Visual Arts.
The Toledo Museum of Art, in keeping with its reputation as one of the top ten museums in the USA, has a widely varied collection. Most periods and parts of the world are represented. If the art of ancient civilizations strikes your fancy, the museum has a lot to offer.
Egyptian work is well represented. My favorites are a small chalice of faience. It's only about six inches high, but it's covered with an intricate relief of animals. I'm also partial to a stone hawk, symbol of the god Horus. He's from the Ptolemaic Period but he's so stylized that he could fit right in on a twentieth century building. There's also plenty of sculpture, a papyrus scroll, a model boat, and one of the "mummy portraits", a highly realistic portrait on wood that was placed over the subject's face when mummified.
The selection of Greek and Roman art is superb. There are dozens of Greek vases, including one by one of the great masters of the art, Exekias. If you're interested in military history, you'll like the very rare Corinthian bronze helmet. There are several Roman portraits, including one of the Emperor Domitian. The guards like to point out that he wrote a treatise on hair care, but he's wearing a wig. Be sure to notice the mosaic floor from North Africa, as well.
You'll find work from Babylon and Persia, Sumeria and Petra. There's a fine display of Etruscan art. You can see some of it in the picture. The terra cotta bust is their sun god Apulu. There's so much to see and enjoy in the Classical Hall that you could spend a whole day just in this one room.
Oh, yes. One other thing. At the back of the room is a little alcove leading to a door. If you look through it, you'll see the Peristyle, the museum's auditorium. Putting the Classical Hall next to it was an appropriate move. It's a beautiful room in the purest Classical Greek style. But that's another story.
It's always interesting to find out what captures Ohioans' interests, particularly when they are Ohio transplants and originally hailed from elsewhere. When I gave Rachel Shaw, a writer's group friend of mine, the Ohio 5 questions, she described the scenery from the window of the 100 year-old farmhouse between Dublin and Plain City that she shares with her husband. "Every sunrise, every sunset was a new masterpiece that my suburban eyes were unused to. I have lots of pictures of the same scene – right between the barns – of a different more beautiful sky dotted with purple and blue and pink clouds."
The scene became her muse for her poetry . When it comes to fantasy fiction aimed for teens, she writes like a fiend. One book, The Necromancer's Scroll has been published under her pen name Sierra Torrin. Besides writing, (check out her blog) , Rachel gets around. If you're ever wondering what to do in Ohio here are her suggestions:
If it's August: "The Miami Valley Steam and Thresher Show at Pasttime Park, admission $10 (I think). The sounds of steam tractors clicking and grinding away like tiny old locomotives. . . You can find anything here. Antiques are as plentiful as old tools and crafts and Happy Meal toys. Popcorn, fried bologna, homemade ice cream in fresh waffle cones, and sausage fried up by the VFW boys are some of the smells that tempt you."
Place to Eat: "I drive my visitors to the Dutch Kitchen. Owned by the same proprieters as the Der Dutchman, it is a smaller establishment, and there is more to enjoy in a less hectic atmosphere. Here, one can enjoy the hospitality of the Amish, a large portion of the Plain City population, and enjoy the food and crafts.
Favorite Event and Place: Ohio Renaissance Fesitval and Ravenwood Castle, "a bed and breakfast just south of Hocking Hills on the edge of Vinton County. This wonderful place has been designed to look like a castle with small keeps surrounding it. Our honeymoon was spent in the King Arthur Suite, a splendid three-room apartment with a Jacuzzi bath, a sitting room upstairs, and a balcony.
And where she sees Ohio's wonder the most: "I've found pockets of beauty by the Scioto River and in its tributaries. I've discovered southeastern Ohio, the foothills of the Appalachians and the limestone caves."
Seriously, I have made tonight's viewing of Miss America into an event! I made dip (so that way even if the girls on tv can't eat something good, I can), I am wearing comfortable pants with a brand-new top (so I look good too), and I have prepared to be entertained inadvertently.
Honestly, I am all for these girls, because, let's face it, I don't have the energy to have a talent and perform it! On stage, live and in person, in front of judges! My only talent is baking, and that's not really a talent - I can read a recipe and buy groceries, and somehow put the two together. But I certainly can't do it onstage!
Plus, I can't do anything with Mario Lopez staring at me.
But come on! Miss Ohio is on, and she's looking pretty! (She's a Cleveland girl, buddy. We can win stuff.)
FINAL RECAP: Well, Miss Ohio didn't even place! I am wildly disappointed. And there wasn't even a Midwestern representation after Miss Pennsylvania got booted out. Miss Georgia won the night, I am sorry to say - her interview answer was terrible, and I think the judges should be slapped for it.
It's not too early to think about baseball season. I couldn't resist posting this view of one of the gates at Fifth Third Field, home of the Toledo Mud Hens. If you don't know what a mud hen is, it's a bird otherwise known as the coot.
The oldest, still active member of the Arizona Horse Cutting Association lives right in Athens County just minutes from Nelsonville and Burr Oak State Park. Walt Semingson has been a horseman since he was a young boy growing up on his parents' ranch in North Dakota near the Montana border. These days, in his mid 80s, he'll still climb up on a horse to show how to use it to separate a cow from a cattle herd, but it's his sons who actually run the Semingson family-owned Smoke Rise Ranch. This is a place where cowboys not only look like cowboys, they are cowboys, chaps and all.
Just a last spring, Walt treated me to his horseman's skill before his son Mark took me horseback riding. Horseback rides and lessons are part of Smoke Rise's fare. You can even stay longer to learn how to be a ranch hand yourself. If I didn't know my geography, I'd have sworn they had whisked me out west, and I've been out west.
Their pristine acres are surrounded by the Wayne National Forest and state forest property, not far from Burr Oak State Park, makes it a perfect place for a family getaway. You can camp at the ranch's campground or rent a cabin. During the weekend of March 30-April 1 at the "Pre-season Tune-up" you can learn how to herd cattle. There are other special event weekends , including rodeos, from the spring through the fall. You can also enjoy winter with a horseback ride.
We just spent a couple hours there, but I'm itching to go back for more of Walt's stories about when he trained neighbors' horses back in 1930-and how exactly his authentic working ranch ended up in Ohio in the first place.
There was a time when wealthy Americans could buy historic buildings in Europe, ship them across the Atlantic, and reassemble them. These days, few could afford it, even without Europe's strong antiquities preservation laws. That's probably a good thing. Still, I can't complain about Toledo's share of the spoils.
As part of the increased interest in Medieval art in the first few decades of the twentieth century, the Toledo Museum of Art was able to buy small parts of three monasteries in the south of France. Each was an arcaded wall from a cloister, a covered walkway around a courtyard. The three arcades were reassembled, in 1932, to form Toledo's own cloister. Since the museum was only able to buy three side, the fourth was made by builders here in Toledo. To avoid confusion and distinguish it from the authentic parts, the fourth arcade is just plain wood. I wish I could say I haven't seen tourists oohing and aahing over that one, but I'd be lying through my teeth.
The oldest arcade came from the monastery of Espira de l'Agly. It's in the Romanesque style and was built sometime between 1134 and 1146. The next, the one you see in the picture, was from St. Pons de Thomieres, and dates to the late 12th or early 13th centuries. It's also Romanesque. Last is the Gothic arcade from Notre Dame de Pontaut. It's from the late 14th or early 15th century. All of the arcades are magnificent pieces of stonework. Each of the columns has a capital, the top part, carved with scenes from the Bible, the life of St. Pons, animals, or foliage. In the middle, you'll notice a square object. That's a marble wellhead from Venice. It was made in 1467. Like the capitals, its sides are carved. Each side has a pair of mythical or symbolic creatures.
So, why does the lighting look a it odd? That's one of the little surprises the Toledo Museum of Art is so good at providing. The Cloister can be lighted to simulate both day and night. The ceiling can look just like the night sky. It's a wonderful effect.
But wait. That's not all. In the Cloister, you'll find part of the Museum's collection of Medieval art. There are paintings, of course, and sculpture. Stained glass and ivory carvings. Embroidered textiles and Limoges enamels. It's a dazzling display worthy of a world-class museum. That's exactly what the Toledo Museum of Art is.
Chair is Art. According to Renee Kropat, head of Gallery 202 in Westerville, almost anything can become art--maybe everything. Last year for Passages V, a conceptual art experience that culminated into an art show of women' expressions of some aspect of life, mailboxes were turned into art. The brilliance of the Passages series is in the collective expression. Each person for the last Passages, for example, was given the same prompt, the same type of mailbox, and told to convey the idea of how do we stay connected. No one mailbox turned out the same. Some mailboxes didn't even look like mailboxes anymore which was fine by Renee. Only a piece of the original mailbox had to be used. This year's Passage's theme has not been decided. When it is, I'm in.
"Chair is Art," another Kropat brainchild, is not just for women--or for adults. This show is open to anyone. I participated two years ago and got two friends of mine to also participate. All you do is pay a $10 entry fee if, you are an adult, or $5 if you're a kid, and bring your artistic expression of a chair to Gallery 202 by the due date, March 7, 2007. You can downnload the entry form from the Gallery 202 website. Either turn a chair into an art piece, or make a chair (for example, a school art class made paper mache chairs) or photograph a chair. This year you can even make a wall hanging, but somehow, a chair has to be represented. The Gallery 202 website also has the past Chair is Art chairs posted to give an overview of what is possible.
Besides the forays in to community art that includes murals in downtown Westerville, Gallery 202 also features local artist's work, has art supplies for sale and is a venue for at classes. Gallery 202 is a terrific resource and art world gem that pulls me to Westerville several times a year. It sure is fun to be an artist once in a while-even if I'm not all that good, Renee makes me feel like I'm an artistic genius-or something.
Because we've grown so close over the years, I have no problem in admitting to you, Blogging Ohio, that this will be the first time in almost nine years that I've been single on Valentine's Day. Quite honestly, I'm a-ok with it. I think I'm going to buy myself a plant, maybe one of those tiny rose bushes, and buy myself a burrito. Maybe I'll make some guacamole - anyway, it'll be a decent time, without all the trappings and over-expense of the couple's version of Valentine's Day.
But! If you are a hopeless romantic, or you happen to be dating someone, and you want to go out, now is the time to start planning! It's only a little more than two weeks, and this is something that you really need to be on time with. I remember one time, my significant other and I had completely not prepared for Valentine's Day, so we went out to a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant, and strawberry daiquiris in honor of the day. But, really, you should plan better than I do. So I will be giving you several suggestions for three kinds of Valentine's Day restaurants in Cleveland.
The traditional, fancy route: If you would ask me what defines a fancy meal for me, it usually involves Italian food. So, I will first suggest Maggiano's Little Italy in Beachwood, OH. Very tasty, very classy. Also, there's a high quotient of delicious food that doesn't necessarily involve pasta, which means you won't feel too heavy! So, for a new review, let's talk about Parker's New American Bistro, in Ohio City. Their menu varies from season to season, as well as what's available from various local farmers and growers - that just sounds so tasty to me. Their menu does seem slightly vaguely French, with American touches, so very classy. Perfect for impressing a young lady with your taste.
Just after I apparently revealed my massive ignorance by not knowing that Columbus already had a soccer team, I luckily found it that it doesn't matter. As much as I do love soccer, which I do, I love another rough-and-tumble sport more. Hockey!
Not just hockey, but hockey being played in Cleveland! A hockey team called the Lake Erie Monsters! Yes! The Lake Erie Monsters are part of the American Hockey League franchise, and will be playing the 2007-2008 season at Quicken Loans Arena. The Monsters are actually owned by some of the same people that own the Cleveland Cavaliers, so we're keeping all Cleveland teams close together. The team will be playing as the affiliate team for the Colorado Avalanche, and they just don't know how lucky they're going to be.
Apparently, a ton of market research was done to decide upon the name the Lake Erie Monsters, a name chosen for its fun, its aggressiveness, and its obvious ties to the region. The logo is a very spiky M with a glaring eye monster eye - ha ha ha, for an actual monster! Like we have in Lake Erie! Team colors will be wine, yellow, blue and black, which to my mind is an odd combination of colors, but maybe I'll be surprised. I'm just happy they didn't try to tie in orange and brown for the Browns. Who cares, though, because hockey is back, and it'll be here this October! Yay!
Big buildings are not unusual in Ohio, but Akron has a structure that makes "big" a bit of an understatement. In fact, when it was built, the Goodyear Airdock was the biggest building, without interior supports, in the world. It's vast. At its farthest points, it's 1,175 feet long, 325 feet wide, and 211 feet high. You could fit eight football fields inside with room to spare. The structure is so big that a legend developed about rain falling inside it. That's exaggerated, though. In high humidity, the interior gets misty, but it hasn't actually rained.
The Goodyear Airdock was built for the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation in 1929, at a cost of $2,200,000. Why so big? It was made for building airships, large, lighter-than-air craft, such as dirigibles and blimps. At the time, a lot of people believed that airships were the future of travel and military strategy. The burning of the Hindenburg and structural problems in vessels that used non-explosive fuels put quite a crimp on the idea.
To accommodate the enormous dirigibles, the ends of the building incorporate huge semi-spherical doors fastened at the top by six-foot long pins. The doors are set on wheels that open them by rolling on a track.
In its days as a construction site for airships, the airdock produced many vessels, including two US Navy craft, the USS Akron and the USS Macon. Even with a very much reduced demand for airships, their construction at the airdock didn't end until 1960. In later years, the facility was home to the photographic division of Goodyear Aerospace Company. It is currently owned by Lockheed Martin.
By the way, do you notice the silver squares about halfway up the building, in the picture? They're the windows. It will give you a sense of how big the place is when I tell you they're a hundred feet off the ground.
Say what you like about eclectic designs, the mid 19th century wasn't afraid to use anything from any source to satisfy their taste for elaborate and unusual buildings. Greek, Roman, and Gothic weren't enough for them. In the quest for something new and different, architects experimented with a variety of "Exotic Revival" styles. Cincinnati has one of the best examples of this trend, the Plum Street Temple.
The Temple, also known as the Isaac M. Wise Temple, is one of the best-preserved examples of the Moorish Revival. This style was developed in Germany and mixed elements from the Moorish buildings of Medieval Spain with Byzantine influences and a dash of Gothic to achieve an interesting mixture that stands out from the crowd.
In the 1860's the Congregation B'nai Yeshurun, led by Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, commissioned James Keyes Wilson, of Cincinnati to design a new synagogue. Keyes used the new Moorish Revival to give the Congregation something truly unique. Even now, it's almost literally unique. There's only one other surviving synagogue in this style. It's even been made a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its architectural importance and of the Congregation's role in the formation of Reform Judaism.
From the carved stone decoration through the minaret-like towers, to the perfectly preserved interior with its thirteen domes, the Wise Temple is one of Ohio's most interesting buildings. My favorite part is the treatment of the entrances. Look at those soaring stone arches set in brick walls. Then at the stonework over the doors. Never seen anything quite like it.
For more on this wonderful building and its history, see their website, at the link below. Be sure to click on "About" and check out the history of the congregation and of the Temple.
Buying chocolate, flowers, or those little message heart candies are fine if there's no time to plan ahead for Valentine's Day, but consider some other options. If you use your senses to lead the way, you might come up with some interesting ways to celebrate love. Or a deep like. Or an "I kind of like you." Here are some starting places:
Sense of smell- With Ohio's botanical gardens' conservatories creating a haven against the freshly arrived winter's chill, head to one of them. Breathe in the fragrances of the jungles, orchid gardens and mountainous regions of the world. So, what if you can't go to a tropical island with your honey this year? At Krohn Conservatory, Franklin Park Conservatory, and Cleveland Botanical Garden you can pretend.
If eating is a way to your loved one's heart, head to a cooking school where you can spend time together--plus taste your efforts. Dorothy Lane Market Cooking School in Dayton has wonderful options. Many restaurants, like Handkes in Columbus also have classes. Here is a Shaw Guides website with links to several of them.
For the soothing sense of touch, get a couple's massage. The Marengo Institute, a mind body spa that originated in California but now has Cleveland and Columbus locations, has a Couples Delight Package.
Another option for the sense of sight is an art museum. Here is the botanical garden and art museums page of Ohio Travelers.com to find one you may not have thought of before.
always birds and animals and plants to watch. There's always something different to see. Clouds, snowflakes, nothing is ever not unique in this ever-changing world. In short, there's never a moment to be bored. Life's just too fascinating and too beautiful.
Perhaps you too are a native Clevelander, and perhaps you too have frequently driven by the 
has a widely varied collection. Most periods and parts of the world are represented. If the art of ancient civilizations strikes your fancy, the museum has a lot to offer. 
It's always interesting to find out what captures Ohioans' interests, particularly when they are Ohio transplants and originally hailed from elsewhere. When I gave Rachel Shaw, a writer's group friend of mine, the Ohio 5 questions, she described the scenery from the window of the 100 year-old farmhouse between Dublin and Plain City that she shares with her husband. "Every sunrise, every sunset was a new masterpiece that my suburban eyes were unused to. I have lots of pictures of the same scene – right between the barns – of a different more beautiful sky dotted with purple and blue and pink clouds." 
Seriously, I have made tonight's viewing of 
Field, home of the 
The oldest, still active member of the Arizona Horse Cutting Association lives right in Athens County just minutes from Nelsonville and Burr Oak State Park. Walt Semingson has been a horseman since he was a young boy growing up on his parents' ranch in North Dakota near the Montana border. These days, in his mid 80s, he'll still climb up on a horse to show how to use it to separate a cow from a cattle herd, but it's his sons who actually run the Semingson family-owned 
and reassemble them. These days, few could afford it, even without Europe's strong antiquities preservation laws. That's probably a good thing. Still, I can't complain about Toledo's share of the spoils.
Chair is Art. According to Renee Kropat, head of 
Because we've grown so close over the years, I have no problem in admitting to you, Blogging Ohio, that this will be the first time in almost nine years that I've been single on Valentine's Day. Quite honestly, I'm a-ok with it. I think I'm going to buy myself a plant, maybe one of those tiny rose bushes, and buy myself a burrito. Maybe I'll make some guacamole - anyway, it'll be a decent time, without all the trappings and over-expense of the couple's version of Valentine's Day.
Just after I apparently revealed my massive ignorance by not knowing that Columbus already had a soccer team, I luckily found it that it doesn't matter. As much as I do love soccer, which I do, I love another rough-and-tumble sport more. Hockey!
when it was built, the 
their taste for elaborate and unusual buildings. Greek, Roman, and Gothic weren't enough for them. In the quest for something new and different, architects experimented with a variety of "Exotic Revival" styles. Cincinnati has one of the best examples of this trend, the 
Buying chocolate, flowers, or those little message heart candies are fine if there's no time to plan ahead for Valentine's Day, but consider some other options. If you use your senses to lead the way, you might come up with some interesting ways to celebrate love. Or a deep like. Or an "I kind of like you." Here are some starting places:
