The Asheville Experience

 

The Land of the Sky offered us a top notch combination of leisure and learning (L & L) on our most recent sojourn.  

Our drive along Blue Ridge Parkway was a highlight that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.  We picnicked at Mt. Mitchell, which is named after Elisha Mitchell, a geology professor for UNC in the 1830s.  He also served as their accountant. Using a barometer, he figured out that this place was the highest spot east of the Mississippi.  Before Mitchell's research, people thought the highest eastern point was in New Hampshire. 

People argued with Elisha, so he kept going back to prove his point. On one such journey, he fell, hit his head and drowned under a waterfall. His watch broke when he landed so his exact time of death is known.  Photos of the watch are in the park's museum. Elisha is buried atop Mt. Mitchell as he should be. Before the mountain was named after Elisha, it was called Black Dome.  Before that, the Cherokee called it Attakulla.  The park service should put a land acknowledgment up near Mitchell's grave site. Maybe they have but I didn't see one.

Mt. Mitchell is an International Biosphere Resource.  This is a title UNESCO hands out to sites around the world that scientists study in order to explore possible solutions to the environmental situation we've gotten ourselves into.

Moving on from learning to leisure. We heard #1 Son play with a new band called SMUT, pictured below.  It was their first performance.  Super fun time was had by all. The 5 players have impressive resumes and in my opinion Smut has earned the title of supergroup.   I've been learning about drummer Jeff Sipe's work with Aquarium Rescue Unit and Leftover Salmon.  

#1 Son plays with a diverse group of music makers.  We also heard him play some jazz with another power player, Michael Jeffrey Stevens.  They played at the library's monthly Jazz Hour.  I'm hoping to get a Jazz Hour started soon at the MCPL.

Lastly, I recommend two wow factor restaurants. Chai Pani and Curate.  Fabulous meals. 

The best part of the trip of course was our talks with #1 Son and Ms. Shea, who in this first year have become big boosters of their new home, the Land of the Sky.

In conclusion, you should go to Asheville if you feel like it. 

The Neighborhoods

 I walked through  McDoel Neighborhood and Prospect Hill Neighborhood this week. Our History Center offers free walking tour pamphlets, so swing by and grab a few next time you're ready to learn more about our town's history. Or you can click here and print them off at your house. 

There are many beautiful historic register homes in the Prospect Hill neighborhood.  The early 1900 houses here are fancy and some were owned by important peeps in our town.  Many were designed by actual architects.  We had an architect named John Nichols who ran a booming business. You keep reading his name as you walk along.  John Nichols this, John Nichols that.

Many of the homes in McDoel Gardens (1920s)  are simpler and came from Sears and Roebuck kits. Don't want to show favoritism, but I enjoyed the Prospect Hill more than McDoel. Some highlights from my walk there:

In 1900, a drug store owner named Wood Wiles had a house on Rogers Street. In the back there stands a garage that used to house the family horse and surrey.  Wood could walk to work on the square, but maybe he took the surrey if he was running late. 

Mickey Burke, a conductor on the Monon Railroad lived on West Third.  The house was built in 1906 and Mickey lived there with his wife until the late 1950s.  

Al Hayes, tinsmith, lived over on South Jackson. His house is called Tinker's Mansion.  He had a little building in the back for a family member with TB. Not sure if that was the best setup, but they probably made it work.  

The most impressive home is the Paris Dunning House.  Paris was actually the governor of Indiana and had some progressive views.  He's buried in nearby Rose Hill Cemetery.

One of our oldest homes, on S. Rogers, was built in 1840.  It's not too attractive, but let's give it a break.

I'm happy to report that both these walks were completely consistent with the goals of my temporary unemployment:  learning and leisure.   

Roscoe Rogers House 1906

Sare House 1906

This is the little building in the back of the Tinker's Mansion. The pamphlet said it provided "fresh air therapy" for a member of the family with TB.  Hardly any windows, so I think they were kidding themselves.   

The Woodblock Prints

As part of my summer break leisure and learning goals, I went to the Brown County Art Gallery this week to see some woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann.   The Art Gallery has a whole room devoted to his work.  I even watched a short video. 

 Gustave Baumann was born in Germany, but moved to Chicago at age 10.  He later moved to Brown County and lived there for six to ten years.  (Not sure if it's six or ten). He was somewhat famous for his colorful woodblock prints.  He was friends with T.C. Steele and a member of the artists' colony.  He lived above a drug store in Nashville.  His rent was 4 dollars a month. 

After Baumann soaked all he could from the Hoosier state, he moved out west to Santa Fe. He married and had one daughter. His artwork is displayed in 100 museums around our great land. 

After learning about Baumann firsthand,  I focused on leisure for the rest of the afternoon. I bought two ammonites from a rock shop, a novel at Naughty Dog Books and a salamander at the toy store.  

Learning about Baumann has spurred me to learn more about woodblock printmaking.  I may soon explore making my own block prints, using potatoes.  

The Review: Hit Man

 Husbandman and I watched Hit Man this evening and we're now discussing the movie with readers here on leeway.

Me:  Hit Man.  Good movie, right?

HM:  Absolutely.  

Me:  Favorite part?

HM:   I liked his transformation into pretend hit man.

Me:  I liked that too. but so sudden that it ...

HM:  (Interrupting) More gradual would have been better.  This might be a spoiler, but I liked the scene where he was feeding her what to say on his cellphone.  

Me:   Yes, that would be a spoiler, but we don't get too many readers here so we won't edit that out.  Fist of 5?

HM:  Definitely a 4.

Me:  I give it a 5. Did you know that the director is my same age?

HM:  I had no idea.  Stunning fact.

Me:  Director Linklater, if you're reading... Keep up the good work. and happy birthday next month. 

The Bite

Now that my father's ashes are buried in a pine forest, I am ready to begin what many people call summer break. 

Summer doesn't arrive for another 3 weeks so I prefer to use the term temporary unemployment.

This day was wide open to me which is how I like a day. I basically did whatever I wanted to do. I pulled weeds and swept part of the basement.  I wrote in my notebook.  Joined Husbandman for lunch where I ate Chow Chow. Bought a latte and went to the library.  Read some zines and wrote some post cards.  

While at the library, I hopped on the internet to conduct research on bug bite identification.  The bug bite on the back of my leg, itchy and unsightly, was a mystery I needed to solve. Did a bug bite me while I pulled weeds? What kind of bug?   I studied hundreds of photos and read dozens of websites about poisonous insects in my state.  I'm now pretty sure it's a mosquito bite. Mosquito bites can be dangerous.  Like rats, mosquitos are VECTORS.

I'm going to order some Sawyer Brand picaridin and I suggest you do the same.  Scores of ordinary citizens recommend it on Reddit and other social media sites. 

Aside from the bite, this day has been top notch, filled with leisure and learning. Let's keep it rolling.

The Sampling

 There has to be something to write about.  We all know already that my dad died.  

So what else?  

What follows is a bulleted list of possible topics:

• Funeral service at end of month. Dad's birthday yesterday.  Almost 95.
• Cleaning out basement. Going well. 
• #1 Son in Indianapolis this week. Jazz Kitchen. Will be there with bells on.  Literally.
•  Played bridge. Never made contract. Got moody after 5th rendition of,  "Oh, you were SO close." 
• Dentist tomorrow. Crown popped off while I was flossing. Never flossing again. 
• My turn to pick the book club book. Need recommendations.
• School carnival this Friday past.  Nancer and I did a bang up job of bagging popcorn. 
• Switchyard Park field trip next week. Working up a history chat. Worried about rain.
• Annoyed with Northern Lights photos everywhere I look. Dream of mine to see NL. Didn't want to get out of bed. Missed opportunity, regrets.
• Heading to school for Penultimate Sunday work session.  Adding Sub-Plans to list due to dental situation.
• Friends and family checking in with love and care this week.  Feeling heartened. 

These are all good topics. That last one is my favorite. 

The Date

 One week ago I was hanging out with my father, talking about my uncles and Franklin Park and Blue Hill Street. Remember when I blogged about that?

 When I left on Sunday evening, my dad wasn't looking good.  He hasn't looked "good" for awhile, but he looked in such a way that I wondered if his situation could possibly get any worse.

Come to find out, his situation did get worse. He can't talk now and is breathing weirdly and isn't eating.

May 11 is his 95th birthday and maybe he'll make it, but if  he doesn't, we'll just say he was 95 when he died because he was basically there, so let's cut him some slack. Come on. 6 days away.  

He could rebound in  his classic DAN HEFFERNAN style.  For the last few years, I've called him (to others) the man who does not die and I've seriously entertained the notion that he may be immortal. 

I remember my dad was sick one weekend when I was about ten or eleven.  He never missed work and was rarely ill.  He had a pad of paper in bed and was working away on something.  He worked a lot.  When I checked in on him in the afternoon, he told me, "I've written my epitaph." He showed me his notepad.

I'm not 100% sure I have this exactly correct, but it was something like, "He strode across the rambling world like a colossus." 

My mom was kind of amused but kind of not.  

Not sure what's going to happen with my Dad, but I'll keep you posted. Please keep him in your thoughts. 

The Testing

 We're in STATE TESTING WEEK.  A nerve-racking time for me and for most of the 3rdLanders.  

 They're working hard.  Bringing honor to their families.  

 The state test is tricky and is regularly updated to be longer and more challenging for our Hoosier children.  Like most children, they're resilient.  They soldier on.  

In contrast, I'm a wee wreck of worrying and woe.  When I was younger, I hoped and worked for an end to standardized testing for young kids. Husbandman and I opted out of testing for our own kiddos, but the anti-testing movement of yore has dwindled away. Testing shows up like a bad penny for even our youngest kiddos all across the land.

3rdLand will finish our 4 mornings of testing tomorrow.  Then we'll get back to learning about hurricanes and wetlands, writing and drawing in our notebooks, reading novels, singing songs, telling stories.  We also have a plan for a field trip to Switchyard Park soon.  

Joke's on you, Testing Testers of Indiana.  We do what we want. Most of the time. 

Blue Hill Street Memories

 I'm visiting my dad. He's sleeping now while I watch baseball and read 3rdLander stories.

Before he fell asleep, we had a good chat about his early life in Boston, Mass (b.1929).   When he was in 4th grade, he lived near Blue Hill Street.   Street cars traveled Blue Hill so it was way busy with humanity --- shops, synagogues,  Yiddish every where you hear. Fun Fact:

.... between 1930 and 1940, the Jewish population in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods was nearly 80,000, half of Greater Boston’s Jewish population.

Another fun fact:  Boston is currently #7 city in terms of Jewish population in the world. Check that out. 

Along with his brother Jack, Dad delivered ice and milk along Blue Hill Street.  On Shabbat,  day of rest, people would sometimes ask him to turn on a light or turn on the oven for them.  He and his brothers had many Jewish friends. One such friend accidentally shot my Uncle Bob in the leg which is a tangent we can go into later. After a doctor visit, Bob was fine.  No hard feelings.

When he went to Boston Latin School (oldest school in U.S.) in 7th grade, Dad got to school by hopping on the back of the street car, in order to avoid the ten cent fare.  Whenever he was caught, the street car driver would chase him down the street.  It was the danger, not the fare, that riled up the street car staff.  Dad did fall off the streetcar once and hit his head on Blue Hill Street.

"Was it bleeding, Dad?"

"You bet it was.  Went home and my mother patched me up.  I had a bump on my head for years."

Talking with my Dad makes me keen for a trip to Boston, land of my birth (1960).  Blue Hill Street is being renovated right now (2024).  I'm looking forward to walking Blue Hill Street from Roxbury to Dorchester one of these days.  Hopefully sooner rather than later. 

The Friendship

 IU has 51,000 students and I consider these kids darn lucky to study on this beautiful campus with so many things to see and do. Mary and Bob are here for the eclipse and for friendship and we've done a lot so far. We are loving having them here. 

We walked in the Eskenazi Museum. They were hosting a scavenger hunt.  We found everything on the list and I received a small Almond Joy.  On the 3rd Floor,  we saw a Saul Steinberg exhibit. He made the New Yorker covers.  His prints are amazing.

Next door at the Grunwald, you can see the art of graduating MFA students.  These young people are on their way.  So many weird and interesting pieces in the installation.

Across the way, if you head in to the Lilly Library, you can see a fine exhibit about Nadine Gordimer.  I can not recall if I've read any of her books, but she had a quite interesting life.  Plus she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, so she's no slouch.

If you're walking about after these amazing cultural experiences, amble by the IU celebrity sculptures featuring Elinor Ostrom, Ernie Pyle, Herman Wells and Hoagy Carmichael.  You won't regret it.

We've done other stuff too.  I'll tell you more later. 

The Eclipse

Bunnies in a Bucket

We've got an eclipse coming up. 

BONUS! Friends Mary and Bob will travel here from CALIFORNIA, along with hundreds of thousands of people from across this great land. 

Mary and Bob know that Bloomington, Indiana has been described as the "best place in the WORLD" to experience the eclipse.  

We're not only in the Arc of Totality (AofT). In fact,  solar physicists claim that Bloomington lies in a rare POSITION OF PROTRACTION (PoP) where the darkness lingers for 30 to 35 minutes, way longer than anywhere else (mere four minutes). 

Some scientists suggest that PoP has, and can,  produce a "suspension in the progress of time."  

A time warp so to speak. Unfortunately, a time warp can result in people freezing to death before their bodies fly off into space. 

 Even so, into I'm willing to risk it.  

My biggest fear centers around finding enough fun stuff to do in B-town so our friendship continues on its own immortal arc of totality. I'm making a list.