"P" is for posing with Greyhounds

 Sarah & Elizabeth Mills (twin sisters), Antonio Snuzzer (sp?), and Cassius

A Memorial Day Parade began from St. Columbkille. It was for Seven Hills, which is across the street. Parma (currently) Redmen, previously Greyhounds, and future? Three Parma High Schools marched, Normandy, Parma, Padua Franciscan, a Scottish Pipe and Drums, Ghostbusters, and other groups.

Antonio led the band

Normandy 

Padua

Parma

'Q' is for Qwazy

At the beginning of the 19th century, hypothesising on an earlier source of the Gospels started. Some German writers hypothesized a lost "Q" (Quelle is source) document. No "Q" has been found. Now, we have a completely different "Q", and it is a source of bat shit conspiracy stories favored by Republicans and other wackos. I have found "Q".

'F' is for foto

Blue Hen Falls, Cuyahoga Valley Park, Sunday morning, August 19th.

Well, sign #6 is up. It is next to the Cuyahoga, not far from Columbus Road lift bridge. It is in a parking lot. They need some fill around it, behind the sign there is pvc pipe above and parallel to the ground. August 13th.

Sam Laud crossing Columbus Road. The lift bridge was engaged. August 19th.

I had to turn the flivver around, and stop. The restaurant was going under a radical renovation (all the windows were removed), and a trailer was selling food. We bought a couple of 'frosties'; they tasted from hose water, or the mouth taste when you are in a garden supply store. August 22th.

ContempOpera Friday night Lincoln Park, singing mostly show tunes. August 24th.

'Z' is for Zoo

The Cleveland Zoo is going to have five weekends of night festivals with Asian (which is the inclusive word choice for Chinese) lanterns. Workers from Chicago have been there a month installing 45 sets, and there has been some advertising. The people above are waiting to get in on Monday morning. Cuyahoga County residents can get in free that day. The huge lantern gate looks almost like a real ceremonial gate. It is in very good shape. Some of the lanterns are already faded, and the sign lanterns are frayed. It has been said, that this is the first setting in a zoo; others have been in botanical parks. Chicago and Milwaukee were previous stops.

 a snow leopard in the new "Asian Highlands" exhibit

 a female mallard in a low sawed off trunk

Perhaps the showpiece is the huge dragon in the lake. Many photographers have already posted their shots.

 Some sets are long tableaux, here is part of one which has thirteen pandas.

Tulips and a Dutch windmill are included in the Asian lantern show.

'T' is for

'T' is for Trump

'T' is for Treason

'A' is for Animals

This weekend Cleveland has its Asian Festival.  It is the Year of the Dog.  Twelve years ago was the first placement of painted fiberglass statues around St. Clair and Superior.  To-day, and to-morrow they would have been installed.  I looked forward to it, and began to photograph them.  They have made their circuit complete...too bad.

Well, Old Brooklyn (or Brooklyn Center) has replicas of four cement casts of animals placed in the neighborhood.  The originals were made by the Works Progress Administration. [See click.]  Land Studio and the then local councilman, Brian Cummins, had some squirrels, bears, a frog, and walrus placed in the area.  On Fulton, near the zoo, across from one of the squirrels, there is a red plastic elephant strapped to a too small pedestal on a cement rectangle.  It is wobbly.  You can pass it by on the exit ramp of I-71 North.

This plastic elephant was made in Milan by Cracking Art Group, there was only one; but hundreds of other plastic animals were placed about town by Land Studio [see click].  They were there just for the summer of 2016, and the red elephant was a nod to the evil that convened in town for a week. I am wondering who placed the exit ramp elephant, and why.

'V' is for voting

Voter apathy is dangerous, if you believe that most people have humanity in their souls and that peaceful change is possible, especially since those motivated to do evil will act to do so with vigor. Lexi the Airedale's owner knows this. Cleveland Public Square 24th March 2018.

'P' is for Patricios, part I

It is the rare year when the Saint Patrick's Parade is not the most attended event in Cleveland Ohio. There are many Irish in this section of Ohio, but not that many. It is an opportunity to be seen, and it has to be the largest parade in the state. 

This started out as a religious procession on the west side many years ago, and without much surviving documentation. Recently, it was re-discovered that it was years older in Cleveland than thought. This is not unusual, Catholics and their parishes have outdoor processions for Easter, for Corpus Christi, for their patron saints, for favorite saints...  Also, certain nationalities celebrated their national saints. So the origin story is easily discernible.

Over time, less processions continued publicly. Civic organisations also had processions. For many places across the country, Independence Day was the largest parade. After wars military parades happened. Some parades expanded their military and quasi-military police and safety forces participation.  Labor had parades, and often had to struggle against the police forces to have them. 

In Cleveland, all these came together. So, the Saint Patrick's Day Parade became part of the commonweal. Besides the Irish Catholic units, there are other Catholic units, other nationalities, other organisations, politicians, high school marching bands, businesses and other groups. There are units that have marched for an hundred years, or just many, and few. Some march on occasion, and some only once.

The best time for photography is before the parade starts. [supra] The mascot for the largest college football programme in the state poses with two Lithuanian girls. It is the first time the Lithuanians marched, they are celebrating their 100th year of statehood restoration.

 A Ukrainian dance troupe makes a return appearance.

The Chinese have made this an annual participation. They march to promote the Asian Festival and the Confucius Institute. The Dragon dance and the panda mascot is naturally popular. Why the one guy has a Kiss mask on, i dunno...perhaps, the parading has a masquerade flavour/

This float celebrates the Irish Americans: John L. Sullivan, the first gloved heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and Ed Sullivan the television presenter (and former boxing reporter, with a short temper). A kid "guarding" the float told me The Beatles were Irish. John, Paul, and George would not be surprising; they had Irish surnames, and Liverpool was a port of entry for the Irish across the Irish Sea; but Ringo (Richard) was Jewish.

'P' is for Public Square, and Potemkin

The fencing was removed from the perimeter of Cleveland's Public Square yesterday. The people can filter in. There remains the huge Soldiers and Sailors Monument honoring the Union Cause. The two statues of Moses Cleveland and Tom Johnson are in a direct line in the center of Ontario. Behind Johnson is City Hall, behind Moses Cleveland is an exhaust pipe. Public Square was re-landscaped as a butterfly shaped park. The light winter enabled completion without a further intensive effort to ready the project for the Republican Convention. Several projects have been tuned to be ready. To-day, metal posts holding traffic signals were painted on East Ninth. Things have to be spruced up when those that believe they are the master class visit and convene in order to inflict their will on the

populace.

'G' is for Greyhound

It is easy to become enamoured of certain animals. God by nature grants graces. The eye, and then the soul, becomes enchanted. Hounds (i am not using the AKC definition, but the older English canine term) have great genetic elasticity, so that many various body shapes, sizes, and other physical characteristics run a gauntlet on the continuum. We are given the chihuahua, and many mastiffs. The hound is a social animal, that grants hounds and people position within the pack. The signals a dog recognises has him approaching an empath. It is easy, so doggone easy, to be infatuated with a breed.

Recently, i have come into possession of a greyhound, a track discard, an animal sheltered by a rescue organisation. Many people have done same, and still a majority of these dogs are not rescued. I will refrain from an euphemism, they are killed. How many have people have seen a greyhound pup? They are controlled by the industry. They are overbred. A culling comes early, not every whelp is deemed suitable. During training, and racing some are injured and their days are ended. A hound's racing span is not often long, and if not chosen for breeding, they are expendable. It is then death, or adoption.

Some are rescued and become companion animals--pets. They learn a new life. The transition is an healing proposition. A new socialisation occurs. Healthcare changes. Their care is not formed for racing needs. As with other hounds, parasites are an issue: worms, ticks, fleas should be removed. I read again and again, teeth are often in bad shape. Greyhounds scar easily (emotionally too), and bones can be fragile.

As other hounds, certain traits are very common in a particular breed. An Englishman, Rich Skipworth, is a cartoonist with a greyhound; and he has drawn some of the hounds' proclivities. My hound does do some of that, it is as if he did picture him. Other people with greyhounds have developed a descriptive greyhound vocabulary. The greyhound's physiology is not the average hound's. There are related sighthounds that share some physiology. They are lean, narrow, with long backs, longish necks and muzzles, deep chests, high tucks, long tails, long legs    built for the sprint run. 

They are bony, with thin coats, and very little fat. They are not winter animals, and they need a few amenities. They wear clothes in bad weather, and need soft bedding for reclining    and they do recline, to the point they are lazy. But, they are gentle, docile, quiet (some are painfully shy), and low maintenance. Their odd habits become cute and endearing to you. They are also watching you, and can be sly.

They are sleek and chic, beyond that i have noticed walking with my hound is that some people stop and chat, and to my initial surprise, thank me and bless me for getting the animal. I can not remember this sort of random, unsolicited bonhomie directed towards me.

[end part one]

i is for insect

It rained Friday and Saturday, the winds of the Canadian north brought swarms of monarch butterflies over Lake Erie, and some of them rested on a cropping of trees on Whiskey Island, on the west side of the Cuyahoga. Saturday evening there were thousands, Sunday afternoon still hundreds. They seemed to fancy sumac. They are migrating from Canada to Mexico. In the last few years, the eastern population has dropped 90%.

[ monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)]

not dragonfly of the week [♀ green darner (Anax junius)]

'H' is for Hale Farm, and History

This past weekend, there was a re-enactment of the final battles of the War for the Preservation of the Union. Hale Farm is part of the Western Reserve historical Society, and it served as the encampment site.  The biggest draw was the battles. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery performed. Horses are beautiful. It is not gun smoke that i smelled, but mint. The men and horses were in a pasture that had mint. People did not expect a sweet smelling battle.

After surrender, a confederate attempts to escape, and is cut down.

This girl has an impressive profile. She works in the candle making shop, which is closed during the battle. She doubles as 'security', hence the anachronistic orange vest.

Another anachronism, he did not want to be photographed with the contraband of his cameras.

Saturday, there was a football parade in Canton. The next day, the Steelers were to play. Mixed loyalties.

More mixed loyalties, the little rebel is wearing an Incredible Hulk tee shirt. The exodus is from the second battle of the day.

There are gardens at Hale Farm.

Several musicians were about. This fellow played the beautiful 'Shenadoah', which played wonderfully in the air. He played 'Beautiful Dreamer', and several other mid-XIXth century tunes. He deserved a far greater audience than he received.

The history was sanitised. Everything and everybody was in good mood. The battles raged, barrage of shot after shot went off, cannon blasts, and it took a long time for someone to fall. The men were playing war as children do. No one wants to 'die' and stop playing. The real war was a horror. This one tent as the field hospital was, maybe, the only reminder of how things were. A surgeons kit is on the table. Different saws for different parts of the body to remove. I don't remember hearing the term 'metatarsal saw' before. There was also a wheelbarrow, with dummy severed arms. I was told they were part of 'Captain Mutton'.

It maybe an understatement to see that 99% of the people there (actors and tourists) were caucasian. The war was fought over negro slavery. Not a single hint was evident. Of course, who wants to play a slave? Overwhelming people wanted to play soldier, but there were artisans at the farm who are there all year demonstrating.

Stuff was sold in suttler tents. Some things were surprising: percussion caps from Germany, with all German writing on packaging, and Catholic buttons and holy cards.