Wednesday, August 11, 2010

St. Louis, Missouri

Cafe Ventana St. Louis
The beginning of day 1 of "Girls Time" in St. Louis. My daughter picked me up at the airport we headed to Cafe'Ventana for brunch. A fabulous New Orleans style cafe with beignets (pronounced ben-YAY), Paninis, Souffles's and live jazz on the weekend. I had an early morning flight so was starved. First let me say St. Louis is one of my favorite cities, so much to see and do; and The FOOD!
outside Cafe Ventana
It's located on West Pine Blvd in a residential area. I think you see the apartments next door. It's quaint inside and out.

souffleFresh fruit attractively served and my fabulous Souffle's and Herbal Tea. It was excellent!

St. Louis University GateLooking the opposite direction on Pine you can see the entrance to St. Louis University. Look at the wonderful architecture. We ran a few errands, and checked in our hotel. They were good enough to let us check in early.

Insalata CapreseLunch was G-R-E-A-T, just like Tony The Tiger would say. We each enjoyed a glass of wine, shared this Insalata Caprese salad and a gourmet pizza that I forgot to photograph. It was yummy. The Good Pie is definitely on my must return list. If you go in the evening, I would suggest calling for reservations. When we passed it later it was packed! The Good Pie is not your average pizza joint. It's located 3137 Olive.

Next up for us ladies, painting pottery! I've never painted pottery before; though my daughter is quite good at it. This was my piece before it was fired. I attempted to do some designs with stencils and decided it look like 3rd grade work; so I painted over it. Far too big a project to do for the first time. Now she tells me! We were there for hours! I've not seen how bad it looked after firing, as I've not been back to St. Louis. She has it. I'm told, it should be brighter and shinnier after the firing process. Believe I'll stick to my yarn and knit and crochet, I'm far better at it. (check out some of my work HERE
The inside of my daughters piece. These bowls will be used for salsa and chips. We painted pottery at The Painted Zebra in Kirkwood; though neither my daughter nor I would recommend this shop. Brushes are terrible (my daughter had the only good one, at least that's part of the excuse I used for my mediocre work), tables aren't clean and the pieces being picked up after firing are handled very casually. People walk in, pick them up saying there there's without matching any receipts up. We were both floored! Price to paint is reasonable, variety of items to paint is large, no puff paints are available, stencils aren't in any order. The shop seems very hap hazard. My daughter assured me this was not like other shops she had painted in before.
Wrapping up she adds her name to the bottom. Look at that detail she painted all around the outside rim of the bowl! I need to have her send pictures of our bowls to see what they look liked when she picked them up.

We had dinner outside at a local Italian eatery we've frequented many times LaGra. It's a Tapas style Italian with jazz on the weekends. Menu is variety and very reasonably priced. It was dark and we were seated on the patio; so sorry folks no pictures this time round. But I will no doubt be back there. It's located in Dogtown.

A full and long day we headed back to the hotel and crashed. Day two was more relaxed. Breakfast at the hotel (it's free and good), followed by a massage at Massage Envy in Brentwood. The massage was wonderful, and I highly recommend this particularly location. Friendly and helpful staff. We had a lite snack and relaxed a bit at the hotel before our FABULOUS FABULOUS dinner at Lorusso's, my favorite place to eat in St. Louis. It's in The Hill and never disappoints. We enjoyed the piano music as we have many previous times. Jim Becker a darling senior can play anything. The food, service and ambiance is unbeatable. (too dark for pictures, must see what I can do about that next trip).

I love St. Louis and I really love my special girl time with my daughter.

**Details of One Lovely Blog Award Here, will be adding a few more; so stay tuned.


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Potty Stops when you Travel

airport bathroom
Brill airport commodePotty stops when you travel are a huge consideration. You might be traveling solo, or with family, or with pets. You might be traveling for fun, you might be traveling for business. It doesn't matter; you still need a potty stop. When and where can alter your time table, so as silly as it sounds; think about your potty stops.

Here's some basic potty stop rules:
  1. You're not in your personal bathroom at home, wherever you are you are NOT alone. So, be quick, do your business, wash your hands and move on. Don't sit and chat on your cell phone, don't pull out a magazine or book.

  2. Don't pass up a bathroom because you don't have to go right then. Use it when it exists, you may not have one at hand when you need it.

  3. If you're traveling with children and or pets, don't ask them if they have to go. A potty stop means everyone goes potty, so you don't have to stop multiple times. (particularly important when in a car and the next rest stop isn't for 100 miles, or when you've just boarded an airplane and people are trying to get settled and someone who passed by the opportunity earlier now wants to go potty.

  4. If traveling by car do you space your potty stops to coincide with eating breaks or getting gas? If you do, that's far more time efficient then stopping separately for everything.

  5. When you go potty, ladies take your purses for security reasons. Men make sure you have your cell phone on you.
**note the numbers aren't working still, err, added spaces folks, sorry for the lousy format business
The potty featured here was one I spotted at the airport in Omaha where I did a quick stop, go potty, and change planes. First time I'd seen such a clean public potty and wanted to share with you all. My daughter tells me she's seen these design in a couple of airports. You wave your hand and the plastic bag covering moves, giving you a clean surface. How cool is that! Some facilities have those paper covers; which are typically empty and very annoying.

The most important potty stop rule (more for ladies then men), when you walk into the stall look to see if the toilet paper is empty BEFORE you get undone and sit/squat. Sometimes you have other stall choices, sometimes not. Check to see if there's paper towels. Sadly though, one can sometimes substitute paper towels, if the facility is out of toilet paper, it's also probably out of paper towels and or uses one of those air hand dryers. ALWAYS, carry tissues with you in your purse.

And remember to use a paper towel to open the door on your way, if you can. Any idea how many hundreds and thousands of people use these public facilities? More then we care to know, probably. Don't let your kids walk around in them barefoot.

Happy Traveling, Be safe, Be Healthy, Be Smart and think about your potty stops.
**Due to some technical difficulties yesterday's post was incomplete, click on it... The Lovely Blog Award.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Old Timey Award on Tuesday

blog award
A big thank you goes out to, Leigh who has graciously given me and my blog this award!
The rules for this award are as follows:
1. thank and link back to the person that gave you the award. (check)
2. share 7 things about yourself. (need more coffee to wake up first) AND check
3. pass the award to 7 fellow bloggers that inspire you. (giving this thought as I begin my blog walk)...stay tuned. (working on it, got interrupted...more later
4. let them know about the award.
  1. I wish there were a few dozen less barking, howling, yipping dogs in my neighborhood and or that their owners muzzled them. Sooooooo tired of them waking me up

  2. I wish I could figure out how to multi-task so I could knit/crochet while doing other things. I do currently knit/crochet while I read blogs; put it down to type when I've got something small enough to keep on my lap without getting tangled in the keyboard etc.

  3. I'm all jazzed about making plarn, after reading about it yesterday on line. (for my non yarny type blog buddies, plarn is making yarn or a substance to knit or crochet with using plastic bags).

  4. I've recently joined The Hive (button and link in side bar) to find more helpers for the homeless for Bridge and Beyond, which is a facebook type forum for creative crafters. Crafters of all types, not just those related to yarn/fiber.

  5. I'm nervous about my next trip, which will be to Mexico. My first trip out of the country (excluding Canada). Seeing things on the news has me on edge.

  6. I wish people with means would help those without.

  7. I wish I were more techy, love to learn how to do new things here on the computer.
Numbering is all screwy, some see numbers as they're suppose to using the number thing in tool bar, some don't, tried to delete them and do manual, it won't let me do that. So, because I thought it hard to read, added space between. This edit added day later, as I attempt to correct and finish this post. Sorry for the weirdness here folks. Typing in red done today 8-11
***coffee in hand, here we go**Can someone tell me whether or not you're seeing the numbers 1-7 with my list of 7 things about me? I see them here in edit mode while typing; but not when I look at the blog. Likewise I don't see numbers on the linky thing in my previous post. Do you, please take a look and let me know. If you're not seeing them, any ideas why? And, if you are, why don't I? I use Moz FF, but have also check using a 2nd browser Internet Explorer. Doesn't seem to matter. I do see number 1-4 in the directions/rules portion of this post which was a cut and paste from Leigh's blog.

****Flat Stanley wonders why people didn't visit his friend Captain Pinney.

clicking on the numbers and or bullets doesn't seem to work, so numbering by hand, let me know if these are showing up.
1. Marg's Pets
2. Modern Historian
3. Chicago History Journal
4. JuneZach on Fledgling Blogger
5. Brenda, lots of giveaways to get in on
6. Virtual Dime Museum




Monday, August 9, 2010

Traveling in the Blogsphere

As we travel around the blogsphere we don't need to pack, or wear special clothes, and it doesn't cost anything. It's free. I enjoy it and if you're here; apparently you do to. I meet new people, learn new things, and read about interesting things. This past weekend as I was out blog walking in the Blogsphere this is one of the adventures I came across. Read below the rules. You'll note this badge is in my sidebar and is clickable as well as here in the post. I'm new to meme traveling and am not sure why the linky isn't showing up here when I entered the code. But you can click
and get where you need to in order to sign up. I did visit everyone and enjoyed my time doing so.

Here is the 411 on the Weekend Comment Club


  • Make sure you have time for the commitment.
  • Do not sign up just to sign up.
  • Once you sign up you will need to comment the other participants.
  • If we get more than 20 participants, you can stop commenting at 20 or comment as many more as you would like to comment.
  • You have through Monday to comment the others.
  • You may want to check back each day to see who has recently joined.

How to join.

  1. Sign up on the linky below.
  2. Link us to your site or to a post that you would like to share and IS NOT A GIVEAWAY.
  3. You do not have to write a special post to participate.
  4. Visit the other participants.
  5. When you visit and comment, be sure to mention that you are visiting from the Comment Club. This is how they will know to comment you back!
Have fun.

Earlier in the week I signed up for Harriett's August Comment Challenge. She challenges us to leave 1,000 comments during the month of August. Most who've signed up have said they don't know if they can honestly do it; but are willing to try. That seems reasonable. So, that's my approach too. Here's the badge; but you'll also find it in my sidebar.



You can sign up for this blog traveling too. You might need to pack a lunch for this one and take along a bottle of water, cause that's lots of walking and talking folks; but a great way to meet some new folks. Enjoy





The linky for this is also on the bottom of my blog where it will be more accessible once this blog post moves down.

So I encourage you to get out, do some traveling, pack light and have a good time.


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Friday, August 6, 2010

Chief Leatherlips, SHA-TE-YAH-RON-YA, Dublin Ohio

Chief Leatherlips GravestoneThe gravestone of Chief Leatherlips who was executed on June 1, 1810. Ohio had been a state only 7 years when Chief Leatherlips was executed. He was named Leatherlips by White Man because he never broke a promise. He was a good friend of whitemen. He was an important Wyandot Indian Chief. He signed The Treaty of Greenville which put an end to the Northwest Indian Wars after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August of 1795.

plaque on gravestoneThis quote by William Sells: "O, Johnny my heart was touched by the taking away of that good Indiana. His word was as true as Gospel. He proved it by his actions. This certainly gives credence to his name. William Sells witnessed his execution and tried to stop it to no avail. There are several stories about how and why he was executed. Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa condemned him to death for giving away Indian Lands. He signed land over to The Whites in The Greenville Treaty. It is also recorded that when The Wyandots moved northward bad health and other negative things happened to them. Chief SHA-TE-YAH-RON-YA (Leatherlips), stayed behind in Ohio; the Dublin area rather than moving on with the tribe because he didn't want to leave his white friends. The tribe thought he'd brought them bad luck and that he practiced witch doctor tactics that caused them to have bad luck.

His own brother, Roundhead sent 6 warriers to carry out the death order of Tenskwatawa. He was, according to one account given an opportunity to move back with tribe which he denied. His executioners sang the death chant with him and then killed him with their tomahawks. Chief Leatherlips wore his finery for the occasion.

historical marker for Leatherlips hunting campThis plaque rests in a different location then the above gravestone of Chief Leatherlips. The gravestone is suppose to the area where he was executed. This plaque marks the last known hunting camp of Chief Leatherlips at 7377 Riverside Drive. This location is on the opposite side of the road and is south of the gravestone. Walk up the hill from the historical marker and you see this.

Limestone Leatherlips MemorialA interesting 12 foot tall Limestone likeness of Chief Leatherlips. The likeness even shows his long flowing hair which flows into the hillside. This monument was dedicated in July of 1990 by The Dublin Art Council. Walk up the hill beside the memorial for a birds eye view.

inside Leatherlips MemorialA great place to take the kids. They can pose where Stanley is and look down over Chief Leatherlips camp. At this point it's like you're on top of his head. As you look around the beautiful park you'll see The Scioto River. No doubt Chief fished and hunted for life game on it's shores. Re-create that with the kids and bring your fishing pole.

outdoor theatre and stageTo the right of the large impressive monument is this wonderful outdoor theatre where summertime performance take place. Come spent the day, bring a picnic. Bathroom facilities are available, and several parking lots. This is free, please come and enjoy the scenery and reflect on the life of Chief Leatherlips.

Depending on the age of the kids you might not wish to dwell on how The Good Chief died; but you can still discuss how he helped The Whites in what was then very much a wilderness area. Fishing of course will help them remember the activity, even if you're doing the activity here on my blog vs being there in person...you can still go fishing. Make a tent on the close line, let the kids pretent their at camp. Build with clay, or blocks a likeness of someone they know, like a family member. Buy a piece of leather at the fabric store and let them make something with leather. As with all our activities pull in math, let them figure out how long things happened. Word puzzles never get old, make a hidden word puzzle. The important thing is have fun with it, and the kids will learn something along the way.

Don't forget to come back next Friday the 13th for Flat Stanley's next adventure. And when you come, bring an orange crayon!
If you've missed any of Stanley's adventures you can travel with him now:


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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Traveling by Car or Traveling by Plane?

Traveling is fun, it's educational, interesting, and can be stress free. However, often people make travel confusing, difficult, and more stressful then it needs to be.

How to travel is an important factor in the process and can enhance your experience or detract from it in a very negative way. If you're traveling for business you're probably flying instead of driving. However, that might not be the best method of travel. Habits are hard to break, but consider this for a minute. Getting up at the crack of dawn to take the one flight where you're going can add stress to your day and make you tired and irritable. Missing your flight obviously can produce lots of stress and sometimes added expense to the trip. Weather conditions often delay flights, cause you to be routed to other cities even; more time lost and again potential added expense. Most airlines require you to be at the airport an hour or two ahead of your scheduled departure time. Do you need to rent a car once you reach your destination to get to your hotel or the meeting? That process takes time and cost money too. Consider the distance you're actually going, you might be ahead to rent a car and drive. Having pretty scenery to see coming and going can add a pleasant distraction from your hectic work schedule. You're much more in control of time tables when you drive vs when you fly. Take for example a trip from Columbus, Ohio to St. Louis. Taking into count arriving at the airport appropriately early, flight time; it's about a 4.5 hour time commitment provided everything's on time and you fly non-stop. It's about 6.5 hour car trip. For a mere 2 hours you could be ahead to drive. It's certainly cheaper to drive. Just food for thought. Other considerations obviously are whether you're making the trip solo or with other people. If traveling with other people, driving becomes even more cost effective.

If you're traveling with children I highly recommend car travel over plane travel hands down! Even if the trip is longer than say above example of Columbus, Ohio to St. Louis, Missouri. Kids can be better entertained in the car then they can on a plane. It's definitely cheaper for a family of 4 to drive unless they're using frequent flier miles. You have total control over when you stop to eat, when and where you stop to go potty. When and where to eat and go potty are super important when traveling with kids. You have total control over who sits where or with whom; which you don't have on a plane. The average family is 4 people and most airplanes don't have 4 seats together. Packing for the trip is far easier when traveling by car vs traveling with kids on a plane. You don't have to worry about finding and lugging all your luggage, while trying to hold juniors hand, and finding out you really need to be an octopus to hold and carry everything. Many kids are afraid of planes, and the large number of strangers they see on them. Car travel eliminates that. You also have control over what time you depart. For small children I recommend picking them up while asleep (be it at night or during nap time), and placing them in the car after you are totally loaded and ready to depart. They'll sleep, you'll have a very peaceful couple of hours of travel. You can dress them quickly and easily when you stop at the rest area for a potty break; or if they're infants to change a diaper. You know how tiny airplane restrooms are, you don't want to have to change a diaper in there. In fact, I'm not sure you could. Though I also don't support changing them in your lap while you're in your plane seat. Yes, in my travels I've seen people do that. One mother traveling alone ask the couple she was sitting with if they minded. Well I guess it was nice she asked. Their choice was to put with the smell of the dirty diaper or agree to let her do the diaper change on their shared laps. Ok, now she has the dirty diaper to dispose of and she's in the window seat. Not a good solution for any of us in the surrounding rows.

Planes aren't the cleanest places in the world, nor are airports. If you have children and travel by car, you'll not be exposing them to extra germs that may be difficult for their little bodies to fight off. No one wants a sick child on their hands while traveling.

If you're travel party is all adults, car or plane travel is still a choice you need to make. Consider the distance, the cost, and your time frame. Car travel has added bonuses. Sometimes the trip isn't just about the destination; sometimes the trip can be the trip!

For additional car travel info (must needed safety tips for all travelers), you'll want to read a previous post HERE

For families traveling with children please read all about making a kids special travel trip tick here.

And if you're traveling with your furry friends car travel is much much better, they can run and play in the rest stop while the family's goes potty. And you don't have to leave your pets behind.

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Friday, July 30, 2010

Bill Moose Crowfoot and Flat Stanley

Bill Moose MemorialThis Memorial sits on 3.5 acres of land at 2875 Lane Road in Upper Arlington, Ohio. The land originally donated by the city of Columbus is comprised of 39 granite boulders taken from The Scioto Riverbed and stands just over 9 feet tall. The tower of granite boulders resembles a TeePee. The memorial sits on a rise a short distance from Scioto River Road which follows The Scioto River. A fitting location since Bill Moose Crowfoot often walked these grounds, fished and hunted these grounds. He lived on the land as he learned from his father.
Bill Moose biographyA short bio of Bill Moose under glass stands at the park entrance. (click to enlarge). Bill lived to be almost 100 years old, as did both his parents. His father died in 1871 at 100 years of age, his mother the following year in 1872 at the age of 106. Both are buried in The Indiana Cemetery in Upper Sandusky.
Bill Moose PortraitThis small photo (original housed at The Ohio Historical Society) is curled and faded over time is visible beside the above bio of Bill Moose. The fancy headdress and beads were worn when people wanted a photograph. These were given to Bill during the 9 years he was employed by The Sells Brothers Circus as an Indian Rider in The Wild West Act. Beyond living off the land, Bill's income consisted of having his photo taken, selling postcards and trinkets and teaching children Indian Crafts.
flower garden and MemorialThe park is pretty with wild flowers covering his grave and walled in with The TeePee Memorial facing The Scioto River and Scioto River Road. A paved walking path, small picnic area, and bench provide a peaceful spot to reflect on Bill's life.

Bill here telling stories to a group of young boys, an apparent common sight at his shack. I've read accounts of Bill having lunch at The Wyandot Country Club (where the blind and deaf school now are located), the Railroad allowed him to continue living on land they owned. This area is now Clintonville; even though the residences of Dublin want to claim him as their own. Bill and his family stayed in Ohio, one of only 12 families to do so when the tribe moved west to Kansas and Oklahoma.
As the tribe moved westward and inter-married with other tribes there were no longer full blooded Wyandots, except those few left here in Ohio. One by one they perished. Bill outlived his tribe and was the last known living Full Bloodied Wyandot Indian in the state and the territory. He died just 2 months short of turning 100. The last 7 years of his life he lived in the Franklin County Home, too aged to continue living off the land. His shack became a children's playhouse.

His funeral was attended by thousands who lined The Scioto River Bank to witness his full ceremonial burial, the largest funeral on record for The Rutherford Funeral Home. He layed in state for 5 days from July 13th through the 18th in 1937. In a short bio Bill mentioned he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and was a republican. Bill never married but lived a long and very full life. He was well liked and respected by thousands. The two hands in friendship on his memorial seem most fitting.

Activities the kids could enjoy and help them remember and learn from this adventure:
  1. go to a stream, riverbed, creek and let the kids collect rocks. Get some glue and let them building their own teepee style memorial
  2. color pictures
  3. make word puzzles
  4. make vocabulary lists of new words from the adventure
  5. paint rocks with a design, shaking hands for example
  6. string beads and make a necklace or bracelet
As always if you missed any of Flat Stanley's adventures, now's the time to catch up:
See you next week, Friday August 6th for another Flat Stanley Adventure, bring the kids! Stay tuned, Flat Stanley has a cousin, Flat Bob who will be visiting in the next couple of weeks. You don't want to miss that.


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