A Citizen's Visit to the Smithsonian

Country folk in the nation's capital

Dennis and me. If this were a video, you'd see
us shivering and hear our teeth chattering!

I've been looking through some photos tonight of a trip we really enjoyed. In 2007, Dennis, Isaac, and I went to Washington D.C. during Isaac's Easter break from school. Via the internet, I found a reasonably-priced hotel located just a block from the Iwo Jima monument in Arlington National Cemetery and just across the river from many famous monuments and buildings.

The Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery

The Virginia Suites worked out great for us. Our studio apartment was spacious and clean. It had a small, completely furnished kitchen and dining area, so I brought a few easy-to-cook things with us, and we ate in the room at night.  We enjoyed the generous continental breakfast that was served downstairs each morning, and then we walked a few blocks to the subway and rode a short distance to the Mall area. We carried snacks to eat at lunchtime. ("Poor folks have poor ways," my mother-in-law often said, in praise of frugality.)

Early April gave us a little surprise. Snow fell during our first night in DC. The next morning, the grass and all the parked cars had a crusty, white coat.

And speaking of coats -- we wished we had brought heavier ones! The wind blew hard, and the temperatures were in the 40s most of the time we were there. We wore extra layers of clothing but we still shivered in the wind chill. The cherry trees were blooming, but the combination of the late freeze, the snow, and the gusty winds frazzled them a little. The tourists looked frazzled too, huddled inside their coats as the wind hurried them along. I'm sure we looked much the same.

Frank's Archive

The stacks

Most libraries have stacks, and our mechanic's library is no exception. This pallet of old car repair manuals always amuses me. We love Frank, our mechanic. He does a great job for us.

Look into the stacks at some traditional libraries:
Stacks at the Manchester Central Library (in the UK)

Sterling Library stacks at Yale University
Manuscripts Behind the Scenes: Library of Congress

The Excellence of the Ordinary

The beauty of the typical

Last winter, I read It's Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See It from Here: Tales of the Great Plains, a book of stories about small town life in central Nebraska. What a good book! I enjoyed it immensely because I grew up in rural Nebraska, because the stories are entertaining, and because they contain truths, wisdoms, and observations about life that resonate with me.

The author is Roger Welsch of Dannebrog, Nebraska, whom you may remember from the series, "Postcards from Nebraska" on the CBS News Sunday Morning television show. He is a native of Nebraska, born, raised, and educated in Lincoln. His primary area of study, teaching and writing is folklore. He's the author of about two dozen books, many of them about rural life in Nebraska. I intend to read more of them.

The following passage from the introduction to It's Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See It from Here: Tales of the Great Plains  has returned to my mind many times since I read it.  I decided to look it up and share it with you.

My academic training and most of my teaching experience was in folklore, so I learned quite early in my intellectual history to appreciate, to appreciate profoundly the importance, the charm, the beauty, and the value of the typical. That's what folklore is. While the university art departments dwell on the exceptional and unique, the history departments focus on the significant and singular, the English departments examine the best, we in folklore are interested in what represents the typical, the ordinary, the everyday.

The ballet is not typical; the small-town wedding dance is. The events of a Harlequin romance or a soap opera are anything but everyday; the gossip and anecdotes told over the breakfast table in the cafe in Centralia are precisely everyday; they are indeed the very definition of "everyday." Is the everyday of less value or attraction than the exceptional? That has most certainly not been my experience. Nor, probably yours. Virtually every homemade quilt you have ever seen, for example, is superior by many times to 90 percent of the art that currently insults the walls of the galleries. We have all at one time or another, perhaps on a regular basis, eaten roast beef, mash potatoes, and gravy in a humble kitchen that put to shame the finest gourmet meal we have ever enjoyed. Medical science still sorts through folk medicine for the truths it may yet have in its pharmacopoeia.

Source: Welsch, Roger. It's Not The End of the Earth, But You Can See It From Here: Tales of the Great Plains. New York: Villard Books, 1990. (See pp. xiv-xv).

Here, Welsch is describing the focus of folklore studies, but that's not what I remembered. What stuck with me was the truth that many great masterpieces never become famous. They're created by ordinary people in the course of their ordinary lives. We should recognize and treasure these common works of art for the precious jewels that they are.

Image by Molly DG. Some Rights Reserved.

And I wish to add that some of the best music is made on the back porches and in the living rooms of very ordinary people -- and in rural and small-town churches, too. I remember with pleasure many examples of fine, homemade music.

Wise Words about the Banking Crisis

Wisdom from an Irish poet and patriot

Capitalism is not the free world.
Capitalism is a term devised by Marxists to describe what they thought were the worst aspects of our freedom.
We should never let any corporation or bank or computer company pose as the embodiment of our freedom.
Crises for large corporations are not crises for the free world.
Our freedom will endure and grow as long as we continue to elect our governments, to uphold Christian values, to promote small businesses, to permit citizens to own their own property and their own lives, to raise our children with dignity, to be polite to each other in the streets, to contribute directly to each other with charitable hearts, and to care about each other as a community.
As long as these fundamentals are a part of our culture, the fate of soulless corporatist entities is not going to matter...

   -- From "what me worry?" by James Healy, The Heelers Diaries, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008.

400 Mile Sale This Weekend

Trash and treasure for sale along Highway 68

Kentucky's annual 400 Mile Sale starts tomorrow (Thursday, June 5,) and runs through the weekend. Some sellers were already setting up shop east of Hopkinsville, yesterday afternoon.

I hope to go to the sales between Hopkinsville and Elkton, sometime on Saturday. I will probably go by myself. Dennis is not much of a yard-saler. Isaac has to work, and Keely is going to a family reunion with her boyfriend. I don't mind. I'll be able to proceed at my own pace.

Why do I like yard sales? Well, I'm curious, I like bargains, and I'm always hoping to find a little treasure of some sort.

It's not an totally irrational hope. Michael Leddy at Orange Crate Art had a note today about a sensational garage sale find -- and it happened to be a Kentucky garage sale.

A lady bought an old chest. She considered throwing the contents away, then decided to have the papers and photos appraised by a rare documents dealer. They turned out to be correspondence and photographs by noted photographer and photojournalist, Weegee (Arthur Fellig, 1899-1968).

A slideshow of ten of the newly-found Weegee photos has been posted with a New York Times article about the find.

Old Pump Organ

Thrift shop treasure

This lovely old pump organ is currently for sale at the Goodwill in Hopkinsville for just $600. It made me think of Miss Wilma Jean Mengers, who had a similar pump organ in her home when I was a child. She even let me play it once, which was very kind of her.

Friendship Quilt

Quilt made by the Christian County (KY) Extension Clubs

This lovely quilt hangs in a meeting room in the Extension Service building at Hopkinsville, KY. Each block was made by one of the Christian County Homemaker Clubs.

The new Extension Service building has been finished for several years, but this was the first time that I'd visited this big meeting room. One of the county agents, a friend of ours, retired this week, and we were invited to come by and eat a piece of "retirement cake" at a reception that honored his 32 years of service.

The white walls and rather sterile atmosphere accent the fabrics and handwork of the quilt. It's the sparkling jewel of the room.

Technorati tags: Extension Service, Homemakers Clubs, friendship quilt

800-Year-Old Arco Valley Pearl To Be Auctioned

Some Interesting News...

An interesting pearl auction will soon take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. One of the world's largest natural pearls, the Arco Valley Pearl, is being offered for sale. The auction house Lifestyle Auctions suggests in the catalog that this famous pearl might bring $6 to $8 million.

Here's a description of the event from Lifestyle Auctions' homepage:

Featuring:

A SPECTACULAR EVENING AND AUCTION OF EXCLUSIVE PEARLS;

AN EVENT OF AFFLUENCE, SOPHISTICATION, STYLE AND BEAUTY.

A GLORIOUS REVIVAL OF PEARLS INTERNATIONALLY AND LOCALLY, REPOSITIONING ABU DHABI ON THE INTERNATIONAL MAP OF THE PEARL INDUSTRY AS AN ACTIVE CENTRE.

The auction was supposed to take place today (May 3, 2007), but due to a death in the Abu Dhabi royal family, it has been postponed. This unfortunate and unforeseen complication does allow anticipation and interest to continue building until the auction finally happens.

All of the 24 auction lots are pearls. Some of the pearls are set, some are loose, some are small, some are large, and one is HUGE! The huge one is, of course, the Arco Valley Pearl. Can you imagine? It is 3.1 inches long, and it weighs 575 carats (115 grams or a little over 4 ounces.)

The Arco Valley Pearl has a wonderful history that dates back to the 12th century in Mongolia. In a list of famous pearls, it says that the Arco Valley Pearl was "offered by Marco Polo to Khubilai Khan, emperor of China." However, most current newspaper articles about the pearl are saying that Kublai Khan gave the pearl to Marco Polo as a gift.

The pearl is named for the Arco Valley of Austria where a prominent family owned it. The whereabouts of the pearl during the centuries between Marco Polo and the Austrian family are unknown.

The current owner of the pearl is an Abu Dhabi jeweler, who bought the pearl just a few weeks ago from a French person who wishes to remain unknown.

It will be interesting to see how much the pearl sells for and who buys it. If a private party buys it, it is quite possible that they will not want their name published. The nation of China is said to be interested in it; they see it as a treasure that should return to China.

Just one photo of the pearl seems to be available on the internet, and it is the same photo that you can see in the auction catalog for Lot 21.

If you're in the mood to look at beautiful pearls, you will enjoy the Smithsonian online exhibit, The Allure of Pearls. The largest of the pearls in that exhibit was 125 grams smaller than the Arco Valley Pearl.

The largest pearl ever found (that we know of) is the Pearl of Lao-Tzu, also known as the Pearl of Allah. It weighs 14 pounds, and it was found by a Philipine diver in 1934 in a giant clam in the Palawan Sea.

Technorati tags: Arco Valley Pearl, pearls, auction, pearl auction

Pilot Rock Revisited

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...

The folks on the Hoptown Hall Forum have been discussing Pilot Rock lately, and that reminded me that I have a photo of the Rock (above) that I should post. I took it at the end of March, just before the late freeze zapped all the leaves you see on the trees. I like this photo because it suggests how rough the terrain is around Pilot Rock.

Like the images (here and here) that I posted in January, this photo was taken from a gravel road to the northwest of Pilot Rock.

Through the Hoptown Hall discussion of Pilot Rock, I've learned of another treasure legend associated with this landmark. It is similar, but not quite the same as the story I've heard.

I am more inclined to believe the written version (which probably was researched to some extent) than the word-of-mouth version (which was told to me by people who heard it from somebody who heard it from somebody, etc.)

The photo at left was taken about six years ago with a zoom lens from the field just north of our little acreage. This view is from the southwest and I think it was taken in July. That's corn in the background, and I believe it's soybeans in the foreground.

You may wonder why I don't post any photos of the view from Pilot Rock. That's because I've never climbed it! I've never had a desire to stand up there and look off the edge of that rock. I think it would give me the heebie-jeebies.

Our 80-year-old neighbor lady, Miss M., told us about climbing Pilot Rock one Sunday with a group of people when she was a little child. She was wearing shoes with hard, slick leather soles, and she got too close to the edge and began to slip. An adult snatched her back by her skirt-tail just in the nick of time. The Good Lord had other plans for her, Miss M. told us.

Related posts:

• January Scenes from Christian County, KY
• Pilot Rock
• Treasure at Pilot Rock or Apex in Christian County
• Uniting Organizations to Save Vultures

Technorati tags: landmark, Pilot Rock, Todd County KY, Christian County KY

Thracian Gold

Some Interesting News...

Bulgaria has sent some ancient golden treasures on tour to Paris, and now they are back home again for a few days before traveling to Switzerland and then to Japan. I had read something about the exhibition of the treasure a few months ago, but I hadn't seen any pictures of the pieces.

An article on the news.bg site, "Thracian Gold Treasure from Abroad Back in Bulgaria" includes a photo of one of the pieces. It's not a large photo, but if you look carefully, you can see that the creativity and detail are beautiful, and the workmanship is just incredible, particularly for something that was made around 400 BC.

I learned from a summary of various Thracian treasures that the piece I admired is a rhyton, a vessel that can be used either for drinking or for pouring liquids (as in a ceremony.) It is part of a group of rhytons that was found in a mountain town in central Bulgaria by brickworkers who were digging up clay.

The Thracians were known as great warriors; Spartacus, the gladiator slave who led a rebel war against the Romans, was a Thracian. And they were renowned throughout the ancient world as expert metalworkers; in The Iliad, Homer describes the Thracian King's golden armor as "a wonder to behold, such as it is in no wise fit for mortal men to bear, but for the deathless gods."

Source: "Treasures Fit For The Kings," by Jumana Farouky, published in Time, May 29, 2005.

If you like history, I encourage you to look at the links I've included here. They whetted my curiosity about the Thracians enough that I'm going to see if I can find an article about them in the decades of National Geographic magazines shelved in our hallway. (And there I have revealed the source of my fascination with treasures like this -- many, many hours spent with National Geographic as a child.)

I'm glad that the people of Bulgaria are learning more about their ancient history, and I am impressed that they are sharing these priceless treasures with the world by sending them on tour. They should be very proud.

Update:
If you have a National Geographic archive near at hand, check out these articles:

• July, 1980, "Ancient Bulgaria's Golden Treasure"
• June, 1988, "Visage From Ancient Thrace"
• Dec. 2006, "Bulgaria's Gold Rush"

Technorati tag:

Thracians

A year ago today, I wondered if America's bread basket has enough water to produce biofuels as well as food.

Foiling the Antique Hunters

Another Trip Down Memory Lane... Life in Christian County, Kentucky... And What I Think About It...

Lately, I seem to have trouble getting my thoughts together to write anything. Here's something from my archives, written about seven or eight years ago, when I was working at the little country store just a mile from home.

And if this describes you -- well, now you know what I think.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Business was slow at the little country store yesterday afternoon. I don't suppose I'd had a customer for an hour or so when the gray Mercedes pulled up and a man and a woman came inside. They were wearing the appropriate Ralph Lauren clothing for a day in the country. They paid for soft drinks with a fifty peeled off a stack of bills, and looked around the store with interest.

"Do you have any old things here you'd like to sell?" The lady was running an exquisitely manicured finger along the back of the ancient church pew where our regulars sit to eat sandwiches and tell stories. Her eyes wandered to the vintage Coca Cola thermometer hanging by the sink at the back of the store.

"No, ma'am," I said. "Everything in here belongs to the family." (Not my family, but The Family who has owned the store for 55 years or more and until recently, ran the business.)

"Well, do you know of anyone who has some old furniture ruining in their barn? Or maybe you know an old person who'd have some things to sell?"

"No, I sure don't," I said. "Sorry..."

"We're spending a few days here visiting," the lady said. "We like to look for antiques everywhere we go."

"Everybody around here is pretty antique-aware. I don't know anybody who'd sell a thing," I said firmly.

"Well, thank you," she said. "You've got a real nice little store here."

They donned their sunglasses and drove away, leaving me a little surprised at the degree of antagonism I'd felt when they started asking about buying the old things in my neighborhood.

Some might say that if my neighbors did have some old handmade pieces of furniture rotting in their barn, it would be better for a Mercedes-driving stranger to have them than for them to be ruined. But I'd have felt like an accessory to a crime if these strangers had paid little-of-nothing for something that should be a family treasure, even if the family hasn't realized it yet.

It was obvious that the antique hunters were from a different world. Their flannel shirts, blue jeans, barn jackets, and oversized hiking boots hadn't seen any honest wear, and their car probably cost nearly as much as my house. They might have looked just right in their country costumes at a resort or lodge somewhere, but they didn't belong at our shabby, dusty little country store with the outhouse behind it.

Every town around here has antique stores in it. Those antique hunters didn't want to shop. They came to the country because they wanted to steal, and that's what irritated me. It gave me an undeniable pleasure to refuse my help.

Technorati tags:

antiques
rednecks
rural life

Dust-covered Stash Fetches a Fortune

Some Interesting News

Holy windfall, Batman!
Pack rat's dust-covered stash fetches a fortune at auction
The Globe and Mail () by Ingrid Peritz
August 19, 2006

MONTREAL -- Tom Crippen knew he faced a daunting task after the death of his father, an inveterate pack rat who never threw anything out. It wasn't just the stockpiles of old opera programs, paper clips, Christmas cards, baseball caps, paperbacks or souvenir coffee mugs.

Mainly, it was the awesome collection of 11,000 comics that had colonized the family garage and basement.

Read more: Pack rat's dust-covered stash fetches a fortune at auction

Nothing like this is ever going to happen to me, but it's really fun to read about someone inheriting or finding something that's worth a fortune. I have saved a few things for the kids that I think might turn out to be collectible someday, like their dozens of little blue plastic Smurfs and their dozens and dozens of Little Golden Books. I doubt if they'll be worth millions, though.

Technorati tags:

comic books
collecting

Medieval Book of Psalms Discovered

Some Interesting News...

National Geographic News, by Kate Ravilious
July 26, 2006

A thousand-year-old Book of Psalms has been discovered by a construction worker in a bog in Ireland.

The eagle-eyed worker was using a backhoe to dig up potting soil in central Ireland last week when he spotted the leather-bound book.

Experts called to the site were amazed to find an ancient Psalter Book of Psalms lying in the mud. The archaeologists won't say exactly where the book was found until they are finished investigating the site.

Read more: Medieval Christian Book Discovered in Ireland Bog

See also "Ancient Holy Book Found in Dublin Bog."

In several other stories about the find, I read that the book was open to Psalm 83, a prayer for Israel as she faces many enemies. All in all, what an amazing find!

Technorati tags:

medieval
ancient manuscript

Treasure at Pilot Rock or Apex in Christian County, KY

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... History and Old Stuff...

I've noticed that several visitors have come to my blog lately, searching for information about the treasure that is supposedly buried in the Pilot Rock area of Christian County, Kentucky.

The treasure is described on Linda Linn's Kentucky Home and Ghost Stories as follows:

Christian County: Lost Treasure
There is a bag with three thousand dollars worth of gold coins buried in the area around Pilot Rock, near the town of Apex.

Folks around here say that the gold coins were payment for a large tobacco harvest that a prominent farmer in the area had sold. On the way home, the farmer and his party were ambushed and attacked, but some of the group eluded the robbers and buried the gold. They planned to retrieve it later, but they could never locate it again.

The distance between Pilot Rock and Apex must be at least 12 miles, maybe 15, as the crow flies. Trails between the two points would have meandered around and through the natural obstructions, so I am amused at the phrase, "in the area around Pilot Rock, near the town of Apex". That's very vague and it encompasses a very large area.

Most of the old trails, except those that have become paved roads or that are still used by farmers, have been abandoned and forgotten. Furthermore, much of the area is rough terrain, covered with trees, rocks, bushes, and poison ivy.

I understand that this treasure is mentioned fairly often in treasure-hunting magazines. And who knows? Someone may find it someday and be a hundred thousand dollars richer. The $3000 in gold coins is said to have appreciated that much in value.

I'd be careful about trespassing over that way. Landowners are sick and tired of meth manufacturers abusing the area, and they might lump treasure hunters into the same category.

Technorati tags:

treasure Pilot Rock