Trains, graves and boobs (and I & the Bird)

It never fails, that when I see the Cincinnati skyline, the theme song from "WKRP" runs naked through my head.
It was time for an outing. I see Lorelei so much more than Isabelle (since Isabelle is in school all week...you know. Getting that government, institutionalized, consumer-directed education) and we needed a new view.
The Museum Center at Union Terminal is a great way to spend a day (or more) if you ever come to Cincinnati. And you can spend the rest of your time going to Skyline and LaRosa's with me.
Union Terminal offers a great place to take photos. Face away from the building, you get the Cincinnati skyline (the Skyline that Skyline Chili is named for).....



What a ham. I wonder where she gets that from?



Anyone think this kid needs to be in commercials?

Face the building, and you get an awesome backdrop for.....

...compact cuteness. As I was snapping away, I realized that Lorelei was laying down.

She looks like a big pink doll, doesn't she?

When we looked at these photos, both of us went into hysterics. And I soon realized that Lorelei has the exact same laugh I do. Somewhere between cute little girl and braying donkey.

Next stop was Spring Grove Cemetery.
A bit of history:
In the 1830's and 1840's, Cincinnatians were saddened by the recurrence of the cholera epidemic. The crowded and sometimes unkempt appearance of many of the small church cemeteries in the basin area offered little comfort to bereaved families. Many of the leaders in the professional and industrial enterprises of the city expressed their concern over the lack of proper interment facilities.

Resulting from this concern, members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society formed a cemetery association in 1844. They endeavored to find a location suitable for creating a picturesque park like institution, a rural cemetery, contiguous to the city yet remote enough not to be disturbed by expansion. They sought to acquire enough land to be used for funerary purposes into the indefinite future, which could be embellished with shrubbery, flowers, trees, walks, and rural ornaments. These men traveled throughout the United States and Europe visiting cemeteries of outstanding reputation and beauty as they planned a cemetery that would equal the famed beauty of Pere-Lachaise in Paris, and various outstanding cemeteries on the East Coast of the United States.

Since its founding over 150 years ago, Spring Grove has remained a leader in cemetery design and management. The landscape "lawn plan" concept was created here. Although it was considered a radical concept of cemetery design at that time, it later became accepted almost universally as the model plan. Spring Grove remains a masterwork of the landscaping art, studied by horticulturists and admired by thousands of visitors. The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce lists it among the city's outstanding attractions proudly quoting the praise of an artist who once said, "Only a place with a heart and soul could make for its dead a more magnificent park than any which exists for the living."
It's also a great place to bird. Well, that's what I hear. Lorelei didn't want to walk, so we drove through.



The grave of Charles West, founder of the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Um. I know that standards were different in the past, but do we need a boob on a grave?




There's a mute swan dribbling about in one of the many ponds, too. And Canadas and mallards.
Spring Grove is so beautifully planted, there are owls. Go HERE to see Jeff, our tree-climber/bander-person, at last year's Owl Prowl, with our big, bad GHO.

This year's Owl Prowl is March 8th. I will let everyone know when the registration form is up.
I've never done an Owl Prowl before...Jeff usually does them. I hope that we have a few new owls to show off by then.

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Please, go to the newest I & the Bird over at John's blog. It is just about the best one I have ever read. And my first entry in the carnival. Looking at some of the others, I wish I had chosen a different one.