Jessica Cyders Archives

November 14, 2014

Louisville’s Museum Row

Curator Jessica and I were killing time before meeting up with Jon Webb, the Athens Messenger photographer who originated the Picture Page concept before I started working there. She enjoys sewing period costumes, so she was quivering with excitement when she saw the Frazier History Museum had an exhibit Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Art, Fashion and Luxury in the Gilded Age.

While we were walking down Museum Row on Main on a cold, windy, drizzly day, I thought it was going to be a long time before anybody swings the bat at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

Better choke up on it

Based on the the size of the man standing next to the 120-foot tall, 68,000-pound steel bat, I’m pretty sure you’d have to choke up on it when you got to the plate.

Looking for the secret password

I watched Jessica when we went to the ticket counter to see if she gave any secret curator handshakes or whispered any passwords to get us a discount, but I had to pay full price to get into the Frazier.

Why the Can-Can was scandalous

Spend enough time in a car with Road Warriorette Jessica and you’ll find out more about period underwear than you ever wanted to know. I’ve gotten pretty adept at the head-nod and “Uh huh, that’s really interesting.”

I DID learn why the Can-Can was so scandalous (but I’m not telling).

Here’s Miz Jessica is counting the whalebone stays that made up this corset. I observed that anything that compressed the waist that much surely must have made the woman’s toes swell. When you squeeze a balloon in one place, it HAS to bulge out somewhere else. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

Do you think I’m crazy?

Along one was was a bunch of silhouettes that showed the shapes of womens fashion over the years. Miz Jessica backed up to the display and asked me which silhouette most closely resembled her profile.

I’ve been married 45 years. I knew better than to answer THAT question.

I found my gas mask

While she was hustling amidst the bustles, I wandered over to a display that showed a World War II gas mask just like the one I wore when I was teargassed covering student protests at Ohio University. At some point in my Boy Scout career, I carried a canteen that looked like that, too.

I hope it worked better than mine

I hope it worked better in combat than mine did in riots.

Friend and photographer Ed Pieratt shot me in my riot gear. I had to wear my glasses on the outside of the mask because I was blind without them. The old WWII mask kept the gas out, but the lenses fogged up so badly I couldn’t see WITH the mask or WITHOUT it. (By the next riot, I had a state of the art M16 mask courtesy of a policeman who “liberated” one for me. I had it fitted with prescription lenses and used it for another two decades.

I told Curator Jessica that I thought I could lay my hands on the mask, helmet, press card, camera and strobe for an exhibit she’s planning for May. The only thing missing is the jacket and the skinny guy wearing it.

November 10, 2014

Burr Oak Lodge

As you’ve read before, my lodging needs are pretty simple: I look for a clean, cheap room with a decent bed, fast internet connection and a good shower. Even some of those things are negotiable.

I usually stay in the second-cheapest motel in Athens, Ohio. So far as I know, they haven’t let a body go undiscovered for long periods of time, like the CHEAPEST place, which carries the local nickname of The Meth Motel.

No room at the Inn

This trip, however, everything for 30 miles around Athens had been booked because it was Fathers Weekend at Ohio University. Curator Jessica, as a last resort, called the Burr Oak Lodge , a place I thought would be too expensive. It turned out they had ONE room left, and it qualified for “Savvy Senior” pricing for the weeknights.

The only catch is that it is north of Glouster, about 30 minutes out of Athens over some of the hilliest, curviest roads (when they say 15 mph, they mean it) you’ll ever see. By the time I got to the Burr Oak Lodge because of circumstances I may write about later, it was well after midnight and all I wanted to do was collapse. I DID snap this shot of the front of the building, however,

Wow, this is NICE

Since I usually spend all my time sleeping, editing or roaming around, I hardly ever check out the surroundings of the places I stay. I don’t use their gyms, swimming pools or business centers.

Sunday morning, though, I thought I’d stroll through the lounge area of the lodge. I HAD noticed that the large fireplace had openings on both sides and that people were sitting in a sunken area chatting in front of the blaze.

Great view of Burr Oak Lake

There is an outdoor walkway off the lounge that puts you into the treetops where you can commune with birds and look out over Burr Oak Lake.

Overlooking the overlook

There is a balcony overlooking the lounge area that has its own fireplace, game tables and lots of comfortable seating. As you can see, the lounge is comfortable enough that a guest is napping on a couch.

If I can convince Wife Lila to come to Athens with me, this would be a perfect place for her to sit and quilt while I’m roaming around the countryside.

The lodge has a restaurant, but I discovered a diner about five minutes away that has good home cooking, big portions and small prices. It’s friendly enough that the second time I came in, the waitress brought my iced tea the way I like it without being asked.

“Mommy, what is Bambi doing?”

Cabins are also available. They’re full of deer hunters right now. In fact, one of them had two deer hanging on the front porch. That might be hard to explain to your kids: “Mommy, what is Bambi doing hanging from a rope on that porch?”

This odyssey is coming to a close. After a lunch meeting on Monday, I’m pointing the van south to head to family and warm weather.

November 6, 2014

St. Louis City Museum

Kid Matt, Sarah and Malcolm made a trek to the St. Louis City Museum when they were in MO in the summer of 2013. He had the advantage of having a young kid along who would try anything, as these photos will prove.

Curator Jessica and I got to the joint just before closing on a chilly, rainy afternoon, and she didn’t even want to ride the Ferris wheel on the building’s roof.

She kept muttering something like “You’re standing on a banana peel on the steps to eternity, but I’ve got a lot of life left, and I don’t intend to die on a Ferris wheel in St. Louis.”

Everybody was friendly

When we pulled into the parking lot, the attendant said, “We’re going to close in an hour, so I’m not going to charge you for parking.” That earned him one of Miz Jessica’s super-fine homemade-and-carried-from-Ohio cookies.

The same thing happened at the admission desk. Instead of paying $17 for museum and rooftop access, we were only charged $8. All of the workers we met were friendly and helpful.

I got her on the Ferris wheel

With a lot of pressure and a fair amount of shaming, I got Miz Cautious Curator on the Ferris wheel. In return, she made me hop into the dark hole that was a 10-story spiral slide. I didn’t have time to get claustrophobic, but I did get slightly concerned when the rubber soles of my shoes caused me to hang up on some of the tight turns. I wish I had asked earlier how they flush the tunnel of stopped-up slidees.

City Museum photo gallery

Here is a sample of what we were able to see in about an hour. We didn’t spend any time in the museum proper. Your kids will love this place. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to mover through the gallery. Go to the City Museum website for more information.

November 4, 2014

Bronze Baby Shoes

Curator Jessica and I made a quick stop at Annie Laurie’s Antiques Tuesday afternoon. (OK, I made a quick stop; Miz Jessica had to try on hats, dresses, glasses, and fondle plates before she was ready to go.)

This is her practicing her come-hither look accented by a pair of one-dollar glasses. I suggested the Athens County Historical Society could use that in a billboard ad campaign: “Hi, I’m Curator Jessica. Come by the museum and let’s make some history together.”

She didn’t like the idea well enough to pay the buck for the glasses.

Who had the last bronze baby shoe?

While waiting for her, I spied several pairs of bronzed baby shoes on sale. “I wonder when the last baby shoe was bronzed?” I wondered.

They were common when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen a fresh set in years; my brothers and I didn’t have our shoes preserved, so far as I know.

Want a bronzed cheeseburger?

A Google search led me to the American Bronzing Company’s website. It was founded in 1934 by “Grandma Vi” Shinbach. The company’s website claims it has bronzed more than 14,000,000 baby shoes.

The bronzed shoe isn’t a mold: it’s the actual shoe, although some liberties are taken along the way. Here’s a good video that shows the bronzing process. After seeing how labor intensive it is, I don’t think the $59.95 price for the cheapest pair of shoes is all that out of line.

They do more than shoes: They’ll bronze a cheeseburger for $163.95.

What happened to YOUR shoes?

Did your parents bronze YOUR shoes? If so, what did you do with them when you grew up? Did you preserve the shoes of your urchins?