Sal Visits a Bunch of Cultural Gardens

When thinking about the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, the Lay's Potato Chip slogan -- "bet you can't eat just one" -- springs to mind.  After visiting one garden the other day, I felt that a return visit was absolutely necessary!  Sal and I couldn't visit just one!  I wanted some human company, too, so I was very happy when my sister agreed to walk through the gardens with Sal and me.  (She is not only a great companion, but she has lots of great photographic ideas, too!)

We met at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse, which is a great place to park if you are going to do the garden tour.  Otherwise you have to park along the side of the road, which is very curvy.  This made me hesitant to park there, for fear of returning a couple of hours later to find that somebody had come around a bend and smashed into my car.

If I'm counting right, we visited at least 15 of the 36 gardens in about three hours, which was all the time we had.  The walk is only about two miles, but frequent stops to take multiple photos really slowed down the process.  The day was quite cold, but pretty leaves abounded and we got many lovely autumnal pictures.  Unfortunately we couldn't get shots of all the photogenic scenes and statues -- due to lack of time.  A whole day would be needed to really do this right!

The photos in this post depict a small fraction of what is to be found in the Cultural Gardens.  I highly recommend taking a friend and going to see them yourself! 

Our first stop was at the Polish Garden.  Anne is upset by the caption on Copernicus' podium, which states that he discovered that the world revolves around the sun.  Anne thinks the world should revolve around HER!

Another denizen of the Polish Cultural Garden:  Marie Curie!

This amazing bust is located in the Slovenian Garden.  We were not familiar with Ivan Cankar, but we loved this sculpture!  The mustache!  The hair!

In the Czech Garden, we encountered this statue of Tomas Masaryk -- another person we were not familiar with.  (Thanks to the internet, I now know that he was the first President of Czechoslovakia.)  His arms looked perfect for holding Sal, so a picture was in order.  Unfortunately, Sal kept sliding off as I tried to pose her on the statue, so Anne volunteered to hold Sal in place.

The resulting photo.  Does it look like Mr. Masaryk is balancing Sal on his arm?  Hope so!

We arrived at the Rusin (sic) Garden, and saw this statue proclaiming "I was, am and always will be A RUSIN."  What?  Check out the link if you are curious!

In the Italian Garden we encountered this handsome guy -- with a nice wide ledge to balance Sal on!

Getting this shot required stepping into the fountain -- which had lots of big puddles in it -- and balancing Sal on a curved edge.  This required much courage, because if she had fallen into the giant bowl, it would have been quite a challenge to get her out.  I think the resulting photo is worth it, though.  (Confession:  I used the "boost color" and "edge blur" effects on iPhoto to improve the blah original.)

This giant tree contained a ideal perch for Sal.

This statue looked like a perfect chance to pose Sal in a hand -- as if Dante was holding her.  Unfortunately, many tries resulted in many failures, so I took this picture.  I didn't think I would like it, but I do.

Anne worked very hard to get Sal balanced on this book, so I included this picture, too.  Not sure which of the two I like better.  Anybody care to offer an opinion?

In the German Garden we came upon this bust of Bach.  Since he is one of my favorite composers, I had to get a shot of Sal with him.  There was no ledge to balance Sal on, and putting her at the base of the pedestal would have been a lame shot, so Anne came to the rescue again and held Sal in front.  I would not have cropped the picture like this if I wasn't trying to eliminate Anne's hand from the picture, but I think the result is really cool. On second thought, maybe it looks strange to have Sal floating in mid-air...

This is probably better, don't you think?

This guy was also in the German Garden.  We weren't familiar with Alexander Humboldt, but the bust is awesome and it has a nice pedestal for Sal to sit on.  I had the crazy idea of putting Sal in this position -- like Sal and Humboldt were communicating by touching this way -- and I think the resulting photo is pretty neat.

A more conventional (if there is anything conventional about a small ukulele posing with a bust) treatment of the same subject.  Which is your favorite? 

The Hungarian Garden was so beautiful.  Yes, that is water shooting up from the fountains.  And what lovely colors...  This is a Where's Sal shot.  Can you find her?

I took a picture of the sign in front of each garden so I would be able to properly caption each photo.  I'm showing this one because my mother is British, and when we see a British flag, she often complains that it is being flown upside-down.  I plan to show this photo to her, and sincerely hope that the flag flying over the British Cultural Garden is right-side-up!

What beautiful colors -- and a lovely sentiment, too.

I had to take a picture of Sal with Shakespeare -- even though there was no nice ledge to balance her on.  This was the only garden we visited that had houses just a few feet behind it. It felt a little strange to see houses instead of trees as a backdrop, but I think it makes an interesting picture.

Sal posing inside the fountain at the Hebrew Garden.  Obviously this picture would not be possible in summer!

The Indian Garden contains this wonderful statue of Mahatma Gandhi.  I took many shots of Sal and Mr. Gandhi, and they were okay, but then my sister suggested this angle.  Perfection!

In the Finnish Garden some of the statues had been knocked over by vandals.  Why people would destroy a thing of beauty is a mystery to me.  Happily, Jean Sibelius was still standing. 

As we walked down the street, we passed this lovely combination of colors and textures.  I had to put Sal in the middle and take some photos!

Sal trying to learn a new alphabet in the Croatian Garden.

This lovely statue is in the Croatian Garden.  Titled "The Immigrant Mother"  -- it is touchingly beautiful.  A lovely finale to a lovely afternoon!

Sal Goes to the Ukrainian Cultural Garden

I have a friend who is Ukrainian.  Life has been giving him lemons lately, so I thought it would be good for him to have a respite in the great outdoors.  Going for a walk in a lovely setting always lifts my mood, and I figured it would do the same for Fedor.  I asked him to go with Sal and me to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens -- starting with the Ukrainian Cultural Garden, of course.

For those not familiar with the Cultural Gardens, a brief description of this extraordinary place is in order.  I'm feeling lazy, though, so in lieu of writing a paragraph myself, I've pasted one from the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation website here:  "The Cleveland Cultural Gardens are located along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and the adjacent East Blvd. from St. Clair Avenue to the south in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. This string of 26 nationality gardens is unique to Cleveland, Ohio and for that matter unique to this Country and the World. Various nationalities that call Cleveland home have collaborated in development of their respective garden to memorialize and share with the World their culture and history. Thus, this unique park is a great educational tool, as well as a great place to relax, enjoy nature in the midst of a city, walk or ride a bike, see statues of significant personalities or depictions of far away lands."

I've wanted to visit these gardens for a long while, and this weekend seemed like the perfect time.  It would be a win/win.  My friend would enjoy a walk among statues of famous folks from his homeland, and I would have a person to keep me company as I posed Sal and took photos of her.  (Sal is a wonderful companion, of course, but it's always nice to have a human along, too.)

The day was very pleasant for November -- sweatshirt temperature and a little cloudy -- with lots of pretty leaves remaining on the trees.  Consulting a map of the Cultural Gardens as we drove along, we found the Ukrainian Garden without too much trouble.  I took some photos and Fedor talked a bit about the people represented by the statues there.

Sal with Voldymyr the Great

Sal with Ivan Franko

I really like this shot of the statue of Lesya Ukrainka framed by this craggy tree -- and Sal, too, of course.

As we walked and talked, it brought back memories of the summer of 2008, when I accompanied Fedor on a trip to Ukraine.  I particularly remember seeing many commemorations there of Taras Shevchenko -- a great Ukrainian patriot and poet. 

Maybe Fedor is pondering the greatness of Taras Schevchenko, or maybe he is wondering whether or not Sal is going to be blown off that high pedestal by a gust of wind.  Happily, Sal suffered no falls today!

I shot this picture of a bust of Taras Schevchenko in the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine in Kyiv.  As a children's librarian, I have often brought Flat Stanley along when going to interesting places, which is why he is pictured with Mr. Schevchenko.

As we walked around the Ukrainian Garden, Fedor said that it was very nice, but lamented the lack of vibernums, which are a symbol of Ukraine.  He told me that Viktor Yushchenko  planted viburnums all around when he was president of Ukraine (2005-2010).  I vaguely remember hearing about the wonders of these plants on the trip to Ukraine, which is why I took the following photo at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life there.

Real Ukrainian Vibernum

After walking around the Ukrainian Garden and taking numerous photos, a look at my phone showed that we wouldn't have time to visit any more gardens.  I was going to have to drop Fedor off and go to work.  (Time flies...!)  Stay tuned for more Cultural Garden photos, as Sal and I plan to return there very soon!

Sal Goes to a Workshop (and Ikea)!

Today I drove for about eight hours to attend a Chord Progression Workshop at the wonderful Elderly Instruments!  This may seem a bit crazy -- and it is!  I hate to drive long distances, and usually can only go for a couple of hours before pulling into a rest area and closing my eyes for 10 minutes so I don't fall asleep at the wheel.  If I have somebody with me to talk to or to take a turn driving, it's not so bad, but when I go by myself...  (Unfortunately Sal is incapable of being a conversation partner or driving helper!)   Despite all of that, I decided that I wanted to go badly enough to tackle the one-day back and forth marathon of auto travel.  Why?  Check out this part of the event's description:  "... a workshop that will be packed with super-useful and valuable information that will open your eyes and ears IMMEDIATELY and save you many hours of frustration trying to figure out and memorize songs!" How could I resist? I really wanted to know how to do that!  (And now, thanks to Mitch Chang, I sorta do!) 

DETOUR:  Have I ever mentioned that I hate sports?  Well, I'm mentioning it now!  I left my house with plenty of time to spare, but ended up arriving just five minutes before the workshop began, because the freeway was clogged with several miles of football fans!  The game was not scheduled to begin for several hours, but there they were!  So about five miles from Elderly, I was parked on the freeway and suffering major anxiety.  I had traded my work shift and driven all that way, and now I was worried that I was going to miss the workshop!  Luckily, the extra time I had allotted paid off and I got to the store in the nick of time.  END OF DETOUR!

The workshop was totally worth the drive!  As is usual with events like this, I left with my head packed with information, and a bunch of stuff to practice.  Now the trick will be keeping these things in my head and finding time to practice!  Not sure how I'm going to do either one, but I'm going to try! 

Mitch Chang with Sal.  His workshop was super informative and fun!

 
After driving all that way, a person can't just go to a workshop and leave.  One must look around the store and see all the beautiful ukuleles!  Today I was not tempted by those four-string charmers, though, because I saw something else that called to me -- adorable wooden instruments for kids.  They are made by Green Tones and I just had to buy some.  (I probably shouldn't have -- but on the other hand they are so cute that maybe I should be proud of myself for not buying them all!)

Sal hanging out on the Green Tones display.  Who could resist these instruments!?  Certainly not a children's librarian like myself!  And Sal looks so nice with her wooden chums.

On the way home I stopped at Ikea.  Whenever I shop there I go to the cafeteria for some Swedish Meatballs and post a photo of the meal on Facebook.  This time I decided to include Sal in the picture -- and include the picture here.

I set up this picture on the counter by the window because the word Ikea is visible through the curtains.

After spending too much money at Ikea, Sal and I got in the car for the final leg of the journey.  It was dark and rainy and we just wanted to be at home.  And now we are!  :)