Summer of 2006, pt. 9

I need to get better at coming up with titles for these posts...

- I have almost come to the end of my stint in the Queen City. My last day at the office is Thursday, and then I will be heading home to see my family for the first time in about a month.

On Sunday, I visited the Taft Museum of Art, not far from the riverfront and the Great American Ballpark. I will have pictures on here soon-it's a beautiful old house, and each room contains a separate exhibit, and is decorated according to period styles. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but the decor was amazing-there was a mural painted on the wall in the "historic wing" of the building, complete with Roman-like busts of the two members of the Taft family for whom the museum was named. Also, the collection contained a variety of types of artwork, everything from the Italian Renaissance to more recent English paintings of the nineteenth century. The rooms also had historic furniture, beautifully restored-coffee tables from 1810, sofas from 1815, and others.

The highlights for me were fivefold. First, my favorite area was a room dedicated to works from American history. There was a painting of George Washington, and a collection of small watercolor paintings on what looked like lockets, or watch chains. These were extremely detailed portraits of every president from Washington to Herbert Hoover. Also, it was impressive for me to see a painting by Rembrandt. It was of an everyday subject (a well-dressed gentleman), but looking at it was like listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or reading Shakespeare-you knew you were looking at a work of genius.

My two other favorites were the portrait of President Taft, and the current exhibit at the Taft Museum, art from medieval China (that is, China during the medieval period in Europe). The exhibit on Chinese art was interesting in how it showed the different patterns, and methods of production, used to produce tea bowls, cups, jugs, and other articles. One in particular used a special method of cooling glass, so that the surface of the bowl almost looked as though someone had poured glitter on it, for that "sparkling" texture.

The house itself was beautiful. I got to walk through the garden for a few minutes before I left, although I didn't stay there long on account of the heat. Next door was a nice garden, in Lytle Park-I walked over for a few minutes before I had to go cool off.

- The other aspect of Cincinnati culture I have tried this week is Skyline Chili. It's got a different flavor to it, almost kind of like maple. I have been to LaRosa's a few times, and had their pizza and pasta. I definitely recommend it, and Skyline if you like good chili.

- I hope the heat wave dies down soon. It has been searingly hot outside the last two weeks-today I was driving home from work, at 6:30 in the evening, and the temperature was still 96 degrees outside. And the humidity makes it even worse.

People in Ohio tend to joke about the weather in Arizona, because everyone here thinks it is the most extreme form of heat, like an outdoor oven. I tell them that even though it gets hot in Phoenix (highs of about 110 when I was there in June) Ohio is actually more uncomfortable when the temperature is 85 or 90 with 95% humidity. It's the moisture in the air that makes it miserable, not the number on the thermometer. In Phoenix, you hardly even notice that you're sweating, because your body has the dry air to cool off.

Here in Ohio, when the humidity goes up, it gets much harder to handle. I am actually looking forward to spending a few days in the dry heat; it will be a relief from the heat and humidity here. But you know what they say about Ohio weather-wait 5 minutes and it will change.