Tonight, we drove to downtown Cincinnati with Erica's parents and grandparents to the Duke Energy building to see the train display that Linda said has been there since she was a girl, a real Cincinnati institution. And looking at the display, it did seem to have an older aesthetic.
Mammy!
Afterwards we out to Montgomery Inn to eat ribs and more ribs. We then went to an outdoor nativity scene with live sheep and a cow that is right outside the Conservatory. In fact, right by the street. It shocked me that this nativity was left out in the open at night, no security, for ANYONE to fuck with. In no city I have ever lived in would this have lasted for longer than one hour. The cow would end up with a dress on, the sheep would be died black, baby Jesus would be gone, HISTORY, until it ended up somewhere it where it would make the front page of the news, like a gay bar or the ivy at Wrigley Field. I'm calling you out, pranksters of Cincinnati!
Later, I was granted a visit to Erica's grandparents house. Her grandfather, put me in charge of figuring out how his new "fireplace display" DVD worked on his TV. He LOVED this DVD, and talked about it as if it was dipped in gold. He wanted to see all the fireplace choices, and the different music options.
Erica was busy reading an essay her cousin had written about her grandfather. The closing quote reminded me again of the train display: "If I had to paint a picture of my life, it would be full of fun and bright colors--no blacks."
