Frankfort, Kentucky August '99

The State Capitol building, sporting its chia-pet hairdo - actually, scaffolding for the repairs to the rotunda.

Marilee and I visited Frankfort in August of '99, to collect furniture and memorabilia which I had reserved on earlier visits. We left a hot Pontiac County, and drove into the face of a major heat wave as we ventured south. When we got to mid-Ohio, Marilee pointed out the road which went towards her brother Tom's place. We decided it was better karma all around, to deke off the Interstate and visit Tom and Bea, rather than baking our brains dry in the midday sun and 100+degree heat.

When we resumed our journey some hours later, it was going on dark, but not significantly cooler. Our usual trick of poking hands up through the sunroof brought in only hot wet air - it felt like bathwater. Our first two days in Frankfort, we could only sit in front of a fan - a trip to the refrigerator for another glass of ice tea was gruelling labour. Then it cooled off just a bit, and we got to work - sorting, sifting, choosing, packing from among the countless items gathered into one of modern civilisation's great collections of uncatalogued material superfluity.

Among the items which wanted for a good home was the piano which a young Artie Mitchell had won in a sort of local popularity contest. She later married William Blake, and they had five children, the second of which, the only girl, was Ilene Dorothy, later to become Mrs. Landon Wills, mother of the six Wills Boys.

Marilee playing some of the music Mama used to enjoy playing on the Ol' Upton Upright. I was really concerned over its fate, since nobody in the family seemed to have a place for it, and even neighbourhood churches and old folks homes, etc, didn't seem that interested in taking it. Then Cecil and Myrtle Webb said they'd like to have it, and that felt like the proper place for it to go. Cecil rented a piano dolly, and he and I and Kevin Blevins loaded it into my rented Ryder truck and delivered it across town, where it awaits visitation.

Alex had requested as souvenirs of Kentucky, a bottle of whiskey (which we found stashed in the photocopier cabinet) and a twist of chewing tobacco. We figured the Little Market would be the best place to start looking for the tobacco, but Jack said none of his customers would admit to using the stuff, and referred us to PicPac, which carried five brands.

This modern kitchen unit had been spotted by Marilee last summer when we were in Frankfort. It was way back in the basement, close to the laundry sinks, and covered with plant potting items and a box filled with THE oddest assortment of things. Anyway, we fished it out, loaded it up, and hauled it home, where we cleaned it up and installed it in our house. Some of the drawer boxes are made of old Mason Jar crates, and the big drawer's front is made of an old hat box. Back in May, Buster theorized that this might have come from the Kelley farm near Pleasureville. Aunt June said she didn't have any idea about its origin.

This is the way the addition room looked quite a while ago. It had not yet earned its apt moniker, the "Disaster Room".

May, '98 - the six of us around the table Mama bought for $10, and which was the major unifying factor of our childhood. It now resides in Montreal, with Richard.

This portrait of Daddy hung on the wall just to the right of the kitchen door. I don't recognize the artist's signature. The flash of intellectual awakening is actually caused by the flash on the camera - the camera which he left in the entry way, which has proven to be the most immediately useful of the items I've gotten from the household in the last year. The original now hangs at Cecil and Myrtle's house.

This relict of a former house has always intrigued me. The wide front steps and the narrow driveway just off the right of this picture both lead up to a surprisingly small-footprint foundation. The lot, on the corner of Capitol Ave. and ? St., calls out for a grand manse.

This one-eyed whatsit appears atop the rubble pile where Nick Petit has been slowly re-arranging the fallen stonework in Melodye Park. The glass eye is quite securely fastened into the rusted cast iron trouser snake, which is firmly embedded into the stoney concrete. Of such as this Arthurian legends are born!

For more pics from Frankfort and Melodye Park, see May '99 .