Shari Stiver Archives

October 28, 2013

“There’s a Train!”

Curator Jessica and I decided to take the old two-lane U.S. 50 from Athens west so she could see what it was like to make the drive in the old days. We saw lots of great old buildings that had been lovingly restored in a lot of towns a shadow of the size of Cape.

I thought I had to do a lot of U-turns when Friend Shari spotted antique shops. I think Jessica and I averaged about 12 miles per hour during the first 75 miles because of stops, meanders and backtracks. Actually, I like that kind of traveling.

World’s greatest cheesecakes

I especially liked it when she made me turn around to visit the Cheesecakes at Mystical Retreat (“Possibly the world’s greatest cheesecake” said the sign). Co-owner and “Maker, Baker and Taker” Rod Thompson gave us a choice of flavors to sample. I had the Coconut Cream Cheesecake. I thought the $5 per slice price was a bit high until I felt the heft of it and found I could hardly eat half a piece when I got to the motel.

If you go by 107 West Main Street on U.S. 50 in Bainbridge, OH, do a U-turn. It’s worth it.

“There’s a train!”

Despite our slow start, we made pretty good time to LaGrange, KY, just east of Louisville. I stayed there on my trip to Ohio last week. We elected to get something to eat and stop early where the rooms are cheaper than going on to Louisville.

She thought she saw a listing for something on Main Street that sounded good. It had changed hands and was closed, so I pulled sort of close to the curb while we both pecked away at keyboards for alternate eating establishments.

Suddenly, Jessica exclaimed, “There’s a train right there.”

Indeed, she was right. A freight train was passing uncomfortably close to my side of the car. Neither one of us had heard it sound a warning. I guess the engineer saw he had plenty of room (by his standards) and didn’t bother. While we were waiting, we saw the flashing lights of some emergency vehicles delayed by the train. I hope somebody’s house didn’t burn down because of the wait.

It made me think of a recent Facebook thread about the Missouri Pacific (previously Houck) railroad tracks that ran down Independence in the old days. It was quite a shock to new drivers to look up and see a train coming at them.

Fred Lynch had a photo of that in his blog last year.

October 16, 2013April 23, 2024

Ave Maria Grotto

Traveling up I-65 in northern Alabama, I must have seen the signs for Ave Maria Grotto at least two dozen times over the years. I’ve even stayed in Cullman, where it is located, at least four times. Every once in awhile, I’d consider checking it out, but the impulse flickered out before I ever acted on it.

When we were checking out of the motel in Cullmen, Friend Shari saw a brochure advertising the place. “Want to give it a look?” she asked.

Furrowing my brow and trying to figure out if she was kidding, I said, “I’m game. Are you kidding me?” (She knows the only time I’m in a church is if I’m photographing it.)

We qualified for the $5 senior citizen admission (and they didn’t even ask for proof of age). I have to admit that the first few objects didn’t impress me much. They were an amateurish collection of concrete, tile, marbles and other building materials thrown together pretending to be art.

Brother Joseph Zoettl

When we got into areas where Brother Joseph Zoettl started doing miniature buildings, I was more impressed. What interested me more was the story of the artist described on the Ave Maria Grotto website.

Brother Joseph was born in 1878. In 1891, he almost died of the flu that swept Europe. In 1892, he left for America where he served as a housekeeper for mission priests. After that, he went on to work 17-hour days in the St. Bernard Abbey powerhouse, seven days a week.

Made 5,000 small grottoes

In 1918, he started working with concrete and constructing little grottoes that could be sold in a gift shop. In 1932, after making 5,000 small grottoes to sell to support missions, he started on the project that you can see today. In 1934, the Ave Maria Grotto was dedicated, and he continued his work for another 40 years, using materials sent from all over the world. He built his last model, the Basilica in Lourdes, at the age of 80, in 1958. He died in 1961.

Ave Maria Grotto photo gallery

Here is a small sampling of Brother Joseph’s work. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the side of the photo to move through the gallery.

October 15, 2013

Like Pulling Teeth

Some nights coming up with a story idea is like pulling teeth. This is one of those nights.

By the time I dropped Friend Shari off at her mother’s house, it was close to 10 p.m. I didn’t have the energy to unpack anything except my laptop computer and a pair of clean underwear.

Here’s the best I can do tonight.

We were in Manianna, FL, up in the Panhandle when I needed to do a U-turn to go to a place with some killer peanut brittle. When my headlight hit this sign, I asked Ms. Shari, “Is that the most clever marketing tool ever or the most disgusting thing you’ve ever seen?”

I’ll let you vote while I go to bed. The alarm is OFF. Do not call me before noon. On Wednesday.

October 14, 2013

The Day Got Stranger

Shari got to meet Elvis. She was so taken by Mollywood Imports of Dothan that I thought she was going to rent a truck and leave me. The day was destined to get stranger.

Motel 6 did the right thing

I added an update to last night’s Motel 6 posting where I discovered at about 3 in the morning that my non-smoking room (with an ashtray) smelled so much like smoke that my head stopped up and my throat was scratchy.

When I checked out, I asked to speak to a manager. Yolanda said she could help me, so I described the problem to her. She asked if I’d like my money back.

“I’m not asking for my money back. The room was worth what you charged except for the smoke part. I just wanted to let you know why I won’t be back. As a separate matter, you should make a note for housekeeping that the tub doesn’t drain and that there are no non-slip treads on the bottom of the tub. I reached for a towel and nearly went down hard.”

“I think it’s a Motel 6 policy to put ashtrays in all the rooms, and none of our tubs have non-slip material in them,” she said. “I know you didn’t ASK for your money back, but would you take it if I refunded it?”

I figured I had done the honorable thing by refusing it once; I accepted the credit this time. I have to say that both Lynette and Yolanda did a great job of customer service.

Union Station in Montgomery

I’ve always wanted to see some of the Civil Rights memorials in Montgomery, so we got off I-65 and headed for the old Union Station where the visitor’s bureau lives. It was closed, so I took a few pictures of the building and this 1897 electric street trolley that was on exhibit.

1906 building

At the end of the block from Union Station stands a building dated 1906. I’ve always been a sucker for dates on buildings, so I took this as a record shot. As I was clicking through the slides, I did a double-take. What is the long, green object toward the right side of the photo? There’s a second one to the right of the photo (the black curly thing is a shadow of the “snake” above it).. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

What IS that? A snake?

I called Shari in her room. “In all your years of construction, did you ever hear of suspending a snake from a string on a building you were working on?”

Once I convinced her I wasn’t kidding her, she said she had heard of putting owls on a building to scare off birds, but the snake thing is a new one.

“When I told her about the second snake, she asked if they looked alike; that would mean they were fake.”

“I see them suspended from what appears to be a single point and they don’t form an arc like the St. Louis arch does,” I told her. “The snakes DO appear to have similar curves, but they’re facing different directions, so they are a little hard to compare.”

Have any of you folks heard of stringing up snakes (dead, alive, fake or real)?