March 6, 2012

a little snow humor

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Yesterday evening, A.J. and I took a quick walk in our neighborhood after we got home from work. It wasn’t a long walk, mind you, as there was still snow on the ground, and it was COLD out. (By contrast, today it’s nearly 60 degrees, and yesterday’s snow is completely gone.)

In front of a house around the corner from our own, we ran across this snowlady, who has clearly decided that it’s time to shed her winter hat, scarf, and mittens, in favor of beach-wear. She says, “Spring Break, not snow days!”

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March 5, 2012

this weird weather we’re having

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP, miscellaneous, the Bluegrass | Tags: |
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First off, let me apologize for missing the last three days here on the blog. With severe thunderstorms and tornadoes bearing down on Lexington, we high-tailed it out of the office just after midday on Friday. Because we have no Internet connection at home, I usually prepare my weekend posts on Fridays, along with that day’s post. But when I left the office so abrubtly (after we’d turned off and unplugged all our computer equipment), I left the blog undone.

Thankfully, we here in Lexington didn’t have any significant damage from the massive storms (although we did spend a fair amount of time that afternoon and evening in our basements), but other parts of Kentucky and the region weren’t so fortunate. Just now, as I type this post, I’m hearing on the radio news that the tornado that ripped through (and, sadly, destroyed most of) West Liberty, Kentucky, was on the ground for sixty continuous miles!

After all that, the weekend was fairly calm, if a bit cooler than it had been on freaky-weather Friday.

But we woke up this morning to our first real snowfall of the season! Before coming in to work this morning, I drove through portions of the Kentucky Horse Park and took these photos:

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March 1, 2012

in Lexington, looking up and around

Posted by Jennifer under history, the Bluegrass, travel / destinations | Tags: |
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The day after we got home from our quick trip to Asheville, I had a day off from work (which, if you’re keeping track, is also why there was no blog post on Monday … sorry).

It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling inspired by our architectural tour of Asheville the day before, so I took a loooong walk around downtown Lexington that afternoon to get a few photos of our local architecture.

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this lovely old facade is one of three in a row that were renovated a decade or so ago, while the interiors were transformed into theater, art gallery, and restaurant space

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a pretty corner of a building on Short Street, which runs behind the old court house

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Lexington's opera house

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an old (and current) livery stable on the alley behind the opera house

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this office building, built in 1885, sits across the street from the old court house

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The photo above shows the carriage house at the Hunt-Morgan House. The front of the house (below) looks out over Gratz Park.

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on the other side of Gratz Park sit these two Federal-style houses

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on the two "short ends" of the rectangular Gratz Park are Transylvania University's administration building (known as "Old Morrison") and this building, Lexington's old Carnegie Library, which now houses the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning

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a pretty building on Main Street, with the old court house reflected in its windows

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February 29, 2012

running footmen

Posted by Jennifer under history, people | Tags: |
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You’re probably already well aware — from movies and costume dramas, if nothing else — of the role that footmen played in the lives of great houses. They typically stood at the back of coaches, always at the ready to open the doors and lower the steps for the vehicle’s occupants. And, among other tasks, they helped serve dinner in these house’s very elegant dining rooms. They were usually attractive young men in fancy livery, who acted as a sort of status symbol for the family.

But did you know (I certainly didn’t) that there were men who served as “running footmen” in the days before roads were improved enough to allow for faster, more reliable carriage traffic?

You can read more about these athletic men in a recent blog post at Two Nerdy History Girls.

 

February 28, 2012

stagecoaches and a pig

Posted by Jennifer under history, travel / destinations | Tags: |
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This past weekend, A.J. and I met my parents in Asheville, N.C., for a day and a half of good company & conversation, good food, and some exploring of that city’s beautiful downtown.

Early on Sunday morning, while walking to breakfast through the center of downtown, we came across this pig in Pack Square:

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The pig and the path she’s on, covered in a variety of footprints, commemorate the early roads and stagecoach routes that went right through the center of what is now downtown Asheville.

After a delicious breakfast in one of the city’s vast multitude of excellent restaurants, we wandered around downtown and enjoyed seeing the lovely old architecture …

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And to bring this post back around to horse-drawn vehicles and yet keep it in artsy Asheville, here’s a “gypsy wagon” that I spotted on the sidewalk outside a shop:

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