Road Trip

Early tomorrow morning my sister and I will head over to Cincinnati for Uncle Mick's funeral. I got the car all cleaned and gassed up today so we can hit the road as soon as she gets to my house. The wake is from 4-6 p.m. tomorrow, and with the hour time change we need to roll early. I have built in extra time due to Kathy's broken shoulder. Because it still pains her quite a bit, I want to be able to stop frequently for her to get out and move around if need be. I also want to check into our hotel first if we have time. I have learned the hard way that even with a guaranteed room you will get the crappy location if you check in late.

The funeral itself is Saturday morning at the Old St. Mary's Church. As mentioned in my last post, Uncle Mick was a long-time volunteer there. I expect that the church will be full between our large family, the Cincinnati Museum folks and the parishioners of St. Mary's. I always think at these things how much the deceased person would have enjoyed having everyone together.

We will come home on Sunday. Normally we spend an extra day in Cincinnati, but since we will see everyone we want to see on Friday or Saturday, there doesn't seem to be much point in hanging around. Especially since we are paying for a hotel this trip. Now I will just pray for good weather so that no one has to worry about traveling.

And Then There Were Two

Today my uncle Mick died. He was the youngest of eight children in my mom's family. His twin brother Jim died in 2008. Now only Betty and Margie remain. We have not yet heard how Mick died, only that his son and daughter-in-law found him in his screened-in porch. It was cold in Cincinnati today, so it is strange that he was even out there. Mick was a very young nearly 82 year-old. He was active as a docent with the historical museum downtown, conducted tours of Cincinnati, and was instrumental (pardon the pun) in the restoration of the organ at historic (1842) Old St. Mary's Church. He also liked to travel, and was scheduled to go to Cancun next week with another widowed friend.

It is ironic because I have been scanning old photos and documents and putting them into my online family tree. But I have also been posting pictures up on Facebook for my family to enjoy. Last night I added photos from the 2008 and 2011 family reunions. Uncle Jim is in a couple of the ones from 2008, and Uncle Mick in some from 2011. One of my cousins commented that there were only the three siblings left. Now there are only two.

I don't know if I will be able to attend the funeral. We don't know the arrangements yet. But I know that Kathy cannot go with me due to her shoulder injury. She simply cannot ride in a car that long. Or miss physical therapy for that matter. I'll have to decide if I want to make the six hour drive by myself. But I would like the opportunity to see my aunts and my cousins. Because it is all too sad that it seems to take a funeral to get us all together. Even the family reunions don't see to do it anymore. RIP, Uncle Mick!

Aunt Betty, Uncle Mick & Aunt Margie

The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition

Sunday afternoon we headed downtown to the Da Vinci exhibit. The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition, on loan from the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, Italy, contains over sixty hand-crafted inventions built from Leonardo's 500 year old designs and is the life work of three generations of Florentine artisans, who have painstakingly brought to life the creations and concepts devised by the brilliant scientist, inventor and artist Leonardo Da Vinci. The exhibit has been extended to February 28th, which was helpful since I purchased two tickets through groupon last fall and we had not used them yet.

I will confess that I had only thought of Leonardo Da Vinci as a great painter. I had no idea that he had come up with thousands of inventions in his lifetime. It is hard to conceive that many of his ideas are utilized in things we take for granted today. The exhibit is very well done, and we were lucky to be there around the time that a guided tour was being offered. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and so enthusiastic about the exhibit. I later found out that he is the brother of one of my friends in the St. Louis Publishers Association. Small world! At any rate, I highly recommend seeing the exhibit.