Hi. I’m Hannah.
It has been cold for days and the Mother of Cats has been knitting and knitting on her new sweater called the Winter Albina. I’ve been helping her tremendously with only a little yarn whapping. The CoalBear likes to chase the needles which drives the Mother of Cats a little crazy, but I’ve been a really good girl except maybe when the Mother of Cats gives me a little catnip… anyway, the sweater is starting to look pretty good! Look at how much progress she has made.
I have to tell you that I prefer books with lots of action like… birds, bunnies, mice, TUNA!! and lots of cat chases, but I guess this book was okay. It tells the story of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893: there sure was a lot of stuff going on like… creating this huge city for the exposition with all the buildings painted white, and a man who is even more crazy than the CoalBear who shoots the Mayor of Chicago, and a man named Ferris who dreamt of a huge wheel in the sky, and another man who took advantage of all the new people in the city to build a hotel where he kills lots of young women…
So, I guess that was the week. We knitted, we dreamed of life in Chicago, long ago, and Mateo ran around in the snow hoping to see some bunny tracks. A good week, all in all.
This is Hannah, signing off.
>^..^<
Notes from the Mother of Cats: The Devil in the White City was a book that caused lots of reflection and led to more than one “aha!” moment. Here’s some of the takeaways from the book:
- The buildings of the World’s Fair were of neoclassical design and the many architects involved in the construction agreed to uniform standards/guidelines that created a well-planned “city” that was augmented by deliberate landscape design. The effect was astounding for the time.
- I kept thinking about the pictures of the “White City” and how they were familiar. I started thinking… they just copied the layout of Washington D.C., and even the downtown Civic Center of Denver looks like this… Buildings like that in a formal layout are really impressive… I remember how awestruck I was sitting on the Lincoln Memorial’s steps in Washington, looking down the long stretch of the reflecting pool towards the Wahington Monument one hot summer, or how impressive the structures of Denver’s civic center are when I walked among them with my children… I had it wrong. The World’s Fair (AKA the World’s Columbian Exposition) was the original.
- The Lincoln Memorial was built after the World’s Columbian Exposition, and its neoclassical design was influenced by that World’s Fair.
- Denver’s Civic Center was influenced by exhibits at the World’s fair, and it was later designed by planners who were directly connected to the architects who built the fair.
- At one point in the book as the layout was being described, I thought to myself… “Oh. This is like Disneyland!” You guessed it, Walt Disney’s father was one of the builders of the World’s Fair.
- The Chicago World’s Fair’s answer to the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris was the Ferris Wheel. Who knew?
- The Ferris Wheel was located on the Midway, the strip of engaging attractions located along the route to the fair. Among those attractions was Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a huge hit. To this day, all children in America know that the exciting rides are to be found on the Midway of every fair…
- Buffalo Bill‘s real name was William Cody. He is today buried on Lookout Mountain, looking over Denver and the plains beyond. Forever a showman, you can still buy tickets to visit his grave.
- William Cody founded the city of Cody, Wyoming. Part of my family now lives there.
The Chicago World’s Fair was quite the event: planned and built over a few years, open for only a few months in 1893; the influence goes on. I really enjoyed the book, and I’m ready to launch into another book by the same author, Thunderstruck.
Yarn, Books & Roses 