(no subject)
Last (some day, all the days are blending together because I was on vacation), I took Lu to this carousel museum, which, confusingly to me, is the Herschell Carrousel Museum, spelled with two "r"s because that was the company's actual name, but then in all their materials, they use carousel with one "r" when talking about the thing that is a carousel. Which is more in keeping with modern usage, but I think if ANYONE is going to continue to use the two "r" carrousel, they are a good candidate for it.
Where was I going with this? Why do all my LJ entries start this way? Oh. Okay, POINT THE FIRST is that I posted a picture of their working historic carrousel/carousel on instagram, and it was built in 1916, so I tagged it 1916. And I was going to share that year tags are often really interesting browses. I only ever remember to look if I post something Olde Timey and tag it, but it's always random and fun to see what other people used the tag for. And sometimes the year ends up being a number of some other significance and I entertain myself by trying to figure out the pattern.
POINT THE SECOND is that this company also made steam organs, the ones that use the giant paper rolls, and that part was unexpectedly fascinating. My grandmother had a player piano (after years of disuse, it hardly worked, but the upside was that no one cared that we liked to open it up and poke around in it) and the rolls were so mysterious and smelled strongly of old paper. I don't think I ever realized that the ones for commercial use were ENORMOUS. Like the bagpipes, steam organ music annoys a lot of people but I find it oddly soothing (it's probably how a clown will lull me into a stupor right before the murder).
I thought she would love the carrousels/carosels, which I guess she liked them well enough, but what she REALLY liked was a replica of one of those carnival games, the kind that has wooden figures on hinges, and you throw a baseball to try to knock them down. This was a kid version, so the hinges were pretty loose and it was bean bags instead of baseballs. But man, she would have done that for hours.
Where was I going with this? Why do all my LJ entries start this way? Oh. Okay, POINT THE FIRST is that I posted a picture of their working historic carrousel/carousel on instagram, and it was built in 1916, so I tagged it 1916. And I was going to share that year tags are often really interesting browses. I only ever remember to look if I post something Olde Timey and tag it, but it's always random and fun to see what other people used the tag for. And sometimes the year ends up being a number of some other significance and I entertain myself by trying to figure out the pattern.
POINT THE SECOND is that this company also made steam organs, the ones that use the giant paper rolls, and that part was unexpectedly fascinating. My grandmother had a player piano (after years of disuse, it hardly worked, but the upside was that no one cared that we liked to open it up and poke around in it) and the rolls were so mysterious and smelled strongly of old paper. I don't think I ever realized that the ones for commercial use were ENORMOUS. Like the bagpipes, steam organ music annoys a lot of people but I find it oddly soothing (it's probably how a clown will lull me into a stupor right before the murder).
I thought she would love the carrousels/carosels, which I guess she liked them well enough, but what she REALLY liked was a replica of one of those carnival games, the kind that has wooden figures on hinges, and you throw a baseball to try to knock them down. This was a kid version, so the hinges were pretty loose and it was bean bags instead of baseballs. But man, she would have done that for hours.