The Seelbach Hotel - is a historic hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, founded by Bavarian-born immigrant brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach. It opened in 1905 as the Seelbach Hotel, envisioned by the Seelbach Brothers to embody the old-world grandeur of European hotels in cities such as Vienna and Paris. To do so in early 20th century Louisville, they employed a French Renaissance design in constructing the hotel. Louis was already a restaurant owner in Louisville when his brother Otto joined him from Germany around 1890, forming the Seelbach Hotel Co. The Company began construction on the hotel in 1903. The hotel was quickly regarded among the finest hotels in the United States and throughout its long history has been frequented by many notable Americans — for instance F. Scott Fitzgerald, who took inspiration from the Seelbach for a hotel in The Great Gatsby. Now known as the Seelbach Hilton, the hotel is part of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts chain.

Seelbach circa 1905

Undergoing restoration work 1979

YouTube

Seelbach Hotel - The Historic Hotel, Louisville Kentucky

Tsovkra-1 (Nestled in midst of the hills of the Greater Caucus Mountains, Russia, there is a tiny, secluded village named Tsovkra-1. The special thing about this village is that every physically able resident can walk a tightrope. In Tsovkra-1, the tradition of tightrope walking has been in existence for over 100 years. No one actually knows how it started. But according to a legend, the tightrope walking tradition evolved as a way to expedite romantic encounters. It states that a long time ago, the young men of this village grew bored of the long trekking required to court the women of neighboring mountainside villages. So, they strung a rope from one side of the valley to another. While most hauled themselves across, the daring ones began to walk the rope to show off. Soon, walking on the tightrope became a prized test of manhood. Over time, Tsovkra-1 produced 17 men and women who became famous for their tightrope-walking skill in circuses. The most glorious days were the decades following World War II. At that time, circuses were extremely popular, and they recruited the best performers from this village. Currently, the village is home to less than 400 people, all of whom possess this skill. Even children are taught tightrope walking in school. However, the tradition is in danger of disappearing since most young people of this village are fleeing due to the hard living conditions and poverty)

FYI: From my Around the World topic folder...........

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Off to work.......................

University - an institution of higher education, usually comprising a college of liberal arts and sciences and graduate and professional schools and having the authority to confer degrees in various fields of study. A university differs from a college in that it is usually larger, has a broader curriculum, and offers graduate and professional degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees. Although universities did not arise in the West until the Middle Ages in Europe, they existed in some parts of Asia and Africa in ancient times.

Vexillology (is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum (which refers to a kind of square flag which was carried by Roman cavalry) and the Greek suffix -logia ("study"). The first known usage of the word vexillology was in 1959. A person who studies flags is a vexillologist, one who designs flags is a vexillographer, and the art of designing flags is called vexillography. One who is a hobbyist or general admirer of flags is a vexillophile)

The flag of Minnesota is the state flag of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its design features a modified version of the seal of Minnesota emblazoned on a blue field. The first version of the flag was adopted in 1893, in advance of the state's mounting an exhibition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. It was significantly revised in 1957 and received a minor update in 1983. The design and use of Minnesota's flag is prescribed by Section 1.141 of the state statutes. The flag is rectangular and features a design emblazoned in the center of a field of medium blue. According to statute, the flag is bordered with gold and finished with gold fringe, but this is rarely used. The central design features three concentric circular fields. The innermost field is filled with a simplified version of the state seal. Around the seal is a ring of blue ornamented with a wreath of pink-and-white lady's-slipper and a red ribbon upon which are written the years 1819 and 1893. At the top of the blue ring the year 1859 is set in gold. Around the blue ring is a white ring upon which 19 stars form five radially arrayed groups. Each group contains four stars except for the top-center group which has two stars of the standard size and one star larger than the rest. Between the bottom two groups the name of the state is set in red. Both the blue ring and the white ring are bordered with gold. The Minnesota flag has been widely criticized for decades. Derision of its over complex design and relative illegibility has been common at least since the 1980s. In 2001, Minnesota's flag was chosen as one of the ten worst flag designs in an online poll conducted by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA). The survey consisted of 100 NAVA members and 300 members of the public. Minnesota received a score of 3.13 on a scale of 1 to 10, on par with other flags that consisted of the state seal on a blue background, which were ranked very unfavorably..........................

The Kentucky flag consists of the Commonwealth's seal on a navy blue field, surrounded by the words "Commonwealth of Kentucky" above and sprigs of goldenrod, the state flower, below. The seal depicts a pioneer and a statesman embracing. Popular belief claims that the buckskin-clad man on the left is Daniel Boone, who was largely responsible for the exploration of Kentucky, and the man in the suit on the right is Henry Clay, Kentucky's most famous statesman. However, the official explanation is that the men represent all frontiersmen and statesmen, rather than any specific persons. In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 Canadian provincial, U.S. state, and U.S. territorial flags; Kentucky's flag was ranked 66th..................

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Here's one more to go with your "Vexillology" post. It was what I immediately thought of when I saw what you posted.

YouTube

Sheldon Cooper presents Fun with Flags: Episode 1

Amy and I spent a good while producing this fun educational video. Then Leonard had to run in during the middle of the shoot and ruin it. Perhaps my next epi...

Winning Colors - was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and one of only three fillies to ever win the Kentucky Derby (1988). Though she was registered as roan, she was, in fact, a gray with a white blaze on her face. Winning Colors was bred by Echo Valley Farm near Georgetown, Kentucky owned by Donald & Shirley Sucher. The couple had previously bred the Hall of Fame filly, Chris Evert. During her racing career she was owned by Eugene V. Klein and trained by D. Wayne Lukas. 

In the spring of 1988, the large filly won the Santa Anita Derby, defeating colts her age by 7½ lengths. Sent to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, she was up against a stellar field of colts including Risen Star, Seeking the Gold, Forty Niner, Regal Classic, and co-favorite Private Terms. As was her habit, Winning Colors broke fast and raced to the lead. Although Forty Niner made a charge in the homestretch, she held him off to win by a neck. In the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, Winning Colors finished third to Risen Star, who then won the 1½ mile Belmont Stakes by fifteen lengths while Winning Colors finished out of the money. Winning Colors was voted the 1988 Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Filly. In 2000, Winning Colors was inducted into the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. As a broodmare, Winning Colors produced ten foals and six winners. Winning Colors was euthanized February 17, 2008, at the age of 23 as a result of complications from colic. She was in foal to Mr. Greeley. She is buried at Greentree Farm, a division of Gainesway Farm near Lexington, Kentucky.

YouTube

Kentucky Derby Flashback | Winning Colors 1988

Winning Colors becomes only the 3rd filly in 114 years to win the Kentucky Derby. Trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by Gary Stevens, Winning Colors gave t...

Cute video!!

Xbalanque and Hunahpu (also known as the Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial K'iche' document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. After being invited to Xibalba by One-Death and Seven-Death, the Lords of the Underworld, to a game of Pok Ta Pok, a Mayan Ballgame, Hun Hunahpu (lit. One-Hunahpu) and Vucub Hunahpu (lit. Seven-Hunahpu) were defeated and sacrificed. Hun-Hunahpu's head was put in a tree. When Blood Moon, the daughter of Blood Gatherer, one of the Lords of the Underworld, passes by the tree, he speaks to her and impregnates her with his spittle. Her father finds out that she is pregnant and convenes with One-Death and Seven-Death. They decide that if Blood Moon is not willing to tell them who the father is, she should be killed. Blood Moon truthfully answers that she has not slept with anyone, which is taken as a lie because she is visibly pregnant. Thus, they order their Owl Messengers to kill her and bring back her heart as proof. She tells the owls the truth and they agree to spare her. They create a faux heart out of red tree sap which they bring back to the Lords of the Underworld. The owls then show her the way to the world above. Here she goes to the house of Xpiyacoc, the mother of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, who lives with One-Monkey and One-Artisan, the first born children of Hun Hunahpu which he conceived with Egret Woman. Blood Moon tells Xpiyacoc she is pregnant with her grandchildren. Xpiyacoc at first does not believe her and orders her - as a trial - to pick a big netful of corn ears from the garden of One-Monkey and One-Artisan. When Blood Moon arrives in the garden, however, there is only one maize plant. She calls upon the Guardians of Food and the corn plant magically produces enough ears to fill the net. Xpiyacoc now recognizes that Blood Moon is telling the truth. She later gives birth to the children, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The sons—or 'Twins'—grow up to avenge their father, and after many trials, finally defeated the lords of the Underworld in a ballgame. The Popol Vuh features other episodes involving the Twins as well (see below), including the destruction of a pretentious bird demon, Vucub Caquix, and of his two demonic sons. The Twins also turned their half-brothers into the howler monkey gods, who were the patrons of artists and scribes. The Twins were finally transformed into sun and moon, signaling the beginning of a new age.[3] The Q'eqchi' myth of Sun and Moon, where he is hunting for deer (a metaphor for making captives), and capturing the daughter of the Earth Deity. In these cases, Hunahpu has no role to play)

Calling it a night………..

24 hours.....................

Yuki-onna (is a spirit or yokai in Japanese folklore that is often depicted in Japanese literature, films, or animation. She may also go by such names as yuki-musume ("snow daughter"), yuki-onago ("snow girl"), yukijoro (???, "snow woman"), yuki anesa ("snow sis"), yuki-onba ("snow granny" or "snow nanny"), yukinba ("snow hag") in Ehime, yukifuri-baba ("snowfall witch" or "snowfall hag") in Nagano. They are also called several names that are related to icicles, such as tsurara-onna, kanekori-musume, and shigama-nyobo. Yuki-onna appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and blue lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin makes her blend into the snowy landscape (as famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She often wears a white kimono, but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened)

Yuki-onna (???) from the Hyakkai-Zukan by Sawaki Suushi from the 1700s.....................

Off to work........................

Zinnia - is a perennial plant belonging to the family Asteraceae. The flower is a great attractor of pollinators like butterflies and birds, and it's usually cultivated in butterfly gardens. The flowers come in various colors, hues, shapes, and sizes. The Zinnia is a low-maintenance plant that blooms typically around autumn and spring. The flower requires full sun and thrives on moist, fertile, and well-drained soil, with a pH level between 5.5 and 7.5. They are native to scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the Southwestern United States to South America, with a center of diversity in Mexico. Members of the genus are notable for their solitary long-stemmed 12 petal flowers that come in a variety of bright colors. The genus name honors German master botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727–59).

Round 9..............................

American Gothic (is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood was inspired to paint what is now known as the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, along with "the kind of people [he] fancied should live in that house". It depicts a farmer standing beside his daughter – often mistakenly assumed to be his wife. The painting's name is a word play on the house's architectural style, Carpenter Gothic. The figures were modeled by Wood's sister Nan Wood Graham and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 20th-century rural Americana while the man is adorned in overalls covered by a suit jacket and carries a pitchfork. The plants on the porch of the house are mother-in-law's tongue and beefsteak begonia, which also appear in Wood's 1929 portrait of his mother, Woman with Plants. American Gothic is one of the most familiar images of 20th-century American art and has been widely parodied in American popular culture. From 2016 to 2017, the painting was displayed in Paris at the Musée de l'Orangerie and in London at the Royal Academy of Arts in its first showings outside the United States)

Nan Wood Graham (the artist's sister) and Dr. Byron McKeeby (the Woods' family dentist) in the Gallery at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, September 1942................................

also, a TV show that featured former Hardy Boy Shaun Cassidy (my sister was named after him, Mom was a fan) and it lasted one season.........

Calling it a night.....................