Creepy Castle

As some of you may have noticed, I've pulled a complete disappearing act for nearly the past two weeks. I'm still just trying to get a handle on my various work/freelance commitments and needed a break. But I've decided it's a good thing because maybe it will make my legions of fans realize how wonderful and precious A Right Gapesnest is to them. So I've decided to consider it a savvy marketing ploy, to leave you wanting more, rather than a lapsed commitment. In the future, I'll try not to leave you hanging for quite so long, but I'm not 100% committed to 5 squares a week either, if you know what I mean. Thanks for checking back after the hiatus!

So my parents came to visit this weekend, which is always fun. As anyone who has traveled with me will tell you, I like to plan trips. But when you're living somewhere, it's easy to fall into routines. So I love it when people come and visit and I get to plan fun activities that I probably wouldn't do otherwise.

This weekend, we were hoping to go to the Springrove Cemetery and look around, but it was cold and snow-rainy, so we went to the Loveland Castle instead.

I didn't know what to expect. I'd just heard that there was a castle built in Loveland (which is pretty far afield), and I was curious. And my mom loves old things, so it should be great!

Umm, yeah. It was creepy. And not creepy in a "this centuries' old castle has seen bloodshed and plottings and probably has ghosts" cool, historical kind of way. That I would enjoy. It was creepy because it felt like one misanthropic man's attempt to close out the world around him and return to a glorified age. "Sir" Harry Andrews started a group called the Knights of the Golden Trail, who still maintain the castle today. As far as I could tell, they tried to live their lives according to the 10 commandments and chivalric code. An important part of chivalric code being, of course, that woman are on a pedestal and can't do anything for themselves, so obviously no women were allowed to join the group.

He made this group and built his castle on the Little Miami river, carrying stones up from the river bed and cementing them together with homemade mortar. My mom compared it to the Winchester House, which I thought was an apt comparison. Both very amazing and pathetic edifices that had owners completely out of touch with the real world.

I'm glad we got to see it, but Loveland Castle was not what I was expecting. It made me long for the real castles of Scotland and England that I've seen. Ones that served a purpose other than protection from everyday modern life.