My thoughts on Saturday's stuff: 1) Cool! A ghost town park! That's swell that they're preserving it. But I do see what you mean about it being a bit "fake" for tourists.... Still, it was in great shape. 2) That lineoleum (I'm too lazy to look up the spelling right now) looked like it should've been in that hotel in Thompson. Those people must've had the same decorator. 3) That bird you photographed looked majorly pissed off at the paparazzi. That was one grumpy bird, dude. 4) The shoe tree.... I like it. In Scotland they have a few places with Clootie Trees in them. (I've never seen one, but I've read of a few.) A clootie tree is a bit of paganism that has survived well for centuries. Usually the tree is by a well or spring. The idea is that you tie a strip of cloth and make a wish/prayer to the goddess of the well/spring. As the cloth rots away, the wish is supposed to come true. (Modern note: do not use polyester, as it will not decay for 3000 years and you will no longer care about the wish.) I've seen pics of the trees and they look a bit eerie, but I've always wanted to find one and tie on a cloth. Perhaps what you found was a "Shoe Clootie Tree" and you should've made a wish and left some shoes....
The shoe tree certainly resembled the cloth covered clootie trees, but it seems weird that there would be enough people in Nevada who know about clootie trees to makeup that big a collection of shoes. I-50 hasn't been a major traveling artery for a long time, and a lot of those shoes were newer, definitely after they build I-80 which would have taken all the traffic. But, at least it's a theory as to how the tree started. I can imagine people adding to it for the novelty of it, not having any idea the reson behind it. One thing I do know for sure - if I ever have a need to drive to California or Reno, I'm going to take I-50 instead of I-80, because it's less traveled I think it will be at least as fast (no idiots on I-50) and a lot more enjoyable to drive. So, i I do, I'm bringing a spare pair of shoes and making a wish.....
Uh, Max, I wasn't being serious about the shoe tree. (Sarcasm just doesn't work when typed, does it?) But I got off on the clootie tree, so I decided you needed some links (or URLs, anyway). And "shoe clootie tree" sounds cool. But, hey, take shoes and make a wish. Why not? If I ever find a real clootie tree in my travels hither and yon in Scotland, I intend to make a wish.
But seriously, it's entirely possible that the shoe tree was started by someone with knowledge about the clootie tree. I was just taking your sarcasim and hypothesizing. As for me bringing shoes the next time I'm out that way, why not? As my grandma Ida used to say "It couldn't hoit?"
Okay. It does LOOK like a clootie tree. Dang. Now I really wanna find me a clootie tree. Maybe I need to make a weekend jaunt to Ayrshire while I'm across the pond.
Yeah, it's not a bonified 100% real clootie tree, but it certainly could have it's (pardon the pun) roots in the clootie tree. Which, kind of lends a mystic, yet not creepy, legend to the beginning of the shoe tree out in the middle of nowhere Nevada.
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My thoughts on Saturday's stuff:
1) Cool! A ghost town park! That's swell that they're preserving it. But I do see what you mean about it being a bit "fake" for tourists.... Still, it was in great shape.
2) That lineoleum (I'm too lazy to look up the spelling right now) looked like it should've been in that hotel in Thompson. Those people must've had the same decorator.
3) That bird you photographed looked majorly pissed off at the paparazzi. That was one grumpy bird, dude.
4) The shoe tree.... I like it.
In Scotland they have a few places with Clootie Trees in them. (I've never seen one, but I've read of a few.) A clootie tree is a bit of paganism that has survived well for centuries. Usually the tree is by a well or spring. The idea is that you tie a strip of cloth and make a wish/prayer to the goddess of the well/spring. As the cloth rots away, the wish is supposed to come true. (Modern note: do not use polyester, as it will not decay for 3000 years and you will no longer care about the wish.) I've seen pics of the trees and they look a bit eerie, but I've always wanted to find one and tie on a cloth.
Perhaps what you found was a "Shoe Clootie Tree" and you should've made a wish and left some shoes....
Clootie Tree references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clootie_well
and pics:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geu8aLcV5InYwA6btXNyoA?ei=UTF-8&p=clootie+tree&fr2=tab-web&fr=yfp-t-501
Sorry I can't link.
The shoe tree certainly resembled the cloth covered clootie trees, but it seems weird that there would be enough people in Nevada who know about clootie trees to makeup that big a collection of shoes. I-50 hasn't been a major traveling artery for a long time, and a lot of those shoes were newer, definitely after they build I-80 which would have taken all the traffic. But, at least it's a theory as to how the tree started. I can imagine people adding to it for the novelty of it, not having any idea the reson behind it. One thing I do know for sure - if I ever have a need to drive to California or Reno, I'm going to take I-50 instead of I-80, because it's less traveled I think it will be at least as fast (no idiots on I-50) and a lot more enjoyable to drive. So, i I do, I'm bringing a spare pair of shoes and making a wish.....
Uh, Max, I wasn't being serious about the shoe tree. (Sarcasm just doesn't work when typed, does it?) But I got off on the clootie tree, so I decided you needed some links (or URLs, anyway). And "shoe clootie tree" sounds cool.
But, hey, take shoes and make a wish. Why not?
If I ever find a real clootie tree in my travels hither and yon in Scotland, I intend to make a wish.
But seriously, it's entirely possible that the shoe tree was started by someone with knowledge about the clootie tree. I was just taking your sarcasim and hypothesizing. As for me bringing shoes the next time I'm out that way, why not? As my grandma Ida used to say "It couldn't hoit?"
Okay.
It does LOOK like a clootie tree.
Dang. Now I really wanna find me a clootie tree. Maybe I need to make a weekend jaunt to Ayrshire while I'm across the pond.
Yeah, it's not a bonified 100% real clootie tree, but it certainly could have it's (pardon the pun) roots in the clootie tree. Which, kind of lends a mystic, yet not creepy, legend to the beginning of the shoe tree out in the middle of nowhere Nevada.
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