Or maybe it was Henry? Or both? And all of their friends and relations?

What is a torii, you ask? Okay maybe you didn’t. It is a word that frequently flies in the spelling bee and people are always complaining that it’s obscure or whatever. It probably is to a lot of folks but it is a word I have known since before I can remember. It is a Japanese gate typically used at the entrances to Shinto shrines.

There is no Shinto shrine at the Soo Locks but there is a big torii, gifted by long ago governor Chase Osborn. He was born in Indiana but later settled in Sault Ste. Siberia. He died before I was born but his family and mine knew each other, not that they socialized or whatever, aka I am not name-dropping in any way shape or form. Some of his descendants own beach property over to the west of ours. He also gifted a set of elephant statues to adorn the steps of the city’s Carnegie Library. The library has moved and changed names but the building and the lions are still there.

Linky linky:

Soo Locks torii

Governor Osborn

Carnegie Public Library lions.

I have a closeup pic of a library lion somewhere in my archive but I can’t find it for now. Searching for “library” brings up pics of my mom sitting by the moomincabin living room bookcase and aisles of John King books in Detroit, etc. 🤣 Here’s to keeping your photographs organized and TAGGED (DEFINITELY NOT!).

After all that, even though torii is a familiar word to me, it often takes me forever to “see” it in the spelling bee 🐽

P.S. The “killer” word for today is an 8-letter ne word. Amazingly I got that one but am struggling to find a 5-letter ha word.

Cheers!

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