Columns

Will there be fences in heaven?

That’s another way of asking, will your bothersome neighbor’s heavenly mansion be next to yours?

Before you petition heaven’s city council for a privacy fence or request that your bad neighbor be confined to the eternal promised land’s back forty, make sure you yourself aren’t unwittingly the neighbor from hell who somehow slipped under the pearly gates unnoticed while St. Peter was distracted by a game of heavenly baseball.

More than 324 years after architect Sir Christopher Wren constructed fake pillars at Windsor Town Hall near London to satisfy building inspectors, tourists remain fascinated with the good-for-nothing posts.

The story goes that in 1689, local inspectors warned that the town hall would crumble without additional support. Rather than fight City Hall, Wren, England’s greatest architect – who disagreed with the inspectors – fooled them by building four pillars that offered the illusion of more support but which did not even reach the ceiling.

It begins with Thunder Over Louisville and the events keep on coming, right up to the first Saturday each May.

The mini-marathon, the Great Balloon Race and Fest-a-Ville on the Waterfront all have developed followings of their own. Smaller crowds participate in everything from volleyball games to a poker tournament as the Kentucky Derby Festival’s excitement begins.

When Derby Week eventually arrives the Great Steamboat Race occurs on Wednesday afternoon and the Pegasus Parade on Thursday.

Three years ago, I was at an airport waiting for a flight home on a beautiful November day.

Minding my own business concentrating on the book I was reading, suddenly out of the corner of my eye, lights flashed. I looked over to see a smiling seemingly healthy little girl, the flashing lights were the lights on her wheelchair.