In my hometown park there is a carousel. It is a 3-Row Denzel Menagerie Carousel built around 1906-1910 at the Denzel Carousel Company in Philadelphia. It contains 46 hand-carved wooden animals including 25 horses, 4 cats, 4 ostriches, 4 rabbits, 4 pigs, 1 deer, 1 giraffe, 1 lion, 1 tiger and 2 chariots. The eyes are glass with pupils and the tails are horsehair. There are mirrors and scenery panels around the top. Old calliope music plays constantly as the rides go up and down and around and around. It is beautiful, unique and totally awesome to see. I spent many wonderful hours riding it as a child.
Several of my cousins and I rode it about ten years ago to see if it was still as wonderful as we remembered it. Although quite spectacular, it was a lot slower than we remembered. I guess becoming “grown up” takes some of the fun out of things we remember from childhood.
I really would like to take my two grandsons for a ride on it. There are only a few left in the world that are the original size and beauty of our carousel. I hope one day to be able to ride with them on it and see the wonder and joy that they will have from it.
I have only one problem with this idea………MS has taken my sense of balance away and, although quite tame compared to bronco riding, it might be more than I can handle. I can become dizzy and off-balance sitting in a chair, walking across the floor, and sometimes lying in bed. There is no warning before this happens, so no preparation can be made to stop it ahead of time.
I really do want to ride it again……..but it sure would be embarrassing if “grandma” fell off a rabbit in the middle of the ride!
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