myohmyohio

2011-03-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in over a year.
Time to get it in gear.
Spring is here!

2010-02-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

Wake me up when it's over

Filthy, sodden snow
Sky of lead above my head
My heart longs for SPRING

2009-08-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Emily asked if I wanted to go skydiving...

I said YES!

It was a tandem jump, and my instructor/partner was David.

Had to back into position in the plane...

The fella with the dreads was the pro/partner of one of Emily's friends.

This was the door:

Showtime!

Anticipation... watching two other teams go first...

Here we go!

When we exited the plane, there was a brief moment of realization that there was no undoing it...

...then the awe set in!

Now we're falling at about 120 mph.

It was spectacular!

We spun around a bit...

Here we're still falling with nothing but a teeny white parachutelette to provide a little drag...

Then we fell through a cloud...

At this point the camera man kept going and David popped the chute just as we came out of the cloud...

It was a soft landing, right on the butt.

It was exhilarating!

2009-08-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

BUG

2009-08-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

Concoction of the day:

1. Prepare 1 box Near East Whole Grain Wheat Couscous using 1 1/2 c V-8 juice seasoned with 1 t ground cumin, 1/2 t Ancho chili powder, a pinch or two of salt and 1 1/2 T olive oil.

2. Heat one can black beans (I used Kuner's Southwestern Jalapeno Black Beans with Lime Juice).

3. Procure some salsa--I used Sweg's Medium Restaurant Style Salsa, sour cream and shredded cheese (if desired).

4. Cut 3 leaves of Romaine lettuce into strips (a large chiffonade) and dice half a ripe avocado.

5. Assemble in pasta bowl or on large plate in the following order: Bed of Romaine, 1/2 cup or so seasoned couscous, 1/2 c or so beans, avocado, salsa, sour cream and shredded cheese. Dee-lish.

2009-04-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

It was a glorious day!

Took Buster for a well-deserved walk, his first in 3 days. We were barely out of the yard when we encountered Jenny the Pug and her two human companions. Jenny's people were happy to allow Jenny the opportunity to interact with Buster, as she doesn't get a lot of canine interaction and seems to be about as well-behaved as Buster. After a few minutes they were sniffing in proper friendly dog fashion.

We passed the yard with all the flowers in bloom.

We stopped to visit with Tyler, another canine friend, but his person wasn't home so there was no frolicking in the schoolyard.

Later, back at the homestead, Robert and I brewed some beer. We took turns stirring the wort.

It made the whole house smell like malt and hops. Mmmmmmm...

2009-03-06T05:24:00.000-08:00

41 degrees! Thursday, March 5 2009

Took my best boy for our regular neighborhood walk and saw the following:

LOOK! I had been keeping an eye out for just this kind of sign!

More!

There is a little old lady in the neighborhood whose front lawn is my harbinger of SPRING. she told me that she and her husband went to Lowe's years ago, bought a whole cartload of daffodil bulbs, and planted them in their front yard. They have since added others--crocus, hyacinth, tulips...

It won't be long until the whole lawn is abloom! Today it's even warmer. I imagine the sounds of the emerging flowers, pushing their way towards the light! Buster just wants to sniff things, and they're more fragrant when they're not frozen.

This made me think of my father:

This is a food item that was always found in my stepmother's pantry, but never in my mother's.

This partial corncob looks autumny, leftover:

Howl away, March wind!
Blow out winter's stale remnants-
New life emerges!

2009-02-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

Midwinter Spring-tease-
ice recedes from the sidewalks,
whispers "I'll be back..."

2009-02-01T05:52:00.000-08:00

Inhospitable-
Frozen outside world repels
We remain inside.

My dog needs a walk-
Pent-up energy wants out
He may soon explode.

Sun's warmth through a lens-
We bake beneath the window
Winter stays outside.

2009-01-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Negative Eight degrees Fahrenheit.

Yesterday Buster refused to frolic outside. He did his business as instructed, then insisted that I pick him up and take him back inside the house IMMEDIATELY. He would not budge. The little dog knows his limits.

I read this morning that a boy in Indiana actually got his tongue stuck to a flagpole. By the time help arrived, he had gotten it un-stuck, but an ambulance worker had to tell his mother how to care for his wounded tongue.

Buster is pretty smart.

2009-01-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Having recently joined the FACEBOOK community, I am unsure of how to feel about it. One friend's perspective on FB is that people who live on the coasts (and I think she meant to say in cities, as well, but that's my assumption) are more accustomed to letting it all hang out and tend to worry less about the loss of privacy associated with social networking. My brother wouldn't touch FB with a virtual ten foot pole, for fear of possible professional ramifications. I was oddly delighted to find this
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2009/01/09/facebook-the-ultimate-nostalgia-killer/
on Andrew Sullivan's blog, having recently confessed to my coastal friend that having "friends" from several distinct lifetimes all jumbled up together evokes feelings I haven't been able to nail down with words I use regularly. There hasn't been anything so effective as a reminder of just where one stands in the social pecking order since picking teams on the playground.

I'm still not sure how I am supposed to use FACEBOOK. Once in a while, while snooping around looking for some long lost acquaintance, I happen upon someone who "has no friends". I have to wonder if that's really the truth. Is that person is new to facebook, or has he done what I have considered in moments of FB discomfort, which is to delete all "friends" in an attempt to eliminate the feelings of social retardation that this new form of interaction evokes. Often I find that I'm not as interested in being "friends" with people as I am in simply knowing that they are alive and well after all this time. Is there something wrong with finding my new step-children and in-laws in the friend pile with people I partied with decades ago, or is it just me? What do I really have to say to someone I dated 25 years ago? Or to an acquaintance I haven't kept up with? It depends...

2009-01-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

MmmmmOnion Soup:

3 lg yellow onions, julienned

1 lg red onion, julienned

2 lg shallots, julienned

1 bunch leeks, white part only, sliced and cleaned

2 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil sufficient for caramelizing onions

6 oz Chardonnay

4 c good quality store bought beef stock

4 c chicken stock

fresh thyme--a couple of tablespoons, chopped

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

croutons

Comte

In a heavy pot, heat olive oil (start with about 1/4 cup, you may need to add more) over medium-high heat. Add onions, leeks, and shallots and allow to caramelize, stirring to prevent burning. This will take some time, and more olive oil may be needed as the onions absorb it.) When caramelization is near done, add garlic and cook enough to soften. Add the thyme and stir around for a minute or two. Pour in the wine, scrape any naughty bits off the bottom of the pan, and allow this mixture to bubble for a couple of minutes. Add the stock. Bring to a boil just long enough to skim off any "scum" that may rise to the surface. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes or so. Season to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls, top with croutons and then cheese, broil until cheese is bubbly, enjoy!

2008-12-31T18:08:00.000-08:00

Saying GOODBYE to 2008

Just piddling around this morning, sipping my coffee and surfin' the internet(s), I heard strange sounds outside. It sounded kind of like heavy rain, only...

It was the sound of thousands of BIRDS! I opened the shades and Wally the cat sat, transfixed, looking out at them as they landed and took off, moving from the trees to the roof to the yard.

It was like a moving blanket of birds in the yard, then suddenly they were aloft again!

I yelled at Robert to look out the window upstairs. He told me they were all over the roof of our house, too. They were thick in the trees and thick on the power lines. There was something almost magical about their movement.

It made me happy.

2008-12-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

While we were scouting locations within the Dayton Art Institute for our wedding, I noticed that Robert had a visceral reaction to a specific work in the modern American collection. He insisted that it was time to go as he turned abruptly away from this piece. I asked him later what caused his reaction to the work he referred to as the "creepy hair people", and he said, "they aren't right. There's something wrong with that. It's like a nightmare."

The piece is called "Lost and Found", was created by Alison Saar in 2003, and is composed of wood, tin and wire.

Two figures sit opposite each other in red-lacquered chairs, connected to each other by a massive tangle of heavy wire hair. One seat back is labeled LOST and the other FOUND. The figures themselves are sheathed in embossed tin, a riveted patchwork of old ceiling tiles or other scrap metal.

The effect of the textured tin brings to mind scarrification, tattoos, an external representation of personal history, and the layers (like an onion) of experience that combine to make an individual.
The figures both have clenched fists, but the features of the hands and feet are not clearly articulated, as if the figures are encased in this riveted shell. The clenched fists suggest emotional intensity, while the curled-up posture suggests that this emotional energy is being contained...

The hair, then, might represent energy, or the passage of time between a "lost" and a "found" period in an individual's life, or accumulated self-knowledge, or the education that just living provides. I really don't know.

I am profoundly interested in the particular quality of a work of art to both repel and attract. I am not sure the artist's intention needs to be known in order for the viewer to receive a powerful message. Robert's reaction is proof of this and also proof that the receipt of a powerful message and appreciation are not the same thing.

2008-12-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day 2008

My new family, ready to eat Christmas dinner.

Buster.

It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Sarah.

Emily and Buster.

Wally.

2008-11-24T04:07:00.000-08:00

I wore red to my weddng. More pictures to come...

2008-06-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

A post every six months isn't really what I had in mind when I started this thing.

I am percolating.

2008-01-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

GAD it's 2008.

I have been asleep for a long time.

Got a new camera for Christmas. It's a Pentax K10-D, and it is considerably more complex than my last camera. There are roughly two pounds of manuals to read in order to gain an understanding of the many tricks I might do with the K10-D. Fortunately, there's a setting for the uninitiated which allows one to take pictures without reading the manuals.

This was Christmas Day 2007 in Franklin, Ohio. It was gorgeous.

Buster was gorgeous, too.

2007-05-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

I got to visit a beautiful place with some of my favorite people last weekend. (Look closely to see me in lush, crazybeautiful setting.) Just being here really helps to erase some of the strip-mall, Wal-Mart, fast food, consumerama that is a daily distraction from what is important.

Still, quiet, picturesque... solitude

The property had been a resort in the early part of the twentieth century. People came from all around to take the waters...

You can see the rust that has accumulated in the leaves from the water leaving the spring. Visitors carved their initials in this stone :

A friend and her son, who shared the weekend there:

The "male energy" component of the weekend:

My Godson, who must be some kind of hippie?

My mother. She doesn't know how cool she is.

My best friend, who can almost hide her whole head behind that coffee mug:

Boys again (The two brothers were remarkably considerate and thoughtful for modern children, in my opinion.)

Happiness

I so enjoyed watching Henry play in the mud and examine his shadow:

I had the time to see all sorts of little creatures and other things that are too small to notice in my day-to-day life:

This guy was particularly fierce looking:

If you click on this one, you can see a teenytiny frog:

When I saw this guy I told mother to just keep walking. She has a "thing" about snakes.

I tried to take the boys back to see this guy, but he was gone when we returned to the scene:

It was marvelous!

2007-03-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Buster's Birthday! He is one year old! His birthday extravaganza began with a stroll through the neighborhood, past the house with the daffodils in the yard.

He enjoyed a little sniff...

Then it was on to PETSMART, where he visited the spa for a pedicure. He was quite squirmy.

He was so good that he got birthday treats, too!

When we got home, I made him a special dinner (taking a cue from Joe Stains' mom, who makes beautiful food for Joe and Tanner). He decided he doesn't like broccoli very much.

After dinner, he got presents... A new Dino Cuz, a rubber chicken that squeaks, a rubber toy that doesn't make any noise at all, and a non-stuffed "stuffie"...

(Stuffed toys meet an ugly end)

It was a great birthday, but would have been better if Buster's dad hadn't been away on business.

2007-03-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Springtime! Buster can do his business on nice, soft grass. One day soon, we will wake up to a newly green world. I can divorce myself from the sofa...

Buster seems pretty excited by the sounds and smells of the thawed world.

BBBu

This sign is the same on both sides:

There is a house on a nearby street that has a yard full of daffodils. It makes me happy every year. They are just emerging...

It is quite stunning when they are all in bloom. Until then we can enjoy the crocus...

2007-03-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

Spring can't hide much longer. Bare trees' buds lend the skeletons an aura of promise. The sound of water--trickle sprinkle spatter patter gush squish splash--is the side that comes with everything.

2007-01-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

I am spiritually flabby.

I wallowed in schadenfreude at work today.

Schadenfreude
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Schadenfreude (help·info) is a German word meaning "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune." It is sometimes used as a loanword in English and other languages. It derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy); Schaden derives from the Middle High German schade, from the Old High German scado, and freude comes from the Middle High German vreude, from the Old High German frewida, from frō, (happy). In German, the word always carries a negative connotation. A distinction exists between "secret schadenfreude" (a private feeling) and "open schadenfreude" (Hohn).

I did not atone.

2007-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Any day I visit the Volvo shop and the bill doesn't register in hundreds of dollars is a good day.

I'm off work, Wilma is freshly lubed, and I'm on the prowl for some tunage. Yesterday I heard some funky euro-pop/lounge/trance kind of a thing on my semi-local public radio station which I later determined to be a ditty called Kaboom by Ursula 1000. It was just too much fun, so I went-a-lookin' fer it. The clerk at the store informed me that the thing is out of print already, so no go. I opted for a substitution.

Being in the vicinity of of a plethora of retail opportunities, I got sucked into the world of people whose hair has been whipped into stiff peaks. I visited a Pier One, talked to my mother on the phone, visited a consignment shop where I'm keeping my eye on a couple of prints, and was on my way to the interstate when I spotted a store I have never visited. I CASUALLY THREW AWAY ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF OF MY LIFE LOOKING AT CRAP. Like some kind of Crapaholic, I ventured down aisle after aisle, hoping against all hope that this time things would be different. I even picked up a couple of things, even though they were not things that I really wanted... my attraction for them was only relative to the repulsion I felt about other things I saw there. Ultimately I didn't buy anything, but the fake word craptacular kept going through my head.

One of my goals today was to highlight a local culinary institution known as the Hamburger Wagon.

This Miamisburg, Ohio landmark serves up the most wondrous little burgers... I suspect there is no "all beef patty" claim, express or implied, regarding Hamburger Wagon hamburgers. We suspect some pork must be involved, whether merely for frying (lard) in the giant cast iron skillet they keep going in that little "wagon" or in ground form. The burgers themselves are crispy little things served on diminutive buns with slabs of pickle and onion. No lettuce, no tomato, no ketchup, no mayo or mustard either. I think each one gets a sprinkling of salt and pepper, but no other condiments. God, they're good. And you can only get them here, in Ohio.

2006-12-30T17:33:00.000-08:00

There is a landmark, highly visible from I-75 between Cincinnati and Dayton, that I find disturbing... as opposed to inspirational... We call it "Touchdown Jesus" or "Drowning Jesus", but a friend visiting from out of town recently referred to it as "Half-a-Jesus". I worked a catering job in Glendale a few months ago, and one of the women I worked with called the thing "Butter Jesus". Apparently the roadside attraction has inspired a musical artist:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq01UYiMyHg

Here are some nice pictures:

www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/OHMONjesus.html

I don't know why, but I had been operating under the assumption that this thing was generally accepted as normal.

Buster tagged me to list things I want and don't want for Christmas, knowing full well that my blogging habits don't conform to that sort of time frame. Or maybe not... he is, after all, a little dog. Here they are, in plenty of time for Christmas, 2007:

Three things I want for Christmas:
1. Continued good health for me and my loved ones
2. US out of Iraq
3. Signs of ecological improvement

Three things I don't want for Christmas:
1. Another cat
2. Diamond solitaire anything
3. Another year of George Bush

But really now, why wait for Christmas?

2006-12-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

RHYMES WITH DENIAL

Somewhere in the general vicinity of Bernheim Forest in KY, there is a place called "Penile Baptist Church". Really. I have a picture of it somewhere. I haven't been able to figure that out...
www.geocities.com/unusualkentucky/penile.html

Here in Southwestern Ohio, we have this:

Just next door to the carwash:

I never thought I would see this:

For years I have wondered why we sing Carols, but not "Happy Birthday" at Christmas time... with all the gift-giving, I think we ought to have cake and party hats, too.

The Wal-Mart is coming along nicely. Its construction has necessitated the near destruction of the main thoroughfare that we use to get from here to wherever, so I wish they would finish already. We have a nice view of the Wal-Monolith from the deck, between the little white frame house across the road and the church with the "Happy Birthday Jesus" sign. They have thoughtfully installed some industrial lighting so that we can find the store in the middle of the night.

2006-11-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to ME!

Can you say MANDATE?

2006-10-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

I feel much better since Doctor Buster removed that lesion from my skull.

2006-10-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yay!

Bert was gone for at least five days, but he finally returned home last night! He seems to be intact, but I'll take him to the vet to have him checked out anyway.

2006-10-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

My orange boy is missing. I am heartbroken.

2006-10-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've felt uninspired for days, and there's no good reason for that.

There's always something going on here.

I find joy in these simple interactions, and in noticing.

I don't know what kind of a bug this is, but now I have seen several of them. They're sort of like huge stink bugs with dinosaur ridges on their backs.

Buster took me on a walk earlier. I got him a new harness that's GUARANTEED to eliminate the pulling he tends to do. We had a good walk with some leaf-chasing, visual inspection of the construction progress in the neighborhood, and the requisite sniffing. Lo and Behold, I looked down to see my sweet puppy sniffing one of THESE:

I just take it for granted that he will stop to sniff every trace of dried-up worm, pee, or dead thing, but it occurred to me then that I had better be paying attention.

2006-10-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

When I told my dear friend that I was moving to Ohio, she was flabbergasted. "If you're going to leave us, you should go someplace better than Kentucky," she said. I admit that the impression I have of Ohio has been influenced by that expectation... that I would be going someplace NOT better than Kentucky. Hmmmmm... How could that be? After all, THE MAN was prone to using the term briars to describe Kentuckians. It was an unfamiliar term, one I took to be derogatory. It was often employed in off-color jokes. While Kentucky is my home state, the place of my birth, and the place I have returned to over and over again, I have a love/hate relationship with KY. I agree with another friend who once said that Kentucky is a nice place to be from. Kentucky is beautiful. Can you think of another state whose song is as well known and loved? It still makes me cry each time I hear it. I'm a little sappy. On the other hand, the stereotypes... usually, stereotypes have some foundation in reality. I have met them. I bought a house next door to them. I put up a privacy fence.

Follow this link to one of the cool places I have visited in Ohio:

http://www.pyramidhill.org/

2006-10-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

This photo is a couple of years old now. I pass by this house on my way to and from work or the gym when I take the "back way" to avoid traffic. There are usually at least six vehicles in the yard. More recently, a coffee/lunch van has been living there. Other kinds of lawn ornaments are also popular in this neighborhood, like lawn jockeys, gnomes and various animal statues.

If I stand in the middle of our back yard, I can read the signs in front of two local churches... Once the leaves fall, I will be able to view the parking lot of the new Wal-Mart from the same spot. I still haven't been able to figure out what flaw in my newish community will be remedied with the opening of the Wal-Mart. We speculate that the amount of garbage that accumulates in our yard will increase dramatically.

2006-10-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

2006-10-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

The point of this thing was not to simply blather on and on about ME, or about the pets, but to document the OHIO-ness of the experience. I have lived in a number of places, and there are features unique to each place. This is my first foray into (what I consider) suburban living. Our neighborhood fits into the category I would identify as a "subdivision". I used to sit in the garage, smoke cigarettes, and marvel at how there is no sky between the houses. It's no big deal, I just haven't lived in one of these neighborhoods before...and now I don't smoke.

The term "drive-thru" has an entirely new meaning here than the one to which I was accustomed. Before, I thought of a drive-thru as a business of some kind with a drive-up window for quick service. Here, employee be damned. We have managed to bring the outside inside, cars and all, for the convenience of the beer-guzzling, cigarette-smoking, lottery-playing customer who is in such a hurry that he couldn't be bothered to get out of his car.

These things are everywhere. I can think of five of them that I could visit from home in under ten minutes. There may be more. The sign by the road in front of this one says it all:

2006-09-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

I looked like this one day this summer.

I am not a dog person. I had cats instead of children.

This isn't even all of them. There are FIVE KITTIES who own me.

My mother brought a fussy little dog home when I was in Junior High School. It required a lot more "maintenance" than any cat... a special blend of smelly squishy food and kibble, bathing, brushing, constant attention, several "walks" every day... and it ate my favorite shoes. The dog was quietly "disappeared" after a brief trial period.

I met a dog person a few years ago. We have been influencing each other in a merged household for some time now.

Something happened to me. I didn't want to love the yellow dog, but I couldn't help it. Two of the cats eventually befriended her. It was really weird. But the yellow dog became gravely ill. She left us in early summer.

Suddenly we were dogless, and there was a void in the household. I couldn't deny that the good puppy energy had added something vital, and that its lack was felt by (almost) all. We began to talk about dogs. We researched them and visited with them in shelters and looked at pictures of them online. I knew that one of us might crack at any time.Then we met Buster.