Sunday

Aaron, teaching me to play a game on the iPad



Shoes of kids already in the hampster balls at Newport on the Levee

I only wish I had a picture of Aaron with needle and thread helping me mend his toy tiger.  He said he was surprised that we used that tool, although he couldn't figure out how we'd do it on the sewing machine.  That little guy is going to be an engineer.

Cincinnati River Swim

Sunday morning, with the temperature around 44 degrees, some brave souls swam across the Ohio River and back.  One of my young friends was doing the swim, and I went to take pictures for her.  There was quite a bit of fog coming off the river, and the race was delayed a little to give the fog a chance to clear out.  Then the swimmers assembled on the Cincinnati side of the river and kyakers and a Coast Guard boat took their places in the water.

The fastest swimmer finished in about 13 minutes and the slowest took about an hour.  I was watching someone at the very back of the pack who was doing an inverted breast stroke, consequently making slow progress - I hope that person was able to finish.  I always root for the turtle.

Casey at the Bat

"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
    
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;"
        
And somewhere is in Cincinnati, where the Reds won the division championship this evening.
       
The part in quotations is from Ernest Thayer's Casey at the Bat.  I was disappointed at the brief fireworks at the end of the game, but then the REAL fireworks started.  A very good evening here.

Makes Me Happy

For a group I've joined this month, I needed to take a picture of something that makes me happy.  This little frog always does - but since she does, why does she live behind my computer screen?  So today I've moved her out.

I've been thinking about a trip to IKEA to find something sort of nice for storing my art supplies.  I don't even know where they all are, and that makes me sad.

But back to the group - at first I thought that maybe I'd do the exercises but not post anything.  Then I really wanted to post this picture, so I figured out pretty painlessly how to do that on the flickr account.  That makes me happy too. 

Repetition

I know I've said it before, but I am so drawn to the once-upon-a-time vacation houses in Elkmont,

 on the Little River, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,

 close to what is now Elkmont Campground.

Families were allowed to keep the houses until the 90's, when they became park property and were pretty much ignored after that.  A couple of the properties have been repaired,

but the others are slowly being reclaimed by the forest.  Every camping trip I go to look at them, and every time they are more dilapidated than the time before.  Before too long, the houses and their stories will be gone.

Little Date

On Sunday afternoon Steph took Nora and a friend to the Children's Museum, while Aaron and I had a little date.  An Only Child afternoon.  We did the favorites at Newport on the Levee, including the much loved hampster balls.  And then we took the trolley to Cincinnati.
 

Ice cream.  No hesitation for Aaron when it comes it picking out his flavor.  This time it was vanilla ice cream with m&m's.  In a cup with a cone on the side.  The kid knows what he wants.

The Other Pictures

At Alum Cave Bluffs - how many pairs of hiking boots made the patterns?

A LeConte bucket for getting water for washing up.  There is a spigot outside the kitchen for hot water and a pump for cold.

Cups for coffee and hot chocolate - we decided that surely the ash trays are for matches used to light the kerosene lamps.

 Water bottles filled for the hike down.

Sign at the trailhead.