Home Again

P1140742 Home again.

[I snapped this shot in memory of “Chase Me”.  We sold her last year to a gung-ho sailor who outfitted her for racing.  She sank in this strait just a few weeks back, during a wild and windy race…  All aboard were rescued, thankfully.  But she lives on only in our happy memories…So strange still to think of her lying at the bottom of the ocean with her home made cushions and fresh new paint and sails…]

But where was I?!…. Yes!  I’m safely home again, just in time to see the wild currants bloom…P1140745

…and of course the homey dandelions too, which carry on in spite of Jim’s rigorous elimination campaign… P1140747

Then there are these tiny daisies which I introduced to the lawn for fun, and have not yet regretted…

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The garden lies fallow, turned and expectantP1140761

while the early risers exult in springtime sun!

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The lupine bursts forth.

And the kale runs to seed welcoming bees to my garden…

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While the wallflowers do what wallflowers do best— P1140779

add beauty to the drab wall of the house!

The bushy Scouler’s willow  in the swampy outback literally hums with bees on their mission to get making honey.

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Meanwhile, blushing quietly, the most beautiful of blooms begin to open on the apple tree,

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while at her feet the bluebells ring.

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It’s good to be home.

–LS

I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Ps.116:9

Cincinnati Sightings…

No trip is complete without a bike ride…My sister courageously consented to  go riding with me! 

We had a grand bit of pedaling down a quiet wooded trail along the Little Miami River…

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We stopped along the way to have a closer look at wayside flowers, of course…P1140475P1140479P1140496P1140499…completing a delightful 26 miles or so before our rental time elapsed. 

If you’re ever in these parts look up this paved trail running from Loveland to the ‘beyond’ in both directions.  Peaceful, quaint, and refreshing terrain, with NO HILLS!

 

And then there’s downtown Cincinnati—an interesting mix of old and new…

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in various stagesP1140536 of decay or restoration…

 

But I am a walk-in-the-woods sort of girl…

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And these woods are so like the ones by which I grew up. 

The may apples are raising their umbrellas…P1140589P1140593And the Violets and Spring Beauties are showing their faces, just as they did in the springs of my childhood.

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Only we are now children only in our memories…P1140611 

 

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And they are good ones!

P1140697–LS

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I Cor.13:11-12

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Photos taken in Loveland, downtown and Washington Park, Mt. Airy Forest park, and Eden Park…

Cincinnati Scenes…

I flew to visit my sister this week…  I was greeted by temps nearing 80…

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…which then plunged to winter’s chill and dropped snow overnight!

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I love the old architecture in the vicinity!

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We both loved this one best…

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But this is home, sweet home.

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Experiencing local culture necessitated a trip to: Jungle Jim’s a most quirky and colorful international market!

Everything from pig snouts and tongues to fine teas and gourmet chocolates…

IMG_20140414_200534304IMG_20140414_202517893IMG_20140414_211204426 And a very lot of exotic produce in between.

But comfort food in these parts comes from:

Skyline Chili

IMG_20140415_213048990IMG_20140415_210535914_HDR “Skyline Chili” is a secret-recipe chili of supposedly Greek origin, with an unexpected touch of cinnamon.  It’s served on spaghetti pasta topped with a mound of shredded cheese.  This is a “three-way”.
For a “four-way” you add chopped onions OR beans.  And for a “five-way” you add BOTH onions and beans.  I tried a ‘five-way’.  Tasty but not comfort food.  Apparently the taste grows on you.  Many locals love it.

And that’s what I’ve seen of Cincinnati so far…

P1140451P1140453P1140448 crop…but the best part is this:

 

Heather and Lindy

–LS