Cincy Burger Week Plus

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Denny

With Ohio Burger Week running Monday through Sunday and this blog being published too early on Sundays for hamburger eating, my 2020 report came up a day short and the 2021 report did even worse as the first two days were lost to travel. But this year I’ve had seven straight days of hamburgers at press time although the first of those days wasn’t in Cincinnati or even in Ohio.

I found myself in Richmond, Indiana, last Sunday and, as is my habit, queried my phone about nearby breweries. It told me of 5 Arch Brewing which would be open by the time I could reach it in nearby Centerville. My plan was to just have a beer until I learned about their food and their hamburgers in particular. I had two choices: I could save myself for the launch of Burger Week the next day or I could get an early start. I obviously opted for the early start and am very happy that I did. The ‘burger (and the fries and the Nut Brown ale) was excellent and I had a beautiful 1893 back bar to look at while I ate.

My first official 2022 Burger Week ‘burger came from Craft Burger Bros. They were operating at Streetside Brewery on Monday but served their “Grippo Cheeseburger” at other locations throughout the week. I thought the Black Cats ale accompanied it nicely. Since I had already involved two businesses in my meal, I saw no harm in involving a third so headed to Aglamesis Brothers for dessert. It’s Pineapple & Pecan, an old flavor that was brought back temporarily for their centennial. It was so popular that it now comes back every summer and it brings me back.

On Tuesday I downed a “Magic Mushroom Burger” at Lori’s American Grill. It was delightfully messy and magically (the mushrooms are hiding under the melted mozzarella) delicious.

5 Arch and Lori’s were totally new to me and so was Burger Bros although Streetside Brewery was not. Wednesday’s ‘burger stop was familiar in a different way. The building that now houses Sinners and Saints, was once home to a place called Brew River where I’d eaten several times. My “Venerable Beast” was topped with a single onion ring rather than the onion straws in the sandwich’s description but I don’t think it made me enjoy it any less. The glass advertises a local brewery but it contains Summer Ale from Sam Adams, an event sponsor.

On Thursday, it was back to something completely new at Revolution Rotisserie. As you might have guessed from the name, their specialty is rotisserie chicken but the menu isn’t limited to just chicken. Their Burger Week offering, “The Amador”, was quite good. That’s Fretboard’s Vlad in the glass.

Friday was a double-dip day, and the only day where the ‘burger was one I’d eaten before. Although it’s more often for a Nueske ham sandwich than a hamburger, I’ve visited The Turf Club many times. I’ve even indulged in the Burgundy wine mushroom sauce in the past but remember that sandwich costing noticeably more than the $7 Burger Week rate. That memory is why I put this ‘burger firmly on this year’s list from the beginning. By sitting at the counter, I could watch Ron cook my Fieri Burger (named for the D, D, & D guy) and then have him personally deliver it. Today I have a Northern Row beer (Hustler) but no Northern Row glass. Those who lament the external stripping of the neon-encased Terry’s Turf Club might be somewhat assuaged by the fact that the inside remains the same.

The second dip of the day was the special Burger Week dessert at the Macaron Bar in Hyde Park. “…chocolaty cheese and lettuce”, oh my!

My string of hamburgers ends as it started, in a brewery in a neighboring state. There are some big differences though, including the fact that it’s close enough to Cincinnati to be included in its Burger Week listing and it is a place I’ve visited before. I counted Bircus Brewery as my 200th and I’ve been here a couple of times since but have never eaten here. Bircus has always been a little different. Its home is a former theater and it has always been part brewery and part circus. The kitchen is a fairly recent addition. Its meat is sourced from the farm it supplies with spent grain making it a brewery-to-farm-to-table restaurant. Pizzas are always available; hamburgers are a Burger Week special. That’s a “Burger Alla Pendleton” in the basket and Lagoon Scotch Ale in the glass.

That’s a wrap. I end my personal ‘burger week on Saturday so I can write it up in my weekly post on Sunday morning. But the official Ohio Burger Week continues through today so you still have time to squeeze some buns and chomp on some patties. Every one of the seven pictured on this page would be worth your time and money and I’ve a hunch that all the others listed on the Burger Week website would be too. Last year was the first time that The Turf Club (nee Terry’s Turf Club) participated in Burger Week and this is the first year I’ve eaten there as part of the Burger Week binge. I’m not going to try ranking or even rating the ‘burgers I tried beyond saying that I retain my belief that in my experience The Turf Club serves the best hamburger in Cincinnati.

Riverside, Northside, Parkside

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Denny

Rereading the seven-year-old post that I reused last week (Broadside, Northside, Riverside Revisited) reminded me of how much I had enjoyed the Fourth of July parade in Northside. After a two-year hiatus for COVID, it returned this year and I was there. But first, there was a Third of July parade to attend.

With Independence Day falling on a Monday, the entire weekend was available for events that might otherwise be crammed into a single day. With sufficient stamina, one could celebrate from Friday evening through the end-of-day Monday. I started Sunday.

I headed to Freedom Fest in New Richmond, Ohio, where I had breakfast at Front Street Cafe, walked to Skipper’s for a drink, checked out the cars (and picked my favorite) at the cruise-in, and looked over the Cardboard Boat Museum. I also snapped a picture of the Showboat Majestic as I walked along the riverfront. The showboat moved to New Richmond in February of 2021 with high hopes that have slowly faded. Last week she was given ninety days to move on. Front Stree Cafe has been using a photo of mine that shows the boat and the cafe as their Facebook cover photo. Guess they’ll be moving on too.

I strolled through vendors lining Front Street until parade time approached then positioned myself near where the parade was forming.

The picture at the top of this article was taken during the parade. It shows one of the parade’s youngest participants making eye contact with a kindred soul who is almost but not quite ready to participate himself. Other pictures from the parade include a local color guard and marching band, some of the fifty or so golf carts and four-wheelers, and Captain America.

On July 4th, I was in Northside for one of the country’s coolest parades. The crowd was bigger than the one in New Richmond and had started arriving earlier. Here I was much closer to the parade’s endpoint than to its beginning.

I know you can’t appreciate the “From the Depths” creatures as much as I did without hearing the island rhythms they are dancing to. That’s much less an issue with the DANCEFIX group since it’s quite obvious these folks are dancing to an upbeat something. Captain America may not have made it to Northside but the parade was not without an attention-grabbing biker.

I’m sure no one was surprised to see the parade take note of the recent SCOTUS decision on abortion. There were small references throughout but it became the complete focus toward the end.

When the last of the parade reached me, I started walking toward the route’s end a few blocks away. My pace was a little faster than the trailing parade elements and I had moved ahead of them when I heard someone on a bullhorn behind me and turned around. A proclamation was being read from a podium encircled by the colorful ladies marching in front of the “Welcome to ‘The Summer of Rage'” banner and others. The only bit of the proclamation that I could make out declared independence for “women and anyone else who could become pregnant”. Valerie Jean Solanas for President of the United States is a play written by Sara Stridsberg. Valerie Solanus (1936-1988) is the author of the SCUM Manifesto and the woman who shot Andy Warhol in 1968. Whether any of that is important in the context of the parade is beyond me.

Kings Island amusement park has fireworks every night during the summer. I live close enough to hear but not see them. The park is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary and has expanded the show which makes it even easier than normal for me to know when 10:00 PM rolls around. I decided to fill out this post by scooting a few miles up the road and grabbing some pictures from a nearby parking lot. The actual fireworks aren’t shabby but neither are they extraordinary. What interested me more were the new-this-year drones. They are what is forming the words “Kings Island” in the photo.

The drones also form Snoopy, his doghouse, and many other images. Sometimes the drones are visible as they morph into something different; at other times they blink out then magically blink on in a new formation. Sometimes the image they are forming moves. That is the case with Evel Knieval’s motorcycle jump. I’m a horrible videographer but I made an attempt to capture it. I, along with my two sons and ex-wife, was actually there in 1975 when Evel made his longest jump, and I’m thinking this is pretty accurate.

Broadside, Northside, Riverside Revisited

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Denny

This past week was a combination of busy and boring that seemed certain to result in a canned post. In the end, however, I decided to reuse an old post rather than posting a new canned one. I may attend a parade or two this year and might watch some fireworks and thus feed an Independence Day post for next week but this week’s post is from 2015. The post originally appeared the day after rather than the day before the holiday. It has parades and fireworks but the highlight for me was viewing a copy of the second printing of the Declaration of Independence. I noted then that we had celebrated the “239th anniversary of that day when men of courage and vision” had stood together to create a new country. I don’t think “men of courage and vision” were all that common then and in the now 246 years since they have sometimes been downright scarce. They’re pretty scarce right now but there are a few. Unlike in 1776, however, many of today’s “men of courage and vision” are women. And that seems like a good thing.

July 5, 2015: There’s something in that display case that is 238 years 11 months and 26 days old. Twelve of America’s thirteen British colonies voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The thirteenth, New York, had not authorized its Continental Congress delegates to vote on the declaration. On the night of the fourth, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap produced at least 200 copies of the document with one of those copies reaching the New York Provincial Congress on July 9. Before the day was over, New York had joined the other colonies in approving the Declaration of Independence and ordered another 500 copies from New York printer John Holt. The Holt Broadside, as the second printing is known, contains the text of the New York resolution along with the full text of the declaration. Some copies were sent to the Continental Congress back in Philadelphia where it seems they somehow helped in getting the official parchment copy of the Declaration prepared. The signing of that official copy commenced on August 2.

A copy of that second printing made it to Cincinnati. One of four copies known to survive, it is in the pictured case. It is believed to have been brought to Cincinnati in 1810 by Richard Fosdick who, in 1815, was a member of Cincinnati’s first town council. The copy has been in the history library’s possession since at least the 1870s but was not recognized for what it is until about five years ago. The Holt Broadside is the centerpiece of the temporary Treasures of Our Military Past exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Yesterday was the 239th anniversary of that day when men of courage and vision agreed to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” in the creation of a new country. The day before was the 239th anniversary of the writing of a letter by John Adams in which he anticipated the happenings of the next day and told his wife that he expected it to be celebrated “with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

I tried to do my share. I’ll admit that I didn’t actually go looking for guns and I gave up quickly on finding any bonfires. It’s even possible that the only bells I heard were electronic but I saw plenty of games, sports, and shews. I saw two parades, a fine set of illuminations, and there was pomp everywhere.

There was no shortage of parades in the area. Picking one wasn’t easy but I have absolutely no doubt that I picked the right one. Northside’s first 4th of July parade happened in 1864 when orphans were moved from downtown to a new orphanage by canal boats with members of the Turners, Oddfellows, Butchers Association, Bricklayers Society, and the Catholic Orphans Society marching alongside. The parade developed into a fundraiser that continued until the 1960s when the orphanage again moved. It was restarted in 1970. This year’s Grand Marshall was two-year-old Quincy Kroner who received some national attention after meeting the garbage collectors he admired. The event website is here.

Picking parade pictures from my 200+ was even tougher than picking the parade. I didn’t quite manage to trim them down to a reasonable number so here’s the start of an unreasonable number. I liked the big headed Spirit(s) of ’76 and Ben and Captain America, too. The patriotically attired lady next to me was not at all out of place as a spectator but she was there for a higher purpose. When the local steam punk group came by, she pushed the stroller forward and stepped right in.

When a portion of this cycling group started placing their bikes sideways down the center of the street, I expected some sort of slalom maneuver but noooo.

Someone told me that this same group marched in Cincinnati’s Gay Pride parade last month and much of the crowd simply turned their backs as they passed. It seemed that few did that today and, in my case, by the time I’d read all the signs, there was little point in turning. “I STAND WITH ISRAEL”, JESUS IS YOUR ONLY HOPE”, “…BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION”.

I believe this was my favorite parade entry. Essentially a live performance of Yellow Submarine with a Beatles soundtrack, it seemed to have it all. “Full speed ahead, Mr. Parker, full speed ahead!”

It might not have been quite as thrilling as the folks jumping over each others’ bikes, but these skateboard cowboys still put on a pretty exciting show with their moving ramp.

Lots of people accepted the “Dare to dance” challenge of the parade’s last float. Dance music blared as a street full of happy folks danced and smiled their way to the end point.

The end point was at the Northside Rock n’ Roll Carnival in Hoffner Park with twenty-one bands over three days. That’s “Daniel Wayne and the Silver Linings” on stage. The Stroh’s shirt is a bonus. As a similarly aged friend observed, the parade and carnival do sort of have a ’60s feel. It’s not a “we’re wearing beads and tie-dye” feel but a “we’re having fun and caring about stuff” feel.

I headed to Loveland for some fireworks and was pleasantly surprised to get there in time to catch part of another parade. It’s a little smaller and a bit more traditional than the one in Northside but it was still quite cool in its own way.

On the way to a fireworks viewing spot, I snapped a picture of Cindy’s holiday tree and the festival stage. Entertainment for Loveland’s Firecracker Festival included the Rusty Griswolds.

Loveland is the home of Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks so the city usually has a pretty decent “illumination” above the Little Miami River. This year’s grand finale didn’t seem all the grand but the overall show was quite good. Mr. Adams, I’m happy to report that we appear to still be observing this most important day pretty much the way you envisioned. I’m even happier to report that, at least in Cincinnati’s Northside, a little independent thinking can still be observed on Independence Day.

The Signmaker’s Circus

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Denny

The Signmaker’s Circus took place last night at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. The picture of Zoltar was not taken there which I realize might not seem quite proper to some. It was taken last week at Uranus, Missouri, but not used in the journal entry for the stop. I liked it and jumped at the chance to use it here when I realized it was a pretty good match for the event’s Save the Date card. The event is subtitled “A Decade of Camp” since its reason for being is to celebrate the museum’s first ten years in Camp Washington. The permanent full-time opening was on June 23, 2012, but two preview days occurred three weeks earlier. This blog was still fairly new then, and I had not yet stopped creating oddments. I did post a blog entry here that includes a link to the oddment and the oddment can be reached directly here.

All the rest of the pictures are from the circus, and there’s a bunch. I arrived about ten minutes before the scheduled start time and found a fairly close parking spot on the street. The museum’s parking lot was being used for valet drop-off and fire juggling. A line that had formed in the lot moved quickly to — and almost as quickly through — the doors when they opened.

The museum looked extra festive and drinks were available at multiple bars. A young lady (blurrily seen here) circulated through the crowd in a dress bearing cones of popcorn. The Burning Caravan provided music to party by from in front of the Rock City sign.

I knew from a Friday Facebook post that something would be revealed from behind a red curtain but I had no idea what. By the luckiest of coincidences, I was walking by the curtain when the ringmaster began his countdown. A proclamation from Mayor Pureval was read making today “American Sign Museum Day” in Cincinnati then the curtains parted. Others had paid better attention to the clues and some had been involved in the preparations. I was gobsmacked when I saw the great neon-illuminated space on the other side and we were invited to pass through the balloon arch.

I recall going to exactly one circus as a child. At ten or so years of age, I was naturally in awe of the exotic animals, people, and costumes as I watched the entrance parade from my bleacher seat. There were no elephants or tigers present last night and I’m over six decades more worldly and jaded than I was then, but I wasn’t watching a distant parade from bleachers last night. With carnival music accompaniment, I was doing the marching past exotic people and costumes. And there was neon everywhere. I did not magically feel ten years old but I was at least as awe-struck when I walked into that room as when those elephants entered the big top all those years ago.

The Burning Caravan played throughout the evening inside the museum while DJ Mowgli provided music for the circus. I’m pretty sure this is as close to a rave as I’ll ever get. People with turbans and tails chatted casually as people with neither lined up to confer with a real live Zoltar.

The ringmaster continued working and introducing acts both on and over the stage. Photos from later points in that on-stage performance can be seen here, here, here, and here.

A sign museum can always be counted on to have just the right marker for everything and that includes pointing to the two food trucks parked right outside the building.

I didn’t get my fortune told but I did get a tee shirt airbrushed. This was free with the purchase of an event shirt. The shirt was dropped off at the painting booth then picked up later when it was completed. The artist and the fellow who took down the instructions had a disagreement over whether it was “DEnny” or “DAnny” so the name was left blank until I returned. This gave me an opportunity to get a snapshot of the shirt getting its final touches.

What a wonderful way to celebrate the museum’s first decade in Camp Washington. I certainly enjoyed myself though I expect someone will ask, “Who was that bearded lady I saw you with last night?”

Taste of Memory

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Denny

I don’t have a dog. Don’t need one. I can eat my own homework. I went to three different events yesterday with the intent of including all three in this post. I’m still going to do that despite the sad fact that they will not be as well documented as I planned. However, before I can even start talking about the three planned activities, I have to tell of my arrival home at the end of the day.

I took quite a few pictures throughout the day and popped out the memory card containing most of them as soon as I reached home. One of the day’s events had been Taste of Cincinnati with 36 restaurants and 18 food trucks. There is no reason anyone would be even slightly hungry after attending such a gathering and I really wasn’t. Nonetheless, I grabbed a few snack crackers from an open box when I walked by it on the way to my laptop. I popped one into my mouth and munched it as I picked up the laptop and headed to the table. I popped in a second one but it didn’t munch so well. It failed to crumble on the first bite so I bit it again before realizing something was terribly wrong. As I juggled laptop, memory card, crackers, and some mail I’d retrieved from the mailbox, the memory card somehow ended up in the hand with the crackers and then in my mouth. Something in it had snapped on that second munch attempt. One bite equals 68,719,476,736 bytes.

My first thought after accepting that the pictures were gone was to post something canned this week. But I had taken some pictures with my phone and those survived. There were enough, I decided, to do a stripped-down version of the three-event post I had planned. Here goes.

Coffee With Tod got the day started at the American Sign Museum. This was the second Saturday morning that museum founder Tod Swormstedt spent sharing some of his knowledge with museum members. During the first one, he picked a few special signs and told about their history, owners, and acquisition. Today he spoke about how “Signs of the Times” magazine has been an inspiration for and something of a predecessor of the museum. “Signs of the Times” is a sign industry trade magazine that Tod’s family was involved with from its beginning and which they owned for most of its life. In the photo, Tod is holding a hardbound copy of the very first issue from 1906. The tenth anniversary of the museum’s move to this building will be celebrated next month with an open-to-all Signmaker’s Circus.

Next up was the Taste of Cincinnati which was first held in 1979 and is now the longest running culinary arts festival in the country. Like many festivals, this one did not happen in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. As mentioned, 36 restaurants and 18 food trucks are participating in this year’s event. I took pictures of many of them and made sure to snap a photo of each one where I made a purchase. Those are all gone and the picture at left is out of sequence. It was taken after I’d done my eating and was ready to leave.

Before the festival is opened to the public, first, second, and third place offerings are picked in four categories. I limited my purchases to the four number ones. In the Soup/Salad/Side category, that was Bulgogi French Fries from YouYu. The Waygu Meatball from Council Oak Steak and Seafood placed first in the Appetizer category. Both were served from the same booth as the two restaurants are part of the Hard Rock Casino.

The only picture on my phone of the Entree winner was my failed attempt to get it and the Procter & Gamble towers in the same picture. I got half of the towers and the side of the container holding Alfio’s Veal Short Rib Ravioli. Pompilio’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cannoli won the Desert category and fared much better than the ravioli in the picture department.

Once I’d finished my selective sampling, I walked about a block from the festival and hopped on the streetcar to reach Washington Park. There a number of sculptures made entirely of Duck brand duct tape are on display. Named “Knock It Out of the Park”, the exhibit is all about baseball. I believe I took at least one photo of every sculpture but very few were on my phone.

My First May Fest

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Denny

The oldest choral festival in North America will celebrate its 150th birthday next year. It came frightfully close to reaching that awesome landmark without me ever having been present at a single performance. Both it and I were spared what would have been a truly embarrassing occurrence by my attendance on Friday. I am speaking, of course, of Cincinnati’s May Festival which was first held in 1873.

The venue was Cincinnati’s Music Hall. The festival and building have an interesting and possibly unique relationship with the event actually being responsible for the existence of the structure. Before the May Festival became an annual event in 1967 it was generally held every other year. The first two were in 1873 and 1875. Both were held in a large building called Saengerfest Hall. Rain was a minor problem in 1873 and became a major one in 1875. It wasn’t that patrons got wet but that they could not hear the music during the brief time that it fell in 1873 or the much longer period of rainfall in 1875. Amplified by the tin roof of Saengerfest Hall, the rain forced the performance to be paused. It also gave rise to a project to construct the brick building that has been home to the festival since 1878.

Only one of this year’s four major performances fit into my schedule. It turned out to be probably the worst fit for my tastes. There are many things that divide the world’s population and one of them is opera. I am a member of the unappreciative group. But, even though it’s quite likely I would have enjoyed a different program more, there was much to enjoy in Friday’s performance. And I did. For one thing, I believe it was the first time I had ever watched a composer conduct his own composition. I guess John Adams conducting El Niño could be considered the black-tie version of a more-familiar-to-me performance by a singer-songwriter. As always, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra sounded superb and the 100+ voices of the May Festival Chorus sounded as wonderful as I’d hoped. The main chorus sat through long periods of inactivity then rose in unison to sing. Each of them held a copy of the libretto so that their risings had the appearance of a large flock of attacking seagulls. I found myself enjoying that more than I probably should have.

Before the concert, I walked a few blocks from Music Hall to enjoy another Cincinnati tradition. Scotti’s isn’t quite as old as the May Festival but it’s working on it. After studying the stuffed menu for some time, I went with Lasagna Ala Don Giovanni.

An Almost Easter Parade

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Denny

From the beginning, this blog has had a weekly post appearing on Sunday which means that a post has been published on each of the ten Easter holidays that the blog has existed. There have also been posts reporting on most Reds Opening Day Parades during that time. The two events are close but are usually at least a week apart so that there is no interference between the posts. This year a Major League Baseball owner-player dispute delayed the start of the season so that the Reds’ first home game and the associated parade occurred on Tuesday just five days before Easter. Interference has come to pass.

The first Easter post, in 2012, was really just a couple of paragraphs acknowledging the holiday. The 2013 post wasn’t much longer but was more interesting, IMO, with its mention of Eostre beer brewed by Howard Town Brewery. At the time, Eostre was listed on Howard’s website although none was actually available. Each year since then, I’ve checked the website hoping for a resurrection of the beer but instead have seen the beer’s name disappear completely. This year I searched the full internet for any mention of Eostre beer and discovered that at least four other breweries have made an Eostre beer over the years and that one apparently brewed some recently. Kent Brewery, in Birling, England, does not list the beer on its website but there are several recent check-ins of the brew on Untappd from pubs in the area. The connection between beer and Easter may not be as strong as the connection between beer and baseball but it does exist, and that’s enough, again IMO, to legitimize an Easter Sunday post about beer and baseball.

The beer-baseball connection is very strong. In fact, there is substantial evidence that baseball, as we know it, would not even exist without beer (See America’s Pastime Saved by Beer). Both were represented by more than one parade entry with an example of each shown here. The Cincinnati Vintage Base Ball Club plays the game by 1869 rules. Wiedemann Brewery was begun in 1870 and resurrected a few years ago. The splash of red at the left edge of the team photo comes from the better half of a well-dressed pair of nineteenth-century Reds fans. The national beer industry was represented in the parade right behind the Wiedemann wagon.

The powerful team pulling the Wiedemann entry were hardly the only horses in the parade. None, however, were better controlled than this pair.

Of course, an Opening Day Parade in Cincinnati would not be complete without fan organizations, precision drill teams, high school bands, and other musical groups. These photos are merely representative samples except for the drill team. As far as I know, the Wapakoneta Optimist Lawnmower Precision Drill Team is the only one of its kind.

And celebrities. A parade has to have celebrities. Former Reds’ All-Star shortstop Barry Larkin was the parade’s Grand Marshall, Channel 12 news anchor John Lomax is retiring at month’s end although I’m sure he won’t be disappearing, and the World’s Funkiest Reds Fans, Bootsy & Patti Collins, were bobbing to Little Willie John’s Fever blasting from the King Records float just in front of them.

Thanks, Findlay Market for another great parade.

Check out previous Opening Day Parade posts (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) and previous Easter posts (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).

Celebrating

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Denny

Tuesday was my birthday, and there was a blog post that day more or less announcing it and revealing that I had removed from my body the only thing about it that was getting thinner. This post describes the far-ranging travel and wild celebration that filled the day. The party actually started in early morning when I met my buddy John for breakfast in Wilmington. I left there thinking I might follow US-22 all the way to Steubenville but a prediction of rain prompted me to switch to a shorter path using US-62 at Washington Courthouse, and congestion, as I neared Columbus, nudged me onto a faster expressway route. In fact, I gave myself up to the GPS at that point and Garmin kept me on I-71 until I reached US-30 near Mansfield.

I continued blindly following the voice in the box until a glimpse of a semi-familiar cheese shop brought me to my senses. Shisler’s Cheese House is a place I normally associate with the Lincoln Highway so, after picking up some Swiss and cheddar to munch on later, I sought out a few bits of the old road. I made a side trip in Canton but returned to the old Lincoln and the brick Baywood Street in Robertsville.

The target of my Canton excursion was Fat Head’s newest brewpub at the north edge of town. Fat Head’s started in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1992 and opened this location, their fourth, in 2018. That’s Black Knight Schwarzbier in the glass.

The place that the GPS had been leading me to was the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton. The picture at the top of this post is of the tavern’s sign. Hanoverton is a Lincoln Highway town so I’ve stopped at the Spread Eagle several times. I have eaten there once but had never stayed there. I corrected that by spending Tuesday night in the Van Buren Room. It’s the inn’s smallest in both space and price but was more than adequate for me.

Between check-in and dinner, I was able to see familiar rooms empty for the first time and make first-time visits to some other spaces. This second group included the lower level rathskeller which is currently open only on Fridays and Saturdays. The tavern first opened in 1837 but had fallen into disrepair until a major restoration took place in the late 1980s. Additions and improvements (such as converting the dirt-floored basement to the brick-lined rathskeller) happened, but all materials came from either the tavern itself or other badly neglected buildings from the same period.

I ate dinner at a table just out of frame on the left side of this picture and breakfast just out of frame on the right. I failed to get a picture of breakfast which is truly sad because it was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had and it was included with the room. I was just too busy chatting with Kim, my server, about the building and other topics both related and not. I had been better prepared at dinner and did get a snapshot of my wonderful walleye by candlelight.

I 75

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Denny

The title is not a reference to a popular north-south expressway but a declaration that I have been around for three-quarters of a century. The first quarter was filled with school, drumming, marriage, working, kids, and enjoying life. The second quarter was filled with working, divorce, marriage, divorce, kids, and enjoying life. The third quarter has been filled with working, retirement, traveling, writing, and enjoying life. I’m not sure what — beyond enjoying life — the fourth quarter will bring but I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve always wanted to have hair like Peter Frampton, and now I do. Many years ago, I told myself (and a few others) that when my hair loss reached a certain point, what remained would go too. Although I never really specified what that point was, I’m pretty sure I’ve gone beyond what I had in mind at the time. Once I acknowledged that, I had only to pick an occasion and have at it. Birthday #75 seems as appropriate an occasion as any.

Including this picture in this post also seemed appropriate. I’ve used it before — originally for a retirement anniversary then later for a birthday — but it’s not worn out. At least no more worn out than the old guy on the bench and it pretty much sums up what I think of on my birthday. I usually celebrate, after a fashion, by treating myself extra nice but I do find birthdays are good occasions for remembering all the folks I’ve known who have been denied the privilege of growing older.

Getting Springy in Cincy

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Denny

When spring arrived on Sunday morning, the only item on my calendar for Monday had nothing to do with the season. That quickly changed and I went to bed with a full day planned for the first full (i.e., 24 hour) day of spring. The annual butterfly show at Krohn Conservatory had just opened on Friday and I was happy to see that plenty of tickets remained for Monday. I grabbed one for the time slot with the most remaining which happened to be noon.

The Egyptian-styled columns near the entrance hint at this year’s “Butterflies of the Nile” theme. Last year I was the first of my group to enter the Butterfly Showroom so was able to snap a picture of the room with only plants, butterflies, and a single attendant. I wasn’t that lucky this year. Not only were there more people in the room when I entered but there would also be more throughout my time there. Attendance is limited to 100 per hour this year compared to 40 per hour in 2021.

As in previous years, I made no attempt to identify the butterflies but merely photographed them.

Unlike previous years, I did not see lots of sugar water dispensers. There has always been fresh fruit available to hungry flitterers but it seems to really be emphasized this year. Maybe that will help the butterflies keep their weight down as the show goes on.

Everyone is given a scratch and sniff card for use in attracting butterflies but clearly, not everyone needs it. This year I was one of those and had a hitchhiker for more than half of my time there. Several people mentioned it to keep the fellow from being prematurely flattened but a young girl was the first. I think that might be her hand slipping the card under the fence. It was her mother who took the picture of my passenger and I think I only stuttered slightly as I asked.

My next stop was in Ault Park to check on the cherry trees. Butterflies at Krohn have been a sign of spring only since 1996. Cherry blossoms at Ault go back to the 1930s when 1,000 Japanese weeping cherry trees were given to the city and planted in the park. In 2008, these were augmented by 121 Somei Yoshino trees.

Not all of the trees were in bloom on Monday but enough were to make my visit more than worthwhile. Plus, it’s quite obvious that more blooms are on the way.

The trees full of white and pink blossoms are certainly beautiful in their own right but they can sometimes be used as a backdrop for something even more beautiful.

The day’s third stop, and the item that was on the calendar first, was at Playhouse in the Park. The theater is in the middle of a $50 million expansion that includes a new main stage. Monday’s event was one of several aimed at raising the last million of the fifty. I’m not a big donor or even a season ticket holder but do usually attend one or two performances each year and am on some mailing list somewhere. I enjoyed getting the update and look forward to the opening of the new theater which is planned for March 2023.

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