esprit de l'escalier

A visit to Rockmill

I've been feeling rather blue this week. It's a combination of things in my life conspiring to make me feel low and I needed something to snap me out of my funk. Luckily my grad school lady friends and I had planned a trip to Rockmill Brewery for Saturday. We piled into one of our minivans (your thirties mean that at least one of your friends now has a mom van), and brought along a couple of husbands for good measure. There is nothing like spending a beautiful afternoon with some good friends, good beer, lots of laughs, and a huge spread of cheese, bread, meat, and fruit. In fact, we had so much fun, I was convinced to cancel the rest of my plans for the night and continue drinking beer with all of them.

Rockmill has quickly become one of my favorite spots in central Ohio. (This was my third visit since October.) It's a quick drive outside of Columbus and the brewery's tasting room and grounds are gorgeous. It's located on an old horse farm, with the main barn now the tasting room, and some smaller barns where they brew. The perfect place to spend an afternoon with a picnic and friends. You really can't beat their beers, some divine Belgian ales. If you're in the area, it's worth a visit. Here are some photos from our visit yesterday, while we roamed the grounds.

A hike in the woods

I am still going through my archives and found these photos from a hike I took with my friend Joe last October. Almost exactly a year ago, because it was the day of the Columbus Marathon, which is next weekend. We hiked Conkle's Hollow, which is a favorite of mine, down in the Hocking Hills. I'll be down near there this weekend for a friend's wedding. My sister is coming in town and going with me. I can't wait!

Fete en Blanc 2012

Friday night my friends Genevieve Reiner, Mandy Jones, and Shawnie Foy pulled off another successful pop-up picnic, Fête en Blanc. Their second round of this fabulous picnic under the stars pulled about 400 people to Goodale Park! The day started off soggy, but the rains cleared, except for a quick drizzle right before the party started. But the gods do love a good party, the rains cleared, and apparently there was a rainbow over the park. A good omen, if there ever was one.

This year my party expanded a bit, with about twelve us of potlucking a picnic, and another 5 somewhat in our party as well. Next year I'm going to decide to buy dinner from one of the vendors. Bringing all our own food as well as the plates and tables and chairs was too much. But the evening was great fun. I got to chat with a bunch of friends, danced under the stars to The Randys (I seriously love this band), and had a grand old time. I can't wait to see what the ladies pull together for next year!

I didn't take as many photos as I did last year, but here are some that I did take. Enjoy! (Oh and here's an instagram shot of me and Rachel, taken by Beth. I took a medium format shot of Rachel, but I'm not sure when I'll get that developed.) (Oh and here's my post from last year.)

My propensity to tour guide

Today was just plain, old gorgeous. It was about 70 degrees out, sunny. My co-worker Dan and I took the new guy out to lunch. (We have a new guy. It's no longer me! He's from Bloomington, IN, which is where I went to school, which is exciting for me. Dan is also from Indiana, so we had a little Hoosier lunch.) I suggested the Brown Bag Deli in German Village, and for us to dine al fresco in the park. (I am always full of good ideas when it comes to lunch.)

I was blathering a bit about German Village, and Columbus, and apologized for tour guiding. Sometimes I can't help myself. My whole life I've been soaking of information about the places where I've lived, usually coming from my parents, details about architecture and history, people and places. I love the history of places, especially ones that are special to me, or are where I live.

New guy made me think about the good tours I used to give on IU's campus. (Not officially or anything, just for visiting friends/family.) That made me think about other places I gave unofficial tours of. I gave a good one in Prague when I studied there almost a decade ago. I still give downtown Chicago tours for any newbies who might happen to be with me. (One place I always bring people: the flagship Marshall Fields store on State Street to see the Tiffany moasic ceilings. I lead them into the crush of the department store and then stop them and make them look up. People swirl around us and it's like looking up into the heavens.)

But then I was thinking, this guy is new in town and doesn't know anyone. Maybe he *would* like a tour (or maybe I'm using this as an excuse for a little project). So I think I'm going to put together a little tour of Columbus, or at least of some of its neighborhoods. I'll take photos and share them with you.

Following the winter sun

This winter I have become obsessed with tracking when the sun rises and sets. Every day I click onto Weather.com, check the day's temperature, and see what time the sun sets. Since the solstice, that time has been making minute steps upwards. Of course leading up to the winter solstice was rough, watching the days get shorter and shorter. Even now thinking about it makes me a little sad. But I have found one good thing about February (and living in Ohio): it's almost 6 when the sun sets. Of course, since I *am* in Ohio, I don't see the sun set every day. Today I did though. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear, too. Now maybe some of that ice will melt.

Meet me at the fair

My friends and I went to the Ohio State Fair this weekend. I hadn't been since middle school? High school? I can't remember. I've stayed away because generally I don't like heat and crowds, but I had a great time and plan on going back next year. We lucked out with relatively cooler weather and I fell in love with the fair. We didn't see the butter cow, but we did sit in on Holstein competition, only to discover at the blue ribbon ceremony that it was all about the utters. Which explained a lot.

My favorite place was the poultry barn. I wandered the the aisles of fancy chickens, marveling at their colors and sizes, wishing I could take one home. They had a ton of heritage breeds as well. Sigh.

I took my polaroid spectra and my holga. Below are my favorite polaroid shots. The fair was made for polaroids. See all my photos here.

A rainy Sunday

Today the sun actually shone, but the last couple of days have been nothing but rain. The yard is exceedingly green, but it's nice to see the sun. Here are some shots from a couple of weeks back, when I went on a rainy hike to Flint Ridge with some friends.

'Roid Week 2009: Day One

It's that time again! Fall 'Roid Week is upon us my friends. Prepare to be inundated. I need to get out and shoot some more this week. I can't wait! These are from a hike in the Hocking Hills a couple of weeks ago.

More naturey crap

I promise to return with actual words before the week is up (which means, tonight or tomorrow), but here are some film photos I took a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday hike at the Black Hand Gorge.

Once upon a time there was an actual hand in the sandstone narrows that cut through this area. It was thought that the hand signified that from there til Flint Ridge was a DMZ of sorts. Flint Ridge is where people from many tribes in the area came to get flint for arrow heads and was a safe zone from disputes.

I was really sad to find out there was no more hand. We blasted the hand when we widened the narrows to build the Erie Canal in 1828.

Goodbye Wonder Bread

With a great amount of sadness, I read yesterday on Columbus Underground about how the Wonder Bread factory in Columbus is closing. I'm sorry for the workers and for Columbus to lose an icon.

Anyone who grew up in the area knows the factory because of it's huge neon sign and the wonderful yeasty bread smell that emanates from it. You can see and smell it from the highway. I always thought I was lucky to grow up in a town with a bread factory, as opposed to a tire factory.

When I was a kid, there was a yearly summer festival at the little 1950s strip center down the street from my house. The parking lot would be partially closed, there would be games, Elsie the Cow (or some bovine stand-in), and a guy dressed as a bag of Wonder Bread, handing out miniature loaves of squishy bread.