Batelle Darby Creek Metro Park (aka Bison Park)

My parents recently visited for the weekend and my sister suggested we take them to a local metropark she was familiar with (having visited previously with some of her fellow school teachers). It’s a little bit of a trek from Hilliard as the park is in Galloway, but it’s well worth the drive as this is a place you could easily spend the day picnicking, hiking, reading, learning (when the Nature Center is open), animal watching (the bison at least), etc.

As we didn’t arrive until later afternoon, we just chose a trail and followed it around a bit enjoying the late summer warmth and sunshine. We weren’t alone in this pursuit as we saw dozens of people during our walk – a few wearing masks, but most of us just tried to observe social distancing.

I especially enjoyed all the pretty wildflowers blowing in the breeze.

The star attraction of the park is the approx. dozen bison that roam two separate enclosures. We did see them during our walk, but they were quite a ways in the distance (like you might see them somewhere out west). We got a much closer look once we were back in our vehicle and on the road, as they clustered nearer that side of the park. My sister commented that we could have saved ourselves a long walk to see the bison if we had just parked and went to the road side to see them.

Well, I didn’t mind the long walk and it was a gorgeous day, so I consider it time well-spent. My husband and I agreed it’s definitely somewhere we would like to visit again when we have more time. 

Here are some photos I took along the way:

For more info. on the park check out these two links:

http://visitgrovecityoh.com/attractions/battelle-darby-creek-metro-park/

https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/battelle-darby-creek/

TV programs, Movies, and Books that Exceeded my Expectations this Year

This has certainly been a year for the unexpected. Let me repeat that. This has certainly been a year for the UNEXPECTED.

Without mentioning the obvious, I would like to share with you a few things that exceeded my expectations (which was unexpected – there’s the tie-in).

Back in January my husband and I were listening to NPR one morning and heard an interview with actor Patrick Stewart, who is definitely my favorite captain of the “Star Trek” franchise. He was discussing his new series that was soon to be released on CBS All Access (the subscription channel). We later saw him talking about it again on one of our favorite British talk shows, “Graham Norton.” My husband warned I might not like the series because it was probably going to be rather “dark.” Still, I was willing to give it a chance. We decided to wait and subscribe for a one month trial in April after we returned from our holiday in Australia.

I have to admit the first few episodes started out a little slow, as we were warned by the critics, but if you stick with it, it gets better, and they were right. One by one a few well-known faces from the past popped up (incl my favorite starship therapist, Deanna Troi from STNG). You’ll reel me in each time with that gimmick. By the time the last episode aired I was raring for more, but will have to wait, and I eagerly anticipate its return (maybe in 2021?).

Then this summer I decided to read, after much encouragement from my uncle and sister who had read it first, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. What finally drew me in was the description that this book was about a man who was also living in a lock-down situation and about his interactions with the staff of the hotel where he resided.

In a way it reminded me a little of the childrens’ book series about little Madeleine who lives in a hotel in Paris I believe. It’s definitely not Doctor Zhivago. Although the Count did indeed reside at the hotel and the staff kept tabs on him. He could still move about the hotel freely, so it’s not like he was being held prisoner in his room. It was his many interactions with fellow (child) resident Nina (and later her daughter who he raised) that were so fascinating as he shared his many insights about the world with her, "By broadening your horizons,” he ventured, “what I meant is that education will give you a sense of the world’s scope, of its wonders, of its many and varied ways of life.”

Nina disagreed and thought that travel would still achieve the same end.

It’s a long novel divided into five books that each chronicle a different period of his life, each chapter as interesting and insightful as the previous, and there’s a nice little twist at the end, so I enjoyed that as well.

My mom kept asking me if I was done with it yet. As I am only a casual reader that usually just savors a chapter or two at bedtime, it took me at least a month to read it, but I enjoyed every page. In fact, since I praised the book so highly, my husband decided to read it too, and also thought it was an excellent recommendation (he was most amused by the antics of the Count’s adopted teenage daughter as she occasionally got into a bit of mischief at the hotel).

My sister recommended the movie “La La Land,” but what put me off was the trailer and movie posters showing Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dancing under the stars in a sort of homage to the golden days of Hollywood musicals. I wasn’t sure I really fancied a fru-fru musical of that sort, but it turned out to be nothing of the sort, and the musical choices were nothing short of inspired (might even buy the soundtrack). I also loved the set design (colorful, interesting and also a bit retro). However, the story is the best part and incredibly realistic in how relationships often turn out. The montage at the end was my sister’s favorite part, and I have to agree. If that’s not enough to lure you, maybe you’re a fan of John Legend who has more than ample screen time. Also, if you’re a fan of Jazz, you’ll get a nice little fix of that too.

The other movie that surprised me by the lasting effect it had on me was George Lucas’ “American Graffiti.” This is like a little slice of “Happy Days” mixed with “Grease.” This is the movie that gave a lot of Hollywood actors their start as it’s a Who’s Who of actors that rose up among the ranks – Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Mackenzie Phillips, and Wolfman Jack to name a few.

It’s the night before some of these high school graduates set off to go their separate ways in the world – some to college, some to the military, or some to stay in town and work at their family’s business. It’s a Friday night, they’re young, they have sexy sports cars/hot rods, and all night to drive around town cramming in one last night of fun.

I especially liked the scenes with Mackenzie Phillips (Carol) as Paul Le Mat’s (John) 12 year old companion for the evening after he asked a car full of pretty teenage girls if any of them wanted to ride around with him that evening. They ended up pushing out their young tag-along, Carol who manages to convince John to let her ride around with him all night.

Then there were scenes with Ron Howard and Cindy Williams discussing their future and Ron Howard’s character deciding that maybe they should see other people when they go away to college. Of course this pair later goes on to become Richie Cunningham and Lori Beth, his future wife on “Happy Days.”

Harrison Ford also had a bright future ahead of him as Hans Solo in all the “Star Wars” films.

Part of the reason this movie resonated with me so much was simply the nostalgia factor of putting yourself in their shoes if this was your last night in town and you wanted to spend it having fun with your friends driving around all night. I am envious that I never had an evening like that (ah, but the 80s were different times).

I also enjoyed spotting so many familiar, much younger faces, though I felt a little sad about a few members of the cast who are no longer among us, but overall the movie was a joyous experience with a terrific retro soundtrack.

I can’t wait to see what else in pop culture surprises me this year.

Local Parks Reviews

My husband and I like to take walks in our spare time.  Fifty percent of that can be attributed to wanting to stay healthy, and now in the midst of Covid, it’s a desire to get out of the house. Most of the time we just walk around our neighborhood sometimes venturing into the fancier estates (add at least $150k to the house prices) that border us both on the north and south. I never tire of this and really love the grandness of so many of them and the occasional unusual architectural detail (like the garage that has doors that open on at least 2 of the 3 sides). It also provides inspiration for decorating choices based on whatever they happen to have on their porch or front yard.

When we feel like going a bit further afield we sometimes head to a park.

We’re lucky that there’s one in the adjacent neighborhood called Scioto Run Nature Trail. We stumbled upon it by accident on a walk one day. It’s not that big, but as there’s woods and a creek, it reminded me of all the parks I visited growing up in Northeast Ohio. We even saw a deer there on our first visit.

Our second visit was planned since we wanted to visit the Little Free Library that had been installed near the west entrance that we usually use. I even brought a couple books to add to it (which was a good thought since it was pretty empty).

We recently went to another park (ML ‘Red’ Trabue Park) in nearby Dublin that reminded me a little of Holden Arboretum (in Kirtland) as it has a pond (Doc Walker’s Old Pond) and a dock that I think you could maybe fish off of. We weren’t very far into the park when we saw a deer that got a little nervous and quickly made its way to the other end of the park into the woods.

Like at Scioto Run, there was also a Little Free Library there, so I stopped to have a look and take a photo.

Attractions at the park include the Fleming family log cabin. The family history was quite interesting. “Mary and Daniel were married in 1865 when she was 16 and he was 24. According to stories, Mary’s father disapproved of her marrying. One evening, Mary climbed out of her bedroom window, and the couple eloped.” You go girl!

It also said they raised a family of 10 in that two room log cabin. This was in the days long before tiny house living was a choice and not a necessity.

Anyway, my husband and I made our way along the paved path occasionally stopping so I could admire the assorted wildflowers (like Queen Anne’s lace and thistle).

What I like about this park was that the trails run behind neighborhoods so you can take a peek at the various houses as you make your way around. It’s not a terribly huge park, so it’s just the perfect size to stretch your legs a little. Also, there are picnic tables so you could always eat lunch and then go for a walk afterwards, or bring a chair and a book and find a spot in the shade near the pond to spend the afternoon.

On Labor Day we drove a little further to Plain City to the Honda Wetland Education Center which is part of the Glacier Ridge Metro Park system. We’ve been to Glacier Ridge, but never to this park. For starters, the wetland part doesn’t currently exist as it’s been a long dry summer so the only water was the pond near the education center (where we saw an American Bittern).

There’s a hide built for looking out over the wetlands to give you a little vantage point over the park. However, there really wasn’t much of a view, but it’s always fun to climb up to the top of those things.

Like most other parks, the trails are paved, and because this park is just part of a much larger park system, the trails are like highway arteries (that go on for miles and miles into other cities) in which cyclists pretty much have the right of way. There’s a sign near the parking lot that advises walkers to stay to the right. If you don’t, you just take your life into your hands.

I can only recommend this park if you want somewhere to ride your bike (helmets definitely encouraged, but optional), but it’s quite honestly not that pedestrian friendly. Still, might be interesting to visit if we ever get a lot of rain again to see what the wetlands might bring in the way of wildlife.

 

 

 

Art Escape

 

What did I do on my summer vacation?

Well, one thing I did was go on a little Art Escape. My husband thought it would be good for me to get out of the house for a change, so he suggested a few field trips to local art museums including the Columbus Museum of Art, the Springfield Art Museum, and the Dayton Art Institute.

 

The current special exhibit on at the Columbus Museum is “Art After Stonewall 1969-1989.” If you don’t know what Stonewall is you’re not alone. I certainly had no clue. According to the museum website, “Coinciding with the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, this long-awaited and groundbreaking survey features more than 200 works of art and related visual materials that explore the profound impact of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ) Civil-Rights movement on the art world. It presents a diverse group of artists and activists who lived and worked at the intersections of avant-garde art worlds, radical political movements, and profound social change. The exhibition focuses on both the work of openly LGBTQ artists as well as the practices of artists in terms of their engagement with newly emerging queer subcultures. Art after Stonewall, 1969-1989 highlights a wide array of conceptual, performance, film, and video art, as well as photography, painting, sculpture, music, along with historical documents and images taken from magazines, newspapers and television.”  https://www.columbusmuseum.org/art-after-stonewall/

I found it somewhat interesting and certainly educational. It’s always a good idea to be enlightened about these things and I definitely have a limited perspective as I don’t have any LGBTQ friends, but am certainly a fan of several gay/lesbian actors and artists.

Here are a couple of my favorite pieces: 

Later in the week we took a little road trip to the Springfield Art Museum. It may be small, but they always have something interesting on, and this time was no different. The main feature was Beneath the Smokestacks: Paintings by David Knapp. According to their website, “David Knapp thoughtfully depicts scenes of labor in foundries through this series of colorful paintings. A foundryman and artist, he intimately understands the processes, machinery, and physical skills required of metalcasting. In his art, Knapp chooses to highlight the people who work in foundries recognizing that the buildings and machinery are stagnant without their dedicated labor. Beneath the Smokestacks seeks to shed light on efforts of the laborers while preserving the rich, industrial history of foundries. Each piece depicts a foundry from around the country including Cast-Fab Technologies in Cincinnati, Ohio and Springfield’s own, O.S. Kelly Company.” https://www.springfieldart.net/

I read that each painting was an amalgamation of photos, so there was a little bit of a creative license taken there. My husband commented that he thought some of the paintings were a little disconcerting because of how close people were painted standing near giant vats of molten steel. 

Leaving there it was a little bit of an exploration of downtown Dayton as we drove around trying to find somewhere where we could grab some fast food for lunch. We eventually found a McDonalds, so got in the drive-thru for that and then ate in the parking lot of the museum (apparently the museum café is no longer operating).

Neither of us had ever been to the Dayton Art Institute, though we have been to Dayton several times to visit the Air Force Museum on the other side of the city.

We were most impressed by the size of the museum which is similar in size to the two in Cincinnati or even the pair in Toledo, though I think they’re all dwarfed by Cleveland’s which is absolutely massive. Anyway, we got a map and slowly made our way around. They didn’t have much modern art, which is my favorite, but I can certainly appreciate a wide variety of styles and time periods. Another favorite is anything Arts & Crafts or Art Deco and certainly anything by Tiffany or Frank Lloyd Wright or Dale Chihuly. I also appreciate it whenever I see anything new or different that I haven’t seen a million times before. That’s why I have to say my favorite collection was the fertility dolls, some made out of hollowed out shells and others that were wooden. I would much prefer collecting those over creepy tribal masks.

By the way, the special exhibit we saw was Samurai, Ghosts and Lovers Yoshitoshi's Complete 100 Aspects of the Moon. It took quite awhile to look at all of them and I only read the summaries on some of them. These pictures were intermixed with other bits of Japanese cultural items like kimonos and swords, etc. I think my husband especially enjoyed this exhibit as he loves all things Japanese (especially anime). 

I definitely enjoyed our excursions out and hope to someday visit the Dayton Art Institute again and can’t believe we’ve lived down in Columbus for 16 years and never visited. Next on our road trip of art museums to visit someday is the one in Akron (I may have been to post college days) and the one in Canton.