monday's mulling: the art of noticing

David from the Adventures of Travel Penguin on his most recent Saturday Morning Post wrote about the difference between looking and seeing. What do you notice? Look for the unexpected in the everyday surroundings.

One week ago, I finished a Frozen Feet Challenge where the goal was to get out and walk every day for six weeks. The last day the plan was to do the usual neighborhood walk down the hill, turn left on the long, straight street, tour all the cul-de-sacs along the way, wind my way home in time to meet with the lady who was coming to the house to give me ideas about some new furniture pieces for the space we renovated. It was going to be a quick walk but then I looked down and saw it. That snow covered leaf - "snowliage" - a transient event, a limited-time masterpiece of nature.

My supposed-to-be-quick walk turned into an over-an-hour-taking-30-photos noticing walk. I just wanted to inject some novelty into the way I saw the neighborhood. It became a game - a single object scavenger hunt, played for the fun of noticing. (In case you were wondering, close call but I did arrive home by the skin of my teeth, just in time for my appointment).

happy 223rd birthday, ohio!

The state that I have called home for most of my life celebrates its 223rd birthday today. Happy Birthday to the Buckeye State! Ohio joined the Union and became the 17th state on March 1, 1803.

A few tidbits about my state:

Why is Ohio called the Buckeye State? In the 18th century when Ohio was settled, Buckeye trees were prevalent in the area. Hence, the nickname the Buckeye state.

Ohio is sometimes referred to as "The Mother of Presidents." Seven of of our presidents were born here.

The state bird of Ohio is the cardinal and the state flower is the red carnation.

The Ohio state flag is not rectangular in design and is the only pennant designed flag of our 50 states.

Photo: Jeff Kubina

More than 300,000 Ohioans served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Ohio is said to have had the most active network of the Underground Railroad of any state with 3000 miles of routes. Today, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is located in Cincinnati.

Thanks to Wilbur and Orville Wright, Ohio is also known as "The Birthplace of Aviation." The Wright Brothers pioneered their gravity-defying machine in their Dayton bicycle. Ohio is also home to prominent astronauts John Glenn, the first man in space and the oldest nam in space and Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Ohio has been a source of aviation innovation over the years. The National Museum of the United States Air Force is located near Dayton, Ohio, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is the largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world.

Ohio has two professional football teams: the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. Interstate 71 connects the two cities for the Battle of Ohio. Canton, Ohio is home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where the National Football League was founded in 1920.

Ohio also is home to two professional baseball teams, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Guardians (formerly the Indians). The Cincinnati Reds, originally known at the Cincinnati Red Stockings, were the first professional baseball team in the United States, founded in 1869.

Originally called the “mechanical money drawer,” the cash register was invented by Ohio native James Jacob Ritty in Dayton.

In 1839, Charles Goodyear from Akron, Ohio invented the process of vulcanizing rubber.

General Mills, of Akron, Ohio, trademarked Quaker Oats as the first breakfast cereal in 1877.

Thomas Edison, famous for inventing the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, was born in Ohio.

The inventor of the traffic light and gas mask, Garrett Morgan, is from Cleveland, Ohio and in 1914, the first traffic light in the United States was installed by American Traffic Signal Company in Cleveland.

“Duct Tape Capital of the World“ is in Avon, Ohio, where the DUCK duct tape brand was created.

Ohio was the first state to enact laws that protected working women in 1852.

Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to admit women and to admit black students.

In 1923, Cleveland High School students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created Superman.

What state is round on the ends and high in the middle? You guessed it...

O-HI-O!

the last day of february

The Brook in February

by Sir Charles Douglas Roberts

A snowy path for squirrel and fox, 

It winds between the wintry firs.

Snow-muffled are its iron rocks,

And o’er its stillness nothing stirs.

But low, bend low a listening ear!

Beneath the mask of moveless white

A babbling whisper you shall hear - 

Of birds and blossoms, leaves and light.

It wasn't a snowy day as in the poem, but Hills & Dales MetroPark was still and quiet and nothing was stirring, except for the soft burbling of water trickling underneath the ice. I heard it, felt the tension from winter and the hidden, but soon to be noticed, spunk of the coming spring. 

the friday feed: mangia!

Wednesday Todd and I met our dear friend Margo for dinner. She had been in Italy (yes, the Olympics) for a couple weeks, was going to be in town for a week, and then head to Florida for a few weeks to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather. In typical Margo fashion, she turns the corner carrying a couple gift bags into the bar where we were waiting, "Buon giorno, buon giorno! I know it's not the right time of day but buon giorno anyway!" 

Italian souvenirs. It was Christmas in February. Those bowls painted in traditional Italian style with the blue evoking the waters around Italy, the lemons symbolizing prosperity (and sunshine!). I was giddy speechless. Puttanesca sauce - lots of garlic, anchovies, tomatoes, capers, and olives. It's a favorite. I asked her if she took an extra suitcase to bring home gifts. She nodded yes with a twinkle in her eye. 

The evening went on, jet lag was catching up to her, we gave hugs and said our good-byes. As she walked to her car, Margo turned around and once again with that twinkle in her eye said, "Think about 2030 and the French Alps!" Now that's a thought. Ooo-la-la!

the daffodils are coming, the daffodils are coming!

Yesterday on my way home from a calming yoga class, I took the road less taken rather than the direct, four lane thoroughfare. The old brick brick road wound through the old money suburb, past some gorgeous homes and the Wright Brothers mansion, and required some maneuvering around tree trimming and utility trucks on the way to see if daffodils were popping up at the "Daffodil House." And there they were. Channeling William Wordsworth, my heart leaped up when I beheld the daffodil buds coming through the ground...

The daffodils are on their way! Right now the green shoots push their way through the ground.

And in a few weeks will be a host of golden daffodils to cause passersby to slow down and appreciate this farewell to winter - the first greeting to spring.

 

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

In Monday's post, I wrote about "stuff" I found while organizing sewing supplies. My grandma made beautiful quilts and during a long ago summertime visit she gave me my first quilting lesson using four patch quilt blocks. Cutting the same sized squares, making even stitches with a needle and thread, not pulling the thread too tight or keeping it too loose, matching the corners...so much to think about. Grandma was so patient with my first try and that experience opened the world to more quilts, needlepoint, counted cross stitching, and machine sewing.

Tucked among my fabrics, look what I found...the little quilt tops with all the pretty fabric combinations that I chose from Grandma's scrap box. My, oh my, what an eye for mixing and matching! 

Now that I have a granddaughter, I'm going to finish these off so if she plays with dolls she can have some blankets to wrap around her little babies. I'll tell her the story about how my grandma taught me to quilt and maybe someday she'll want me to teach her how to make four patch quilt blocks.

The late winter flowers are pushing their way through the dirt. After all the snow that fell a few weeks ago, these sweet winter aconite are such a welcome sight. Yellow...the promise of sunshine and warmer weather.

Valentine's Day is such a busy day at restaurants and for the past few years, Todd's and my tradition has been to order a heart-shaped pizza and have dinner at home. We were invited to a dinner this Valentine's Day so one day after having no inspiration as to what to fix for dinner, yep you guessed it...we ordered a heart-shaped pizza for dinner. Any day is a good day for a heart-shaped pizza!

oh relax

People love to express themselves by the clothes they wear, through the music they listen to, the art they create, the flowers they grow in their gardens...so many ways of self-expression - including the license plates on their vehicles. The surge in popularity is driven (see what I did there 😄) by a desire for individuality and this trend is evident while walking through the grocery store parking lot noticing the catchy phrases on the bumpers. This one hit home. Whenever my mom got worked up about whatever, my dad's response..."Relax, dear." And one time when Todd and I were having a "discussion," a little voice piped in and said, "Weewax, Mommy and Daddy!"

OH RELAX

stamped in metal, bolted to chrome,
a tiny manifesto riding home.

OH RELAX

it sighs at traffic’s daily theater,
at the honk-happy gladiator,
at the tailgater inching near
like urgency itself lives here.

maybe the driver wears it like a grin -
a laid-back soul in rumpled skin,
windows down, arm in breeze,
laughing at life’s small emergencies.

maybe it’s a joke on road rage heat,

a playful jab from the driver’s seat,

a bumper-level therapy session

for every impatient and rude expression.

perhaps it echoes some unseen thread -
a catchphrase once casually said,
an inside joke, a family tone,
a borrowed line now made their own.

OH RELAX

a bumper's message, brief and bright,
a dare to soften, just tonight.

and whether a whisper, joke, or shield,
it turns the highway to a field
where metal carries something kind:
a nudge to ease the racing mind.