Pool Party Panorama

Still playing around with the panorama option on the iPhone to capture the pool at night.

The weather has cooled down considerably so when you get out of the water, and the air hits you, it feels like fall. Brrrr. Last day of July.

Ohio State Fair – Columbus Ohio

Today’s post is primarily people. A few animals. Or people and animals. The food highlights will be a separate post. Stay tuned for a Deep Fried Buckeye. No, I didn’t eat it but someone let me photograph theirs.

I accompanied two moms and seven children! We had a wonderful afternoon. Perfect summer day. Last year our visit to the fair was cut short by a severe thunderstorm. If you are new to the blog you can check it out here

Fans from the egg farmers- outside the Taste of Oho Pavillion- four of them are my grandchildren. Three are their friends.

Thanks for letting me photograph your shirt in the Taste of Ohio Pavillion

No, not going to guess my weight or age today!

Union General from the Civil War Encampment checks out the cowgirl boots

Being taken back to the livestock/ stall area after showing

Abe Lincoln chats with fairgoers

Cowgirl Boots galore

Airbrush artist

Posting a No Firearms sign on the Dairy Pavillion

Jack and Drew talk to the Pirate about missing treasure

At the Cardinal gate.

Bent traffic cone and Ohio State Trooper giving directions

Jack milked a cow. Why he put the sticker on his mouth is beyond me.We did not put it there!

Watching the pig races

Weaving a scarf

Rousing band music

Checking the bags of wool

The horse barn

Sleeping near the livestock

Catching a quick nap behind the concession stands

Waiting in line to milk the cow

Looking down the walkway lined with horse stalls

Exhausted. This woman takes a nap on the grass.

Perfect summer day. Last year our visit to the fair was cut short by a severe thunderstorm. If you are new to the blog you can check it out here

It’s a Blimp!

Three of the kids were playing in the sandbox and backyard tent when we saw and heard this blimp. They were really excited. It was going back and forth and all around. I had seen it earlier on Polaris Parkway but thought it was a tethered balloon for a used car place or something like that.

I shot the first with the phone and the second with the Canon 5D. I think the phone pic looks pretty good. But the larger file could withstand a crop to read the blimp’s lettering which we could not with our eye.

So it’s beer, day two!

And the advertising said:

BUDWEISER

Designate a Driver

(A crop from the photo above)

Light Writing in the Backyard

Four grandchildren in the backyard

+Four White Lightning Sticks with strobe effect (@$5)

+Fading light

+Grandma’s camera on bulb setting, propped on the garden fence.

+Energy and Enthusiasm for the experiment

= ________________________ FUN!

We started out slowly, sitting down on the lawn.

I suggested a little more movement. I’d say they complied on both of these shots.

Michael, Maura, Anna and Jack with their White Lightning Sticks in the Backyard

The final one, directed by Anna, Circles all around. She staggered her siblings so no one hit one another. It started to get buggy. We’ll try again another night.

Jumping into Year Five of Blogging

Dear Blog Readers,

Just after midnight, WordPress notified me of the blog’s anniversary. Four years.

So today’s post is the beginning of year five!

The blogging effort got off to a slow start, I didn’t exactly know what to post and wondered if anyone would look at the posts, let alone follow the blog.

There were spaces between days of blogging.

I’d taken a Purposeful Blogging class with photographer John Craig at the Silver Eye Center for Photography and at the end of the class, I wasn’t sure what my purpose was but I plunged in anyway. A photo. A thought. Something My first post was just a photograph of my grandson Michael in “time out” and the family dog Murphy the Airedale, waiting for him to get out of the corner. You can see the very first post by clicking here. Michael’s going to be 8 next month. And Murphy passed this Spring.

Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement, your taking time to look at my photographs and leave some good words now and again, for clicking the “like” button and for understanding my not being the best replier. Being part of the WordPress Blogging Community has added much to my life.

Grateful for family, friends, fellow bloggers, guest bloggers, readers and followers. xxooxx Ruth

Anna jumps in the pool to get on her mark for the back stroke heat.

Just Past Midnight- Columbus Ohio

My son Mark drove me and my sister downtown so Mary could catch a 1:10 AM bus to DC to visit some friends. We’ve had a nice couple of weeks together, first in New York City and then with the family in Columbus.

After we dropped her at the Greyhound station, he drove me around the downtown area so I could get a few nighttime shots of the city. The Ohio Statehouse- just a bit of it as I shot it from the car window. Had the 70-200mm Canon L series lens on the camera. I should have gotten out of the car but we were on our way to take Mary. I had envisioned flags flying as they had been the last time we drove by in the daytime, but not even a breeze.

Ohio Statehouse (Greek Revival) Built 1839-1861

Christopher Columbus in front of City Hall- a 3-ton bronze statue- Uncrated Oct 10, 1955 A gift from Genoa

LeVeque Tower- second tallest building- Art Deco with red white and blue lights on it tonight for the upcoming Fourth of July

The Palace Theatre

The Columbus Fire Department Memorial Eternal Flame

(You hear about “noise” in a photograph. This is a fine example of “noise”)

The Santa Maria in Battelle Riverfront Park on the Scioto River

City buses lined up headed north

The Columbus Dispatch Neon Sign across from the State Capitol Building

Thanks Mark for the just past midnight tour of Columbus downtown.

What the Kids Saw When They Got Home From the Pool

Jack, Anna, Maura and Michael got out of the van after swimming practice.

The sound of a chain saw goes right through me. The sound that is…..

Shot with the iPhone camera- the kids counted twenty rings

The men are coming back to grind up the trunk. Mark and Erika are thinking of planting a Dogwood Tree.

The firewood shot with the iPhone camera.

and the before photo of the Ash Tree in the front yard

Mark and Erika said the tree had been hit by lightning.

My dad used to play The Ash Grove on the piano.

Hail Stones and Shifty Weather

Sun, clouds, half sun, half clouds. Thunder. Lightning. Still some blue sky.

I don’t usually report on the weather but my sister and I have relocated to the midwest and with a flat terrain, it’s different to experience weather with a giant bowl of a sky overhead instead of jigsaw puzzle pieces of sky, broken up by buildings and trees and land.

Maura got a penny so we could compare the size of the hailstones. She called it the “ice show”

The kids ran around and collected them and put them on the concrete drive. Steam rose from the asphalt after the storm as the temperature had been so hot.

The newest addition to the family – Airedale Terrier puppy Henry.

Here is he checking out the hailstones.

Late Afternoon Ohio Sky

Tall shadow at dusk

Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

They call it challenge for a reason. Escape. Or trying to.

Escape defined : Break free from confinement or control (School is out June 17th)

Need to get away. Get out. Break free.

Attempted escape. Some of mine seem like “trapped” or “escape is necessary” . It makes me consider posting a photograph of our jail that they built along the Monongahela River, spoiling the scenic view. Escape from reality. A fire escape?

Me in the mail chute at the City County Building today when we took down the art show.

Fencing so the Cheetahs Can’t Escape!

Kayaks on the Allegheny River Photographed from the Roberto Clemente Bridge

Fence and Branch at the Softball Game

Did you ever feel like you can’t escape when you are in the middle of the car wash?

Take the keys and lock her up! Little sister tries to escape

A hopeful escape from reality and the rat race. I guess I need to buy a ticket. Oh well.

The Book Loft– Columbus Ohio. Reading is a terrific escape!

A roller coaster is good for a brief escape

at Kennywood Amusement Park

Ready for the get away

A Couple of Fire Escapes ( I was shooting the Bitter End, I think)

Central Park Pastorale

Need an Ohio Spider ID

How do you feel about spiders?

Found under the kids’ sandbox when cleaned out on Sunday. Not sure if it is a biting spider or not. I had no idea there were so many types of spiders in the world.

Looked at some photos online but started to feel confused. Hope someone can tell what kind of a spider he is and if we should worry he is making his home underneath the sandbox.

Anyone have a clue?

I remember reading the kids a book when they were little –Be Nice To Spiders.