Happy Birthday, Treven

Whenever I think of you, Treven, I think of the beautiful drawings and paintings that you create.  Remember when you did this one?

Since doing this one you have learned a lot about using the computer to create art.  I especially like the three dimensional effects that you get now.

I hope you had a very happy birthday and did something you really like to do.

Love from Grandma

Walk at Charleston Falls, June 10, 2014

It is now June 15 and I am just getting around to posting.  I have a new small camera, a Canon, which has different features than my Fuji which I dropped once too often.  I am frustrated with learning how it works but I'll be fine once I understand a few more things.

I was pleased to see Smooth Ruellia (Ruellia strepens).  I usually think of it as Wild Petunia.  I never find more than one here and there.  The flower looks a lot like a garden petunia.  But I discovered by way of the wonderful Internet that it isn't in the same family.  Ohio's wild petunia is an Acanthaceae  and garden petunias are Solaneceae.  The garden petunias were introduced from South America.

In Maryland, what we call wild or smooth petunia , is called rustling wild petunia.  It is on their endangered list.  It is threatened in Michigan where it is called smooth ruellia and also threatened in Pennsylvania where people call it limestone petunia.

This flower  is found as far north as Lake Erie, as far west as Kansas and as far east as New Jersey as well as throughout the southeast.

The picture below was taken at Cedar Pond.  It is one of the two Red-winged blackbird nests found by friends from the UK on Saturday, June 7.

Rocky Fork Driving Trail, Smoky Mountains National Park

We decided to take a side trip as we were returning from North Carolina.  For our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, we had rented a lovely suite for a few days at the edge of Gatlinberg, Tennessee. That was twenty-eight years ago. Tom remembered the Rocky Fork Driving Trail that we had driven then and decided we had time to drive it again.

We turned south at Sevierville.  The area has changed a lot. Lanes are being added to the already multi-lane road that leads to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinberg.  

Pigeon Forge reminded me of an enormous amusement park...King Kong clinging to one building, a monsterous green serpent twisting in and out of another one.  

Gatlinberg was a bit more subdued.  The town ended abruptly at the edge of Smoky Mountain National Park.

The old homestead above was visible from the first scenic overlook on the Rocky Fork Driving Trail.

We continued along the trail.

Along the entire trail, the creek was visible on one side or the other.  Water roared down between and over the rocks and boulders.

There were cars behind us so I had to snap this picture of flowers as we drove by.

Here is a little mill we found.

We found a place to pull over to get a picture of Rocky Fork Creek.  Movement on the gravelly berm caught my eye.

I was delighted...Tiger Swallowtails and Silver-spotted Skippers.

2014 Hug the Earth Festival with the The Banana Slug String Band and the Students of Miami County, Ohio

This is the sixteenth year that I have helped in some way with the Hug the Earth Festival.  It has grown from a one day event with about seven hundred students participating to a four day event with over three thousand students participating.  In addition, there is now a Saturday Festival open to the public.

Because Stillwater Prairie Reserve was waterlogged from the rains of the previous week, the students' festivals were held at the Miami County Fairgrounds.

There were limp antennae on the Banana Slug mascot who met the children as they began their day on Tuesday but by Thursday his antennae were stiff and perky.  He must have found some starch somewhere.

The band members from Santa Cruz, California, "Solar" Steve Van Zandt,

 "Marine" Mark Nolan,

 Doug "Dirt" Greenfield,

 and "Airy" Larry Graff

have been together  for nearly thirty years.  They entertain children and adults with songs about our wonderful earth and encourage everyone to care for it.  For quite a few years "Gaea" Gary has come with them to play drums.  I don't have a recent photo of him.

During the school year the students learn a special earth song, make costumes related to the song and come out to a Miami County Park for a day of exploring and learning more about their special earth song.  The festival is the culminating  event. This year, some of the students were superheros with superhero capes they decorated themselves.

Here is a superhero of Ohio's prairies.

Here is another Habitat Superhero.  Looks like the habitat is a river.  Beside him is the bucket with the rocks he dug out of the sand and gravel pile deposited in one of the Miami County Fair grounds open sided buildings.  All of the rocks in the pile are mined in Ohio.

The older students panned for their rocks.  The rocks they found were from many areas of the world.

In the trough are the pans the the students will use.  Standing around it, getting last minute instructions are the staff who will help them if they need it.  Notice that most of the staff are wearing slug antennae.

Here the students are comparing the rocks they found with samples enclosed in this box.

The Columbus, Ohio Zoo brought unusual animals like this two-toed sloth and talked to the younger students about the animals'  habits.

The older children were treated to a High Ropes Adventure which included a fast ride down a zipline.  There was also a climbing tower.  These were set up behind the stadium.  I took this before the event was completely set up.

On Saturday, tree climbing using ropes was also set up at Stillwater Reserve.

Rain, Sun, Sleet or Snow, the Hug the Earth Festival goes on and brings smiles to hundreds of people.

5.2 Inches of Rain in Less Than Two Hours on May 21!

This is how our backyard looked after about two hours of rainstorms tore through our area.  Along with the rain and wind came pea-size hail for about a half hour.

Our sideyard

Our ditch, our road, the neighbors' ditches on our side and across the street.

May 21 was Wednesday.  Saturday, the yard, except for the ditch was dry so I mowed.  Today the "river" on the basement floor is beginning to dry up.  The three basement sump pumps are running less frequently.

The drain that runs under the driveway still has a little water running into it.  That is a big improvement from Wednesday evening when the drain was under water.  The green circle encloses the water draining onto the cement.  I took this photo a half hour ago when the late afternoon shadows hid much of the water.

Never in all the years we have lived in this house has our yard had standing water in it.

Our town fared worse than we did.  The library is closed until the basement is cleaned out.  The sewer system backed up and spread several inches of yucky mess on the floor.  There is a six foot deep sinkhole on one street.

Even the interstates were affected.  Sections of I-75 and I-70  were closed for hours.

Troy Civic Theatre's Presentation of The Butler Did It

Earlier this month, Tom and I went to The Troy Civic Theatre to see The Butler Did It by Walter and Peter Marks.  One viewer called it "an enjoyable bit of fluff".  She was right but sometimes that is exactly what we want when life gets harried.

All six of the actors are in this photo behind the railing in the lobby.  Jessica Suba, wearing the black gown,  played the diva, Natalie.  She was outstanding in her role as the actress determined to outshine everyone else.  In the play within the play, she is Angela Butler, second wife of Raymond Butler.

Tina Hayes who has dark hair made a lovely blond Victoria Butler in the play within the play.  She is the daughter of Raymond Butler and despises Angela Butler, her stepmother.  Caleb Magill, facing the other actors, is Raymond Butler, caught between his daughter and his new wife.  The actor in the white shirt and suspenders, Scott Atkinson, is the butler for the Butlers.  Second  from the left, Steve Dietrich, is Anthony J. Lefcourt who is writing the play, The Butler Did It, within the play, The Butler Did It. During the play he points out that  all of the actors are "Butlers".  Are you confused yet?

The actors are confused, too because Anthony J. Lefcourt, the writer, and also the director and producer, has not written the final scene so nobody know who will be murdered and who will be the murderer.  Steve Dietrich did an excellent job portraying this obsessed man.

There is a murder and someone does die.  Just what is really happening?  Strange as it may seem, the audience found a lot to laugh about.

Will Chuck Fox who plays Detective Mumford solve the mystery?  Will you solve the mystery?

Is this play a thriller? a farce? a comedy? a study of human personalities?

Terressa Knoch was the director.  She did an excellent job of creating a cohesive whole from what could have been an incomprehensible jumble.

Happy Birthday, Stephen

I will add the picture Grandpa took at your mini birthday party when he puts it into the computer.  Remember when I took this one last year when we had the party for Ted?

This year my birthday blogs are about games you grandchildren play with me.  I thought this one would be a a good one for us to share with friends.

Here is the box cover.  Below it are the rails.

Here is the whole setup.

Here is a close up of the engines we use to mark our places and two sections of railroad laid on the board.

Here are the cards with names of cities on them.

And here are the first five cities you are going to build railroads to.  Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read the names better.

I love you.

From Grandma

PS

Here are two photos Grandpa took.