Our First Noticeable Frost, Oct, 18, 2018

I looked out the dining room window...a skim of ice on the birdbath.

I looked out the garage door...orange-red leaves on the neighbor's treetop.

In the neighbor's yard...white frosted tips on the evergreens, white frosted grass on the ground.

I walked out to the prairie patch...Frost on the seedheads of the bergamot.

Fall is here.

Tipp City Mum Festival, September 30, 2018

Tom was on a mission.  When he is in a crowd, foremost in his mind is navigating through it.  I followed along behind and looked at booths and signs.  Over in the distance on the left side of the photo is the Tipp City High School Football Stadium.  A group of citizens are in the process of raising money to renovate it.  This year they collected enough to redo the field. There is an overall plan and they choose sections of it to work on as the money is collected.

I think  renovating the stands is next on their list.  I hope so.

This was the sixtieth year for the festival.  When it started, the Springhill Nursery had fields of mums planted in fields along the highway so chrysanthemums were the obvious choice for the festival's emphasis.  Since then Springhill has been sold several times and no longer has the fields of mums but the name remains and so do mums at the festival.

Years ago when we were active  in Cub Scouts with our boys, we were part of the Saturday morning  parade.

Later on, I had a booth at the park where I drew charcoal sketches of visitors for ten dollars each.

There must have been  more Tipp area artists and artisans at the park but Tom kept zipping along.  I only saw Paper Alice.  She had a booth at the park when I did and she has continued to have a booth.

She makes beautiful paper from the ads she receives in the mail.  She includes bits of leaves and flower petals and tiny stones and spices from her kitchen to add interest.  She sells her paper, creates art on her paper and teaches others how to make paper.  In this picture, you can see everything she uses to go from start to finish.

And here is a closer look at her paper.

If you are curious about her work  you can get more information at
www.paperalice.com

 The last time we came to the festival in the park, food truck events were a fairly new type of event in our area.  There were only a few food trucks at the park.  This year there were many, many food trucks.

 I photographed this truck because man with the red and black striped cap is one of the old-time baseball players.  Tipp City has an old-time baseball team.  There are others in the area.  They play baseball according to the old-time rules.  There was a baseball tournament in progress.  It was between games for this player.

Local groups as well as food truck owners were selling food.  I remember the Fire Department selling waffles back in the days when we were part of the Cub Scout group.

The park was crowded with booths.  In them people were selling...

bamboo socks...

alpaca sweaters....

Halloween decorations...

Fairy Princess crowns...

and hundreds of other wares.

Tom knew where he wanted to stop...The Miami County Park District tent.

They had a step by step craft set up so people could make a paper flower.

As we were leaving, I looked down the path and there they were...the pick-up basketball players.  I see players on these courts almost every time I drive by the park.  

A pleasant visit to the park on a pleasant day.  The sun was shining. The temperature was in the low 80s and there was a gentle breeze. 

Visit to Bill's HO model train Open House on Saturday, October 6

Steve's dad told us that Bill was having an Open House.  His dad is working overseas for the next three years so he couldn't take Steve to see it.  Since Steve was with us for the weekend , I drove him over to see it.

I didn't tell Steve where we were going but he recognized Bill's street when we turned down it.

It made me happy to see how happy Bill and Steve were to see one another.

Steve noticed immediately that Bill had changed the layout.

This is part of the long train that circled the layout.  Bill said it had been circling the layout for hours without a problem.  Each circle was equal to a mile in HO scale.

Here is Bill's Control Center.

Bill has some little story scenes set up.

This is one.  Bill and some friends are on the railroad property watching the trains.  It is illegal to go onto railroad property but in this case it is all right because the owner, Bill, is one of the watchers.

Down the road, law enforcement is keeping a close eye on Bill and his friends.

Steve enjoyed talking about railroads with Bill and other railroad fans who stopped in to see the layout.

Bill has railroad posters and other memorabilia hung on the wall near the entrance.

Here is a closeup of a drawing by Bill which is displayed on the wall.

On the table in front of the wall is a paper and pen so visitors can sign in.  Bill has had over a hundred visitors this weekend.

There was also a model on the table that Steve recognized.  "My dad made that!"   Steve was talking about the space ship/engine.

"Yes", said Bill.  "Your dad gave it to me the day I went over and helped him take down his train layout  That was a sad day."

The layout was packed away in crates and is now in storage until Steve's dad has a place to set up a layout again.

Tom's Eightieth Birthday Celebration...4 Months Early

After my big surprise birthday party, I began thinking about Tom's next birthday.  It will be his eightieth and he will again be as old as I am.  

Since he was born in January and we live in Ohio, we didn't think it would be easy to have a big party like he had for mine.  My sisters told us not to expect them to come.  Nobody who lives in Florida is likely to chose to come to Ohio in January.

Finally, Tom said, "I'd like to go to a Reds baseball game."  

Now that is something he can't do in January.  But he can do it now.  I told him to order the tickets and I would pay for the day's expenses.   

Years ago we would go to a game or two every year. but the games are expensive now.  We haven't gone to a game for eight years or more. I paid for the expenses out of my savings account.  That way he could forget about the cost and enjoy the day.

Tom was able to get tickets for his favorite seats, the handicapped accessible seats on the street level so we were close to food, the restrooms, and under a roof to protect us from the sun.

We got to see one of our favorite Reds, Joey Votto.

Billy Hamilton made one of his astounding catches out in right field.

By and by it became clear that the Reds were not going to win.  That was disappointing but the day was beautiful...sunny, a light breeze, sweater weather.  We even saw a Monarch butterfly flitting over the heads of the fans seated in front of us.

We watch the Reds regularly on TV but it was fun to actually be part of the crowd and see things not usually seen on TV like this truck with a revolving shooter on the back end that shot favors into the crowd.

This man had an air gun that shot off  favors.

In the last few innings, by the magic of computers, catcher's masks covered fan's faces caught by the Great American Stadium's cameras.  The "K"s (for Kroger) were turned to celebrate strikeouts by the Reds' pitchers.  If only the batters had hit in a few more runs!

Afterward, Tom said wistfully, "Do you think you have enough money to eat at the Hofbrauhaus in Newport?"  He is a lover of German food.

I decided that I did.

Part of the brewing system is on display behind the bar and the entire process is pictured on this diagram between the men's and women's restrooms.

It took Tom a while to decide on his meal.

Saurbrauten with spatzle and red cabbage. (I chose Salmon.)

Happy birthday, Tom (four months early)

Egad! The Lady in White, a play by Tim Kelly...The First Play of the 2018-2019 Season of The Drama Workshop at The Glenmore Playhouse

Tom, Steve and I went to the last of the nine performances of Egad, The Lady in White, a play by Tim Kelly.  The title of the play comes from a mystery written by Wilkie Collins in 1859.  Collins' book is considered one of the first modern mystery novels.

 

The cast of Egad! The Lady in White. If you click on the photo you will get a larger view of the cast members.  Or you can look at the two photos below.

.  Front row...Ann Barfels as Miss Peach, Peggy Allen as Countess Fosco, Larry Mills as Lawyer Gilmore, Marcha Hunley who was the Director of the play.

   Back row...Linda Abbott asMaestro Lillian Buchanan, Kent Smith as Professor Smyth, Joe Ward as Sir Percival Glyde, and Victoria Kirby-Schwarber as Laura.

 Front row...Gretchen Stommel as Amelia, Victoria Covarrubias as Mrs. Catherick,  and Elizabeth Hickerson as Marian.
  Back row...Stephanie Klein as Dora, Alan Kootsher as Frederic Fairlee, Aaron Ellis as Walter Hartright, and Stefanie Adams as Madame Evan-Mills.

If I have made errors in the identification of the cast members, please let me know.

Below is the cast plus a few of the other people who made this play possible.  On the left, Greg Schaper who was one of the master carpenters as well as an usher and an official host during the intermission on Sunday when Tom, Steve and I attended.On the right are the co-producers, Valeria Amburgey, Dennis Murphy, and Elaine Volker.  They also helped in other ways.  Many other people were involved as well.  I took this photo quickly as the cast and technicians were rearranging themselves for more photos.

It is always interesting to me to see how the stage area and the audience seats are set up for the various plays. For this play, they was set up to accommodate a thrust stage. What I think of as the normal stage area was the luxurious library of Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet, played by Joe Ward.  In scene 7 of the second act, it became, with a change of props, a room in the parish church.

The forward thrust area was the Limmerage House, the home of Frederick Fairlie, a wealthy hypochondriac land-owner.  In the second act, for one scene, it became a cell in Countess Fosco's asylum for the insane.

Between the two "homes" is an area which served as a path and as a corridor.  I've pointed to this area with the arrow.

I know there must be technical names for all these sections of the performance area but  I don't know them.  

In this photo you can see the piano.  The piano player, Linda Abbott, by playing the appropriate music, created an old-fashioned melodramatic atmosphere.

One of the traditions of The Drama Workshop since 1968 has been to have a Sword on the stage during every performance as a symbol of the continuous unity of performers and technicians.  Some times it is easy to spot, sometimes its is hard to spot.  Steve found it quickly.  Do you see it?  He had to tell Tom and me where it was.  Hint:  Only the hilt is easily visible.

As in many melodramas, the acts of the play were separated by musical interludes or "Olios".  The Drama Workshop players developed their own Olios. We were treated to duets and solos by Stefani Adams (Madame Evan-Mills) and Kent Smith (Professor Smith).  The songs were great fun, partly because the audience was invited to join in on some of them.  It has been years since I have sung the chorus to Daisy, Daisy, (Bicycle Built for Two) and The Man on the Flying Trapeze.  The Words for the choruses of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder and Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight were printed in the playbill.

The audience was encouraged to participate in other ways as well.  We hissed and booed the villians and ahhed when we were touched by touching romantic scenes.

But, for Steve, the best part of the afternoon for Steve was visiting with his theater friends. They greeted one another with joy. He hugged them and they hugged him.

Usually we spend time talking with our son, Ray and his wife,Gretchen, but since Ray is on a three year assignment to London, UK we didn't do that.  They are still active with the theater.  He plans to design sets and she is on the Marketing Committee. They will communicate via the Internet.  It is a wonderful world that we live in.