Dayton Train Show, November 4, 2018

The day was overcast and windy but it wasn't raining.  Hooray!  Our van was parked way out.  Steve spotted the Ford from the 50s immediately and took a photo with his cell phone.  Parked next to it was a very nice  Porsche but he liked the Ford better.

Tom and Steve headed toward the entrance to the show.  I tagged along behind.

Inside, Tom paid our entrance fees and we put on our wrist bands.  My first thought was if this is the train show, it has really shrunk in size.  And then the money taker told us this was only one of four sections to the show.  There was another tent the size of this one and two permanent cement block buildings as well.

The buildings are the first ones that have been put up at the new Montgomery County Fair Grounds.  I am impressed.  The chosen site is beautiful, and large.  The old Montgomery Fair Grounds was close to the heart of Dayton and crowded.

Steve had two goals in mind.  I don't know was highest on his list but I think it was seeing Sam Swanson.  The other goal was just being at the Dayton Train show.

Steve is well known at the show.  His dad, Ray, was active in setting it up for many years.  Vendors know him...

And Exhibitors know him...These two asked me to remind Ray, Steve's dad, that Ray had been the one who got them into working this show.

I followed Steve from place to place until my legs wore out.

Here is an overview of part of one of the buildings.  When Steve saw closest train, he ran to the layout.  "It's The Spirit.  It's The Spirit.  I saw the real one with my dad."  

The Spirit is first in line, a locomotive painted to honor the U.S. Armed Forces.  Here is a closer look for you. It was traveling at a good clip so the photo is not quite in focus.  I didn't think about switching to video mod. 

While Steve and I were roaming about, Tom found a treasure, an advertisement with a map of the Nickel Plate Railroad which ran along the back property line of his childhood home.  He gave it to Steve to hang in his bedroom.

By the time I saw Tom, I was worn out from keeping up with Steve. Tom took over keeping up with Steve. I found a chair and sat down.

Shortly afterward, Terry came and sat down beside me.

I told him Steve was searching was searching for Sam.  Terry said, " I know he is here.  Maybe he stepped out to get something to eat." 

What was even nicer was that Terry started calling Sam on his cell phone.  Sam's phone was busy.  Terry kept trying every five or ten minutes and eventually reached Sam.  By this time I was back to following after Steve.  We were at a train layout talking to a vendor when along came Sam.

There were trains in every imaginable gauge.  Steve seemed most drawn to the HO and N gauges.  

Above is a rail yard in an N gauge layout.

This man's hand adding a car shows the tiny size of N gauge.

This is the town on  the N gauge layout.

Here is FRED...The arrow points to him...Flashing Rear End Device.  Like always, Steve said, "Hello, FRED.  Goodbye, FRED."

Closer view of FRED...

And here is Sam.  Thanks, Terry and everyone else who alerted Sam that Steve was looking for him.

Mission accomplished.  Steve and Sam had a good reunion.  Later Tom and Sam had a good talk, too.                                  

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)