Lucy

Our friends' sleepy puppy, Lucy.

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Butt Drugs

On a recent trip to Indiana, I spotted this drugstore. How could I not look twice, much less skip taking a photo?

I know it's a bit immature, but in my defense, the company embraces the unusual name. And why not? A little self-deprecation never hurt anyone. If I'm ever in the area again, I'm getting a t-shirt.

This reminds me of a gas station we used to pass with my mom on visits to my grandma. For a long time, it was called Pee-Pee Gas. This site makes it seem like that's still the name, but I haven't seen a sign for years. "Pee-pee" was a phrase we were discouraged from saying as children, but that was the one time it was acceptable. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Love Van

I spotted this van when I walked to the corner for lunch. On the side, it said:

"The Greatest Thing You Will Ever Learn, Is Just to love, and Be Loved in Return"

I love when people paint and/or glue things to vehicles, or when people drive unusual vehicles. I once saw a car in Indiana somewhere, out near the casinos, that had hundreds of little plastic toys glued to it. There used to be a man in my college town who drove a hearse and wore a top hat everywhere he went. Also in my college town...there was an older gray car with messages written all over it in Sharpie Marker...about the government, religion and anything else he seemed to be paranoid about.

Cave Graffiti

Found this graffiti during a tour of Marengo Cave. Most of it seemed old, though some was newer and therefore puzzling since the only way in is on a guided group tour.

I like the way "Oscar" is scrawled. Not that I condone graffiti, but it looks like it was long enough ago to be forgivable. Has that turn-of-the century look to it.

Caves are so delicate and beautiful that I can't imagine doing this now.

Not our Scavenger Hunt

When does curious become nosy?

My husband and I asked ourselves that question on Valentine's Day when we were visiting Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. We had just come from Rabbit Hash in a strange frame of mind, given the unusual characteristics of that small hamlet. On a whim, instead of walking to see the bison herd as we usually do when visiting there, we headed down to the sulphur spring.

After a few wrong turns, we finally smelled, and then saw, the spring. We took some photos and marveled at the briny bubbles coming up from the ground. My husband notices small details, whereas I take in overall impressions, so it was no surprise when he's the one who saw the red rose in the grass right off the trail.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered it had a note wound tightly around the stem and tied with a piece of blue ribbon.

Nobody else was in the parking lot or on the trail, so we decided to take a peek.

The note read:

3.) Jeez 'o peet man!!! Took you long enough to get here!
Pick up the pace!! These flowers DO die you know! Go down*****
and find my sign on the right! Get yourself a flower!

"Don't let my client see you!"

I've omitted the street name in the interest of letting the person who set up this scavenger hunt have some privacy, especially if the next rose was hidden in a location where they work. We put it back exactly as we found it.

We briefly entertained the idea of staying one step ahead of the intended person and drove down the road out of curiosity, but eventually abandoned the hunt when we came to the conclusion this was between two lovers and nothing more. We've seen to many adventure movies.

What would you have done?

Inauguration

2009-02-13 08:34:09 -0500
Originally uploaded by True North Two

This post is a little late, but I just uploaded this photo from my phone.

On Inauguration Day, some coworkers and I gathered in a conference room to work while we tuned in.

I thought this picture was funny...if you look closely, you'll notice we are all live-tweeting. Dorks.

Early Valentine's Day

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Storm moving out

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I took this photo as Neil and I headed out of the city last night. We saw some of the most beautiful clouds and several rainbows. It was definitely the calm before the storm. While we were watching Pi, a windstorm battered our house and sent debris flying down the street.

Turn, turn

Last weekend, we visited the Cincinnati Nature Center in Milford, where we were married. We had a heavy snow the week before, and then ice covered everything. On Saturday, the temperature rose, the sun came out and winter hinted at spring for a few hours.

It was a bright day and the snow was almost blinding. The sun glinted off the branches of all the trees, which looked like delicate glass. We had to be careful of huge drips from the treetops.

I was fascinated by the buds encased in ice. It's really so beautiful and symbolic it doesn't even need to be explained.

We walked out to the cabin in the middle of a field, where we saw snow shoe prints and the tracks of everyone, man and beast, who came before us.

Inside, small bird prints were scattered on the light snow that had drifted inside on the rough floor.

It was nice to visit in weather the complete opposite of what we had on our wedding day, which was hot and sticky but quite lovely when it cooled down in the evening. I love to see the seasons change, especially in the woods surrounding Krippendorf Lodge (pictured), on whose steps we said our vows.

Seasons change, so do we. We've gone through so much in three years, in fact, that it's almost hard to believe that's us standing on the steps in the early summer sun.

Ride Home From Work

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That evening, things were no better. This is a view on the way home--that's all ice. We slipped all the way home. It took about two hours.