A Quadrennial Post

 

Gift from D., purchased while at a conference last year

I am celebrating the Olympics by stocking the little library,

reading the newspapers,

and pulling out old shirts.

We have been watching the Australian 9Now

and the German Sportschau.

I like the official site for basic information. If only there were time to watch everything!

Home ownership

We love many things about our house, but there are bits of reality that aren't my favorite parts.

D. is great at dealing with regular issues around the house, including plumbing problems. On the other hand, if one's drain auger snake is only 25 feet long there are limitations.

Not looking good

Plumber's snake, but it wasn't long enough so he
left and came back with a longer one. Success!  

Next up was a fly infestation. Ewww! But D. found where they were coming from and we worked together to deal with it. 

Having them out of the house reminded me of this book.

I don't know if it is related, 

but we have had two tiny lizards in the house recently.

I had an email saying the power would be out until noon.
No problem, I can go without or go other places.

I got the car out of the garage before the power was out and came back from the grocery store after noon. Maybe I should not have been so optimistic about the timing. But all is well that ends well and nothing melted/got spoiled.

Now we are trying to hire someone to rebuild some windows, fix a tiled floor, and other tasks that are best done by professionals.

Thank goodness these are my biggest issues!

Birthday Trip, final part

In some newspaper I read about a new donut place in Redlands, which serves an unusual selection (e.g., orange blossom, miso caramel banana). I was tempted by the carrot cake donut

In the end I had my favorite, an old fashioned, and D. had vanilla.

From there we cycled the same route. It was less drizzly but still hard to get good views. After showering and packing up we drove to campus to walk around. 

We enjoyed walking around, but did wonder if students cycle, walk, or use transit to get to town. Or maybe they just stay on campus?

We did not take a tour of the most famous house in town, 

"time takes all but memories"

but thoroughly explored the grounds.

We drove by a few more houses on the way to lunch. We were too late for the orange season but bought some local avocados.

There was a pop-up bakery serving a hot lunch and there were three little libraries to explore while waiting for our lunch.

I am not sure why I chose this, but it made me smile.

The whole weekend made me smile! I love taking tiny vacations that are not too far from home.

Birthday Trip, part two

You have been very patient. Unfortunately, I have a lot of pictures, but some fuzzy memories about why I took those pictures. I'll do my best.

Each part of this post could be its own post, but here's the short version of our second day.

As I write this in the heat it is hard to remember cycling in the drizzle and fog and being cold, but it was still a good ride. I am guessing the views would have been great if it had been clear.

After the ride we headed to the public library, which I make sure I visit each time I am in Redlands. 

I love the Leo Politi mural

and stained glass windows.

We visited the Friends bookstore for the first time.
Of course, I had to support them by buying some books.

We visited the heritage room to learn more about Redlands

and found information about the original water
station for dogs (seen in the first Birthday Trip post).

Right outside the library door was an arts festival. 

We did not buy anything, 

but enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa-themed art contest.

Other highlights of the day were 

"The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is the only museum and archives dedicated to the study of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War west of the Mississippi River."

house tour by bicycle

Finish line of local bike race

We had an early dinner at a Thai restaurant and enjoyed 

some great shave ice, which was new to me.

We did have a couple questions.

Why does the city have so many logos?

What do the numbers on the old lampposts mean? I thought they were locations, but they were inconsistent from to the next.

Month-long celebration

 A few snapshots from our travels

In Denver

Yellow Springs, Ohio -
a small liberal island in a huge conservative sea

In a beautiful library in Hamilton, Ohio

"June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Celebrate by learning more about the community!"

Cleveland Heights High School
photo by Megan Ullom

Another Holiday

We were in Ohio for Juneteenth (more on that later)

and the airline had decorations up in Cleveland.

Banks were closed, but there we did not see
other signs of the holiday in southwest Ohio.

I can always count on the library for information.

When I was cycling around northeast Ohio I saw two houses with Juneteenth flags.