Spring in Cincinnati (April Flawrs!)

Cincinnati had an annual flower show on the regular.  Then the recession hit and then the Cincinnati Horticultural Society couldn't do it (or didn't do it) for four years.  Then in March I started to notice billboards go up for the return of the Show this year. 

Rain or shine.  Guess which day we went.

Saturday weather was idyllic, and we therefore spent it weeding and mowing the lawn and chasing after Smalls.  Sunday it gushed pretty much unceasingly so naturally we suited up to walk around outside in the wet.

  I'm told the crowds thronged in for the great weather, but the good luck within bad luck was that there was no crowd for us.  Or, you know, hardly anyone at all.   We came around 4pm with no tickets, and were given courtesy tickets at the gate for free so this event cost us only what I spent in plants and cheddar+carmel corn.  The rain meant business, and Smalls has a dangerously short attention span anyway, so we just did a quick race through.

There were actually people here, just not many to be found out of tents

There was a barbecue event (special tickets), and a bourbon tasting on Saturday (cry), and a mother-daughter tea (which I would delightedly drag my kid to because they had a gloriously dressed Mary Poppins lady in full chalk-painting-land regalia there I kid you not.  I didn't get a photo, I was trying to juggle my giant golf umbrella and at the time I didn't realize I was blogging again.  Regrets.)  

What I used to love about the flower show is the model plantings, where you can see new and tested plants in garden settings.  

I saw this and thought, "Why! Sweet Woodruff.  I should have that in my yard."  Of course that might require you to reign yourself in if you start to see things that you covet all around.    

"Why!  I totally need these red star thingies!"

This year they featured a variety of model window boxes.  I love looking at the new coleus and heuchera cultivars.  So many more colors than they used to have! 

And, as in the past, they had a competition run by the Horticultural Society.  People compete with their gorgeous orchids and toad lillies and I'm afraid I didn't get more than a few minutes in there.  I did manage to catch this friggin awe-inspiring arrangement featuring David Austin Garden Roses.

needwant  :: drool ::

And lots of perky deer-bait I mean tulips.

excuse my jealousy...

Yeatman's Cove was splendidly decked out with blossoming trees.  The grounds were meticulously cared for, and it was a lovely space to spend time in and sit beneath the trees.  You know, probably.

Despite the unceasing rain, that got quite nasty around 5pm, it was a really nicely turned out spot for the show and I hope they consider having it by the river next year as well.  I enjoy the Flower Show, and I'll go back as long as they keep doing it.  

*

April is also the time when the mature cherry trees in Ault Park bloom.  We did go and picnic.  

"Is that a leaf?  Don't eat the leaf.  No, DON'T eat the leaf."

 I'm glad we went, though it's a bit more of a production than it used to be.  Cincinnatians know that the cherries in Ault Park are a sight to see.   

Lately I feel it's more important than ever to not be content to just let time march on, but to mark it with personal observances, make my own traditions, and to celebrate life and renewal when the opportunity strikes.   

Preferably with bourbon.

LINK : PR Bit on the Flower Show from the Cincinnati Business Courier

Ault Park in Bloom

I love when the days are long enough for us to get out and play.  When the weather is as lovely as it was on St. Patty's Day, how can you not get out and enjoy it?   

I missed the first few days of beautiful weather, sprawled out on the couch with a fever.  Poor dog didn't get much exercise, and I'd like to say he was pretty good about, except he's been jumping the fences to play with the neighbors' dogs again.  And then I had to run out in my slippers and madwoman hair, apologizing, trying to coax Dog back into the yard.  And because he was passive aggressive, he took some persuading.  Humiliation.  Clever vengeance, Dog.  

But St. Patty's Day had me feeling better than I have in awhile.  So as a treat for both of us I got out early with young master Bobbins, and we went to Ault Park.  

Just like Cherry Blossom time in Japan, people were out with their families, their dogs, their cameras, to take in the beautiful blossoms.

We went early in the day, so it was still quiet, the earth and blossoms were fragrant, especially thanks to the rain yesterday. 

I'd brought my headphones but I never put them in, choosing instead to give the full attention of my senses to the show that nature was putting on.  The birdsong was adequate soundtrack for me.

People enjoy sakura in Japan by having "Flower Viewing Parties."

A bunch of friends or family with spread a tarp underneath the canopy of blossoms and have a picnic and some drinks, and just generally have a good time. 

 No familiar blue tarps at Ault Park, and at that early hour there were no picnickers either.  All for the best I suppose, as they don't smile on publicly imbibing alcohol in the park, St. Patty's Day or no.  

No picnic for me either, especially not with the Dog in tow.  I can't imagine anything more impossible, actually.  

 

I certainly took my time strolling the grounds.  Took a photo for a sweet young couple.  Joked about stealing their fancy camera.  ha haa.

And maybe its all in my head, but I swear that something about a shift in weather that really seems to open people up.

 

The usually (seemingly) standoffish Cincinnatians around me were cordial in their greetings, pleasant in their hellos.  

Magnolia

There was an openness, a warmth that pervaded the scene.  Or maybe I'm the one that opened up? 

Camouflage, for the win

Oh, I'm making it sound pretty pastoral, huh?  But you know what?  It kinda was.   

Star Magnolia

A Spring morning spent in Ault Park is time well spent. 

 

Maybe even good for the soul.

 

While the D's Away, the H Will ... languish on sofa, apparently

D was gone on a business trip for a week.  Oh, the plans!  The plans I had!

Alas, I caught a sickness and spent the week exhausted, eating canned soup instead of experimental home-cooked meals, watching a marathon of Battlestar Galactica with the dog while dosing myself with cold meds and wishing I had less to do at work so that I could take some sick days.  I'm much better, but still a bit run down.
And no longer home alone.  What a rotten shame.

Bobby makes me fastforward through all BSG scenes focusing on blonde Slut-bot

I was going to have this thematic week of fresh-veg meals with mushrooms and tomatoes.  A pizza.  A salad.  A fritata.  I was struck with a desire to eat fresh veg when D pulled up a bit of our lawn and chewed on it.  True story.  We were surveying the front yard, taking note of a possible bulb coming up, and at the corner of the lawn were bits of very green, long curlicuing blades.

"What is that?"  I asked.  David walked over, stooped without pausing, and ripped a handful away.

"Hey!" I complained, right before he put it in his mouth and tore off bits with his teeth.  He savored my dumbfounded expression for a moment before he let me know, "it's green onion," and offered me some.  I took it, sniffed it, and bit off a teeny cud of my own. 

By George, it was. 

What a lovely, edible surprise!  Of course, seeing as how its in the front yard by the sidewalk, it was probably peed on by all the neighborhood dogs.  I washed them before I made D a pre-flight lunch with them. This bean/tomato/onion salad was the only "cooking" I did all week.  And its not "cooked."  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Thar be green onion in thar

That's pretty much the extent of all productivity for the week.  No cooking, cleaning, dancing, nothing.

"Whut? You like what you see?"

I was well enough to spend the gorgeous St. Patty's Day at Ault Park!  If you're a Cincy local, go.  Go now.  It's a beautiful day!

Eager Wilderness Doggie Adventures

When your border collie becomes bored, it is his problem. 

He will make it your problem.  I promise you.

I had felt pretty run-down last week, what with Cricket's untimely death.  So I had slacked off on walkies for the puppy.  Meaning I also slacked off on training.  Bobby let me know in his own sweet way that it was not in my interest to continue to loaf around moping. 

Eager explorer doggie

This past weekend we had to travel to T-Town to visit family and celebrate my nephews' third birthday.  In part out of guilt for neglecting my poor puppy, and in part to settle him down for a super-long car-ride, this past Saturday we took him to our favorite park.  Ault Park.



Trees

  

Ault Park's most visible landmark is the pavilion and the grounds and gardens surrounding it.  It's a lovely spot, which is probably why its so sought after as a wedding venue.  We had our own wedding photos taken there.  It also has a newly planted sakura grove next to the ball field.  I cannot wait to see it in bloom next spring. 

Nature

The weather was unseasonably warm, the trees were showy with autumn, and there were quite a lot of people (and dogs) coming and going.  Nearby a Korean family was playing soccer ("No, no! Mama already got red card!"), but Bobby didn't bother them, which was a blessing as he has taken to barking formidably at anything, and sometimes at nothing. 

The ball field would have been a great place to let Bobby run, and D tried to play fetch with Bobby, but it was just impossible.  Bobby has difficulties with his attention span in the best of circumstances.  In the park, there were just too many sights and sounds and smells for him to withstand.  Our giddy puppy barely looked at the ball we threw for him.  He also wasn't terribly obedient.  So we took to the trails.

Ault Park's wooded trails are sorta rugged.  Perhaps I say that because of the dirt trails and because I may or may not have fallen down some old stone steps.  Whatever.  The woods made for a lovely walk, and Bobby got to explore in the wilderness. 

There were some dogs running around off-leash, which made me tremendously nervous.  I don't know what strange dogs will do.  I have yet to feel a mastery of my own dog, nor do I posess an understanding of what he will do.  So the meeting on the trail could have ended in tears.  But the off-leash doggies (also border collies) were well behaved and quite obedient.  They sniffed eachother and that was the extent of the interlude.  Wish Bobby were so well-mannered. 

Anyway, it was a lovely day for it.  And probably the last nice/warm weekends this year.

Colder days they are a-coming

The rest of Bobby's weekend could be described as traumatic.  We shoved him in a car for hours on end, where he got carsick (as he often does) and threw up in the back seat.  The next day we walked him up in a wooded park up north, but then cruelly packed him away in the car for another torturous ride.  He didn't throw up on the way home, but there were some shaky moments. 

When we got home and after things settled down I took him for a walk.  We were walking down a busy-ish street in front of a restaurant and suddenly Bobby's head snapped toward the landscaping bushes.  He immediately tensed up, growling and snarling as I have never seen him do.  Bobby continued baring his teeth and barking (reeeally loudly) and I admit, I was frightened.  My first thought was that some ill-intentioned creature would rush us from the bushes.  After a few moments, when it became glaringly obvious that neither feral mongoose nor sabre-toothed wombat was flying out of the shrubbery at us, I felt a tad embarrassed.  Bobby was still doing his (loud) impression of a rabid mongrel.  And finally it dawned on me. 

There were two animals.  One was my dog.  One was the mascot of the barbecue joint. A giant pig statue.

There in front of an elephant-sized pig, my dog was having a cow. 

I tried to bring him closer to show him that the pig wasn't real.  He put his paws out in front of him, trying to hunker down, desperate to not go any closer.  I stood in front of piggy calmly.  I knocked on it with my hand to show him it was solid.  I tried to explain that he might be overreacting but that I appreciated his concern for us both all the same. 

Bobby paused, tearing his eyes away to look at me as though listening to reason.  And then he continued to have his panicky fit.  He would not be shushed.  The barking stopped only when I clamped his mouth shut.  And when I released his jaws he started again.  There was nothing for it.  I began to drag him bodily away.  Because he didn't want to leave either.  As though the spot he was on was the only spot that was safe from the giant pig.   On the way home he kept looking behind us, as if expecting to be mauled from behind by a ravenous pig. 

What are we going to do with this dog?

aw.

Another tale of a doggie driven mad by an animal statue.