Yesterday I did the unthinkable: forgot to take my cell cam on a hike at the Narrows!  I may be the lowest-tech photographer on earth, and I don’t even own a smartphone, but I never leave home without my dumb-cam.  Distracted, I guess.  Here is what I discovered:

1. I’m a nature-photo-freak.  I was having withdrawal symptoms!  It was unpleasant but revealing.
2. I’ve come to view my surroundings through a photo-eye, always looking for unique angles, light, and framing techniques.  It gives me a sharper appreciation for every little thing in nature, but my other senses take a back seat.
3. Without my photo-appendage, I had to resort to simple enjoyment of the general autumn beauty, with my other senses kicking in.  I wasn’t distracted by getting just the right shot.  There were masses of pastel asters of all kinds, and falling leaves in every shade of fire.  The wind was up, and it smelled that peculiar transitional aroma of fall.
4. Also I got more exercise.

I will not repeat that lapse again!

To somewhat make up for it, here are some typical scenes of Ohio.  I believe my main takeaway from here will be:

1. SKY.  So much sky.  Extreme sky.
2. BEER.  Many fine beers.  (e.g., this Iron Line Midtown Station amber ale, pictured.)
3. Yellow Springs, an island of progressiveness in a backward sea of feed corn and soy.
4. Beautiful prairies and wetlands.
5. And…back to sky and beer.

I’ll definitely be overcompensating for my lapse when we make our long-awaited pilgrimage to Hocking Hills State Park, the motherlode of gorgeous photo-opps.  Coming soon, resistance is futile.

I couldn’t adequately capture the big orange harvest moon (the full moon after the equinox) last night, but it was incredible.  It was even nicer to be able to step outside unobstructed in the pleasant evening air to view it.

It’s Sukkot and erev Shabbat, so doubly festive.  Or at least an excuse to doubly drink to get into the holiday spirit.

A rainy Sukkot, how droll.  Since I don’t have a sukkah, it doesn’t affect me, but it has always struck me how unsuited a symbolic desert wilderness hut was to the northeastern US climate in fall.  Here in the midwest, it’s still warm, but invariably in the NE it would become cold and rainy on Sukkot, just as you were considering the tradition of eating and sleeping under the stars.  Haha!  I’m just glad I still have a roof over my head, and festive things to eat and drink.  Also, plants are finally getting watered out there, so I’m good.  L’chaim, to next year in a sukkah in the Smokies.

Cheers to all who celebrate the festival of Sukkot.  We’re trying to keep our spirits up, with festive décor and a meal.  It’s not easy sometimes.  We long for the day when we can grow our own flowers and food, and maybe even get to share some with my son and Gkids, before they’re gone (or I am).

Not cussing, just referring to our latest park find, below an old dam.  It was a pleasant walk through woods looping around wetland bogs formed by runoff from the dam.  There were schools of tiny fishlings in the river.

Of course, this called for a beer, another dog one, an Avery (CO) Ellie’s Brown Ale, just right for a warm fall day.

Here is a Mt. Carmel (Cincy) Nut Brown Ale and some other festive seasonal stuff, to lighten the mood for Sukkot, starting Wed. eve.

I can’t describe how liberating it feels to not run the hazing gauntlet to and from our front door.  It turns out the realtor didn’t even know they had moved out, until we let them know!

To add insult to injury, they removed and stole the actual apt. carpeting (ew?), not to mention all the other vandalism and damages they left in their wake.  We know the landlord is not amused, and hope he catches up with their sorry asses.

This is why we just want to find a quiet, private, secure place to live, without ignorant neighbors minding our business.  Then we can decide for ourselves who to have dealings with, on our own terms.  For E especially, it’s all she has to hope for, and as for me, after this sobering experience, it will seem like a luxury.

The garden beckons, minus the minefield, so off I go…

To celebrate our new freedom from tyranny, we went to Lowes (!?) to get hardware to secure the building.  It doesn’t take much to amuse us.

Then we ate at an Indian restaurant, always a special treat, and bought some dry dals at their little store.

Naturally we adjourned to the Tavern for a Hi-wire-Lo-pitch IPA (NC).

Of course, then we had to hang out with Mister Eko at Dark Star, who was amazingly awake and strolling around amongst his admirers.

Even my inner natterer seems to have been liberated by the departure of our tormentors.

Who knew cleaning up biohazardous waste could feel so…cathartic!  

While E scrubbed down and sanitized the entire downstairs, basement, and porch (don’t ask), and returned large items to storage, I cleaned up and sorted the landing and apartment for same, and reorganized our gardening/hardware storage under the basement steps.  (Unspeakable things were left there by the tenants.)

While I was outside dumping debris, I hesitantly creeped over to my poor bedraggled flower bed out front, like an abused dog, tail between legs, looking over my shoulder.  I’ve been that intimidated for a year.

The tenants used to climb in and out of their front windows onto my flowers, and leave their screen lying there.  Of course the herds of kids trampled them as well. I almost busted my mower on a piece of coat hanger left in the lawn, undoubtably used for breaking into one of their vehicles.

The very luxury of being able to access the garden freely once more is so unfamiliar.  Here’s some of what I found!  The little conifer was a tiny seedling when I first moved here.

I symbolically hung our rainbow flag in the front window (inconspicuous to the outside, but illuminated by the sunlight).

This must be what it’s like to be out on parole, rediscovering the minute pleasures of normal life.

There must be a psych term, like stockholm syndrome, for when you’ve been so confined by others’ bad, abusive behavior that it’s as if an invisible electric fence or force field contains you.  When your “captors” disappear virtually overnight, for days afterward you still feel like any minute now they’ll go “psyche” and return to catch you out of your cage.  That’s how I feel.

Weird, almost spooky, to have no slamming, banging, yelling, and lurking down below, just blessed silence.  It will take a while to overcome the brainwashing (and site contamination) and feel safe to just come and go about our business any time.  Never take that simple freedom for granted!  It seems too good to be true.

It was odd watching the inevitable human scavengers come out after dark, like buzzards, and start picking through the trash left at the curb. That was after dogs and cats had stopped by to mark their territory.  People were even trying on old clothing from trash bags, right there on the street.  No doubt the same clothes the ex-tenants used to leave on the filthy basement floor which their backed-up sewage had covered.

Now, to get the locks changed so all the stray key copies out there in who knows whose possession don’t get used.  Ironic, since they were constantly “losing” copies and leaving the common doors wide open at all hours.  This neighborhood is known for break-ins.

The joys of living in an economically depressed area.  I realize it’s not unique to Ohio, but it will still be a relief to leave this state.  For now, I can actually go outside in the garden again.

Meanwhile my son and family, where we want to relocate, are going through much worse tribulations and disintegration.  We don’t know what we’ll find when we can finally get there.  It seems no one is immune from the human condition.  In the end, it’s always our children who suffer most.

Maudite–means cursed?  Seems appropriate.