Reading and repairs

The number of books that I read to my son has now increased to a rotation of four. He lines them up on the floor, and when he decides to put them away he takes them, one at a time, to the bookshelf. We've been in the house a lot because the weather has been extremely cold. There's been a lot of reading.

Last week was only a two day school week with President's Day and two days cancelled due to cold. I'm sure next week will have at least one cold day. Temperatures have been below zero in the morning.

After swimming last week I was driving home in a light snow on a side street and hit a patch of ice. I was only doing about 15-20 miles per hour and slammed into the curb tire first. I knew I knocked the car out of alignment and managed to limp the short distance home. There I saw the tire had some chunks chopped out but it was not flat, yet. Limped to a repair shop that is open on Saturdays and hoped for the best, which did not quite happen. Needed a center arm and ball joint, which they could not get that day, in addition to the alignment so we had no car last weekend.

Picked up the car Monday afternoon, after waiting for the bus downtown in some freezing cold weather and was told the rim on the tire was bent, but they moved it to the rear so the car is drivable. Had to cancel a reading in Pittsburgh after getting the bill and have to make arrangements to get a new rim next week.

Today we had about half a foot of snow, which is equivalent to two feet in just about any other northern city. Roads were a mess. The temperature did get above freezing for most of the afternoon so the heat pump activated. I had to pour water on the blades to get some of the snow off as the fans were not moving. I also noticed this.



Steam freezes into interesting shapes, eh?

Within you and without you

Even in her condition Mom always tried to stay busy. She was not one to sit on the couch and feel like crap, she did not like feeling that way.

On good days and bad she worked in the state park mowing the lawn, working the booth and, when it existed, helping to feed the trout in the hatchery. She and my Stepfather traveled frequently. I heard tales of her ziplining in the rain forests of Costa Rica. They went to Prague, when she got me a lovely Pilsner Urquell gift set. They went to Ireland, both of them, several times. They liked going on cruises to nowhere and casinos in Atlantic City and Connecticut.

When I found out they were going to Egypt, I jokingly asked her to get me a piece of the Sphinx. A smoke from a hookah and camel ride later, Mom was walking around the monument when she found a rock on the ground.



I treasure that stone.

Road Trip to the Rockmill Brewery and Covered Bridge

Truly a gorgeous autumn Saturday in Central Ohio. Unseasonably warm, with bright sunshine and low humidity. Wanted to do something to get away from the city and get us off the laptops, so I suggested a trip to a brewery to my Scottish Wife. Of course she agreed.

Not just any brewery, but The Rockmill Brewery outside of Lancaster, Ohio. They just celebrated their third year of operation. I've had a few of their Belgian style beers, and they are excellent. Now it was finally time to go to the source.

I checked a map, and thought it would be an easy turnoff of route 33. Did not bring a map with me, which was the wrong move. Ended up going past Lancaster, turning around, taking the wrong Lithopolis Road but seemed to slowly spiral toward the brewery, as if by magic. There was no yelling, no cursing, no gnashing of teeth. We got there safe and sound. We did not even drive past it despite the signage.



It's a very rustic facility. Ended up going into the main house, which is a residence, and not the tasting room. This guy was no help for directions.



Eventually we made our way to the place where the beer is.



For $12 you get a flight of every beer that is available. This was plenty for two as the beers are quite strong and my wife did not want to fall asleep and I had to drive home. For one person, it's a lot of strong beer. The owner/brewer is doing a world class job making authentic Belgian beer in Ohio. He fell in love with Saison Dupont and wanted to recreate it for himself. By coincidence the family homestead has water that is similar to that in the places the good Belgian beer is made. It's a lovely place to reflect on what you're drinking. And they serve the flights in Glencairn glasses. If you order a pint, you get it in a Riedel Crystal tulip. Serious stuff that I really appreciate.



I really want to take some out of town, and in town, beer aficionados here. I think they'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product. It's not cheap, but well worth the price. I really like the Wit, and the Tripel. All the beer is quality. The Dubbel aged in whiskey casks was a bit over the top for me. Very sherry like, but there are people out there who would love it.

Just down the road from the brewery, not even a quarter mile, is The Rockmill Covered Bridge. I checked my pictures when we returned home to see if I had been here before. Back in the nineties, we drove all over Ohio to find covered bridges, as a fun day trip. This bridge was negotiable by vehicle then, not so now.



The bridge was built in 1901 and still looks grand. Right next to it is a mill that was built in 1824 that is being restored to its glory. It overlooks a rather scenic 90 foot gorge.



For perspective the mill wheel is 26 feet in diameter and was restored in 2012. This is a great day trip.



I also saw a couple of these Autism Speaks puzzle pieces painted on the ground for some reason.

The statues and street signs know where it's at

After last week's walk, where I neglected to see the statue of a certain Austrian bodybuilder, I vowed to correct the omission as soon as possible.

That happened today.

I'm not sure how life sized or proportionate it is, but it stands tall among the skyscrapers.

Not only does Columbus get pumped up one weekend a year, we're also one of the seven most intelligent cities in the world.

And here's proof.

William McKinley is pleased.

And so ended today's downtown walk.

I hate zombies, but went to the zombie movie

Almost two years ago, on our first day in Glasgow, we stepped out of the Queen Street Station and into George Square and saw this.

It was the last day of filming World War Z. The filmmakers were substituting Glasgow for Philadelphia. Banners were strung up, street signs were added.



We did not see Brad Pitt or any of the other actors. Principal shooting was completed. We just saw a few crowd shots. I'm not a zombie fan by any means, but since I saw some filming it went on the 'to see' list.



It was interesting seeing the film and noting what landmarks were altered. The footage was in the first ten minutes of the film as mayhem takes over the streets and the zombies are on the loose. There were explosions, and car crashes. I noticed this bus getting whacked in the film.



The original release date was in the summer of 2012, but that was pushed back a whole year due to internal squabbles and problems with the script. A bit of the ending of the film was reshot, and that shows in the completed work. It seems very tacked on, which is a shame because the film is neither a cinematic turd nor a piece of gold. It has its good moments of zombie attack suspense but it also has some horrible acting. Pitt was fine as the reluctant hero, the actress who played his wife had a thankless part of doing nothing but looking worried at a cell phone (including having her make one phone call that would have been a shaming event at Writers' Block) and the kid actors were not very good.

There was one great product replacement that still has me giggling and my wife reminded me of this video during another crucial scene.



I have not read the Max Brooks book but understand liberties were taken. So many that it barely resembles the finished film. That's Hollywood though. Overall it's a piece of summer entertainment that is worth seeing, if only to escape the local crowds instead of an evening of fireworks.

Behold, solid beer

My culinary skills are suspect, even at my best I am capable of burning water. A few months ago, we bought this cast iron skillet combo and rarely use it.

Why? Read the reviews, they are all correct. It's a very good piece of equipment.

A couple of weeks ago, I made burgers in it. Bad idea doing it in the house. The kitchen filled up with smoke rather quickly. Windows had to be opened. The smell lingered for a few days. The burgers however, were delicious.

I've toyed in my mind for a long time to make bread. Never had a breadmaker and I'm certainly not the type to spend hours flinging dough around. I am a lazy cook, on a good day.

So I was researching recipes on line and came across a few, what appeared to be simple ways to bake bread in a Dutch Oven.

Last night I assembled the ingredients, mixed them up, covered the bowl in plastic and waited. Pro-tip, do not mix with a whisk.



The mixture began to bubble and expand, for a moment I wondered if the bowl would be too small and the kitchen would fill up with a massive amount of fermenting dough. Then my wife reminded me that it would bubble then fall back which was when I remembered this process from my homebrewing days. I was not a good brewer either.

This morning the glop of dough was ready to be pressed into shape and put into the oven. I'm not sure it got into quite the shape I wanted, but it was on its way.




Did a variant on the recipe I posted and added parchment paper to the mix.

The process called for covering with the top of the skillet, then waiting half an hour to remove the top. Remember, iron gets really, really hot. No, I was not burned. I was prepared.



Bread smells came out of the oven. It seemed to be working out. Had to wait another half hour for it to be done. Would it be? Would it look right at least?



It looked alright to me. Thought it would rise higher but that might be because I did not shape it enough. The crust was hard and substantial. Yay!

Now the moment of real Truth. How would it taste?



Have to say, pretty darn good! Seems a bit salty but it's chewy, has a great crust and I can't wait to get out the olive oil and have a pleasant lunch later.

So there's my first loaf of bread, and yes, I had to blog about it. Posted pictures to Facebook too, it was my John Lennon in 1978 Polaroid moment.

Twenty four hours ago, this did not exist. I am amazed what can be done with four simple ingredients.

A great windup

A couple years after my son was born, my mother sent me my old little league uniform with the stipulation that she see him wear it when he was big enough. When his mother moved out of the house, the uniform was "lost" for six years.

Last week the uniform was found and I did not have my son until this morning.



Would have done the shoot outside, but it was pouring rain most of the day. The original cap disintegrated years ago so I had an appropriate hat or two he could wear.



The uniform is flannel and goes back to the mid 1970's. They're not made like that anymore. I wore this, and played ball in the outfit sometime between the ages of eight to eleven. Would have given him my glove, but it's bigger than his head. He's a lefty anyway!



The shirt fit fine, but is missing one button. The pants are a bit short, but he's even thinner than I was and needed a belt.



For some reason I thought I wore number four. Sent my mother the pictures and she was so happy. Grateful to have the uniform back before he grew out of it completely.

Getting out of our shells Saturday

We're blessed with a number of great metro parks in Columbus. First beautiful Saturday of the year and the crowds turned out. We were part of them.



You can see turtles on the log at Heron Pond. We did not see any herons, but my wife kept looking.



We did see people fishing on Heron Pond.



A short time later my wife spots not a heron, but another turtle.



Then I annoy her by taking too many pictures of her from behind.



Oh, we were at Three Creeks Metro Park.



We also went to Turtle Pond, which did not disappoint.



This dude seemed to be the head Turtle of Turtle Pond.



A group of turtles is called a Bale. Now you know.

The remnants shine. The Who play Columbus

Thirty years later, I got to see The Who again. Keith Moon is long gone, and John Entwhistle as well, but Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are still having a go at it and performed their rock opera Quadrophenia in its entirety.



I have not been that high in the Schottenstein Center since Roger Waters did The Wall. This time, we were even higher, five rows from the back of the arena and no Sherpa guide to usher us to our seats.

After a friend linked to a band called Vintage Trouble performing on Letterman last year, I became an instant fan and was excited to see they were the opening act. They did not disappoint, doing a very high energy act and they won the entering crowd over with the strength of their hard R&B songs and the charisma of lead singer Ty Taylor, who gyrated and did spin moves their whole set. He even ran into the crowd on the arena floor to keep the joy going. The band exited through the crowd also, distributing high fives and making new fans along the way. In another move of marketing strength, the band did a meet and greet after The Who’s performance in the concourse. A savvy band you’ll be hearing more of.



After a short break the projection screens on top of and to the sides of the stage came to life and the strains of Quadrophenia were heard. All night long Daltrey’s voice was hit or miss. When he was on, he was on and rather good. The next verse though, he strained to maintain the flow. There were some cringe worthy moments but despite the inconsistencies Roger had the crowd on his side and they helped by singing along where he could not. Quadrophenia is tough to sing, Daltrey did not embarrass himself.



My respect for Pete Townshend increased a thousand fold. He was magnificent all night. No jumps but he windmilled all night and did more than a few guitar solos that absolutely shredded. He sang in a gruff staccato most of the night and sounded great, even if he had to read a lyric sheet off a music stand a few times to know where he was in the show. That said the one two punch of the Punk and the Godfather right into I’m One is one of the best live segues I’ve ever witnessed.



The band had some great support by Pino Pallodino several keyboardists and horn players and the amazing Zak Starkey on drums. Pete’s Brother Simon provided guitar support and sang a worthy rendition of the Dirty Jobs.



The band also paid tribute to Entwhistle and Moon by adding a projected bass solo that Starkey played along with nicely and a proud Daltrey watched as images of Moon were screened during Bell Boy. The staging was quite well done. One moment that was a bit odd for me was a historical montage during The Rock that had a climax with the explosion of the World Trade Center. An odd cheer came from the audience that had me a bit unsettled.

After Quadrophenia was finished, the audience was finally acknowledged, with Townshend introducing the band and saying, “We know times are hard, now we’re going to play some stuff.” As they broke into a ripping Who Are You, this was the first time in the evening I could see the band loosen up a little and smile.



After that it was Behind Blue Eyes, Baba O’Reilly and Won’t Get Fooled Again and that was it. In other shows they’ve played Pinball Wizard and closed with Tea and Theater, for some reason Columbus did not get those songs. For the length of the show there was little contact between Daltrey and Townshend that seemed to extend to the group bow at the end. I did not see Pete and Roger touch, this was as close as they got. Are they in a hate stage of their love/hate relationship this week?



Then Pete was off.



And the lights came up. Night over.