The first snow of the season is always exciting…even if it’s only an inch of snow. After the sun came up, I was outside in my house slippers to capture a bit of the magic!
It seems odd for green or red bushes and trees to be covered with snow…
Tag Archives: Cincinnati
Sunset from the Carew Tower
Experiencing the sunset from the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio is a must-do if you ever visit or especially if you live here. I like being a “Tourist in my City” and take advantage of things to do in my own hometown! One of the camera club meetups that I belong to hosted an event at the top of the Carew Tower last night. From the time construction was completed in 1930 and up until 2010, the Carew Tower was the tallest building in Cincinnati and at a cost of $33 million, a very expensive one also! I arrived early to take some photos of Fountain Square and the Art deco inside the Carew Tower. I’m learning a lot in my weekly camera class and would have stayed longer to practice taking some additional night shots, but it got really cold.
Using my Nikon D5100, in manual mode I set my aperture at 8 and metered for my shutter speed away from the sun. With my camera on a tripod, I had my ISO set at 100 and white balance on Cloudy. A couple of the attendees said the color is more vibrant if it’s set on Cloudy. I had forgotten and left the image stabilization on which can cause photos to not be as clear if they are on a tripod. Luckily, one of the members reminded me, so I was able to get a few more photos with it off. I don’t have a remote trigger yet, so I used the self-timer for some of the shots.
My photos are shown backwards…from the end of the evening to the beginning. The Ohio River is meandering down below…
Collecting Barns
I love barns and whenever I come across an interesting one, I take a photograph…so I guess you could say I’m collecting barns! I’d like to share them with you!
This one was taken in Hillsboro, Ohio…
Camp Springs Winery in Kentucky is home to this one…
What to do in Ripley, Ohio…go to Meranda-Nixon Winery
Wineries are so much fun and Meranda-Nixon Winery in Ripley, Ohio is no exception! Although summer is gone…the vineyards are still beautiful. My friends and I drove out there yesterday. Located about 40 minutes from the east side of Cincinnati, it’s not too far of a drive. Because it was a Friday, there were only a few other patrons there. The owners are Seth and his wife Maura. We joked that we wanted some “Maura wine”. Anyway, Maura did the wine tasting for us and gave us some background about their lives. Both she and her husband are widowers and when they met recently…they only dated for one month before getting married!
I asked her how many employees they have and she replied, “Her husband and four children! While we were there, two of the boys came in to help wash glasses. The 11-year-old took me for a ride on their “gator”! I asked him how fast it would go and he said 21 mph, so I asked him to floor it! He probably thought I was crazy when I asked him to do donuts in the front yard!
Water Skiing on the Ohio River
Saturday, my husband and I took my son and nephew boating and water skiing on the Ohio River. I’ve been water skiing since my 20’s and love slalom skiing (with one ski). We prefer the Ohio River to the area lakes because there are fewer boats, which means better skiing conditions. Because of weather and a surgery that my husband had, this was only the second time we’ve taken the boat out this season and most likely the last. Temperatures are supposed to drop into the 60’s by this weekend. The water was quite cold but invigorating! Slalom skiing is like riding a bike, once you’ve mastered it, you don’t forget how to do it. It feels great to be strong and continue to participate in sports as I get older.
My son took some good shots…
High School Graduation Photo Shoot
High School Graduation photo shoots are a much-anticipated event for seniors across the United States! I was excited when my second cousin…Maddie asked me to be her photographer! As you can see, she’s a beautiful young lady! She’s intelligent, athletic, and knows what she likes. After taking photographs Tuesday evening, we arranged for her to come by my house on Wednesday and look through the 300 photographs and decide which were her favorites. She brought her friend Ellie along, who is also beautiful, bright and a delight to be around! Ellie recently had her photos taken by a photographer and spent over 10 times the amount Maddie is spending with me and didn’t like a couple of them very well. She feels that if she had been able to look through the photographs and pick out the ones that she liked her expression in, she would have been more pleased. Sometimes, just a subtle difference in the shape of the mouth, the look in the eyes, or the angle of the body can change their feeling of the photograph. I think Maddie really enjoyed being able to have a bigger role in picking out the photographs. As a bonus…we were able to spend some quality time together…I made dinner…they shot guns for the first time with my husband at our backyard shooting range and even took a tractor ride!
I liked all of the photos, but she had some favorites that weren’t mine and vice versa. This one we both liked…
The Party Place
Yesterday’s post was about my Aunt Colleen’s 70th birthday and I promised I would put up photos from the house it was held at in Cincinnati, Ohio (aka “The Party Place”). It’s such an eclectic house, I just had to share it!
Here’s a portion of the kitchen and their fake butler…
The living room has a comfy retro decor with bright colors. Notice the Siamese cat on the sofa…
The entry way butler is serving a cat on a platter to you. This butler looks a bit snooty…
Drive by Harley Shooting
Drive by Harley shooting takes on a whole new meaning when you snap photos while traveling 30-40 mph on the back of a Harley! The other night was perfect for a short Harley ride to pick up some cheap sunglasses (since I keep scratching and losing mine) at the dollar store and some frozen yogurt at orange leaf. Before anyone says anything…I know we should be wearing helmets.
Exercise Can be Fun!
Playing sand volleyball is a great way to get exercise, socialize with friends and have tons of fun! I invited about 100 people to play volleyball at Hahana Beach, a restaurant/bar with outdoor sand volleyball courts, in Cincinnati, Ohio and about 13 showed up yesterday. It was a perfect day for it…with temps in the mid-70’s, low humidity and a beautiful sky with puffy clouds. One of the ladies didn’t want to play so she took a few photos with my camera. She got this great action shot of me jumping for the ball…
I only play volleyball sporadically…on average about once every few years…but after yesterday’s fun I’m definitely playing more often. I like this photo of Cindy after she hit the ball…
Friendship Park
Summertime and parks just go together! Just this year a friend told me about a park in Cincinnati that I hadn’t heard of named the Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park. I visited in the Spring with that friend and took photos. You can read about that here. Anyway, on Wednesday I met my friend Sherry there to walk and have a picnic dinner before heading over to Party in the Park. This beautiful young lady, named Marie, was there with her skateboard and let me take a few photos. Her mother was with her and informed me that she is a model.
Pirates in the Park
Women love pirates! I think because they are a little rough, usually handsome and bad boys. This pirate was at Party in the Park last night giving out free drink tickets for a local bar. It was a beautiful evening–close … Continue reading
Stanley’s Pub Blues and BBQ
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to sit on a patio, listening to great music, talking with friends, having a drink and last night at Stanley’s Pub I got to do all of them! Four bands played the blues beginning with the Leo Clarke Band. We missed them but loved Band #2 — Chuck Brisbin and the Tuna Project. Odd name but they were great.
Loved this belt my friend Laura had on…
You’re Never Too Old for Pony Tails
Last night Randy and I rode the Harley to hear one of our favorite bands at a Harley shop, where they set up outdoors and have vendors selling BBQ and beer. Some strong storms had moved through the area an hour or two before we left, but the radar was clear, so off we went. Upon arrival, we discovered they had cancelled due to the threat of bad weather. I’ll tell you about Plan B in a minute.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to think of a way to keep my hair from getting too tangled without putting it in a pony tail and braiding it and came up with this. I felt like Pippi Longstocking…
We pulled over on the Harley so I could take a pic of the sunset…
Plan B…we met my friend Shari (some other friends arrived later) at the Silver Spring House, a local restaurant/bar and had a drink and some laughs.
Plan B for Jimmy Buffett Concert
Jimmy Buffett had a concert at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio Tuesday evening and my friend April (2nd from left) invited a group of friends out on her boat to listen to the concert from the water. What an adventure! Here we are pre-party. (Not taken with my camera…little fuzzy)
I’ve been boating on the Ohio River for 20 years and have encountered some hairy situations, but this one was the most intense. I’m usually with my husband (the Captain). Anyway, here are some pics before all of the “situations” occurred. Love this photo of April having fun driving the short 10-15 minutes to the concert. Grass skirt blowing in the wind…
Tatoos and Hot Sauce
Over the weekend, it was perfect weather for being in a pool and that’s where I was on Saturday, at the Four Seasons Marina pool. It was lively and crowded because boat owners weren’t taking their boats out due to high water on the Ohio River. There were seven of us women and I had my old camera (Olympus PEN) with me. We were having fun talking to a group of twenty-somethings and I took some photos of their tatoos.
I like how this one looks in black and white. It almost looks like he’s melting…
So colorful and creative…
April rode her motorcycle to the marina from a yoga class…such a fun pic!
Sherry Lachelle Travels 