wordless wednesday – morning hike

five senses friday

• seeing - the herbs in my potted garden thriving. And yes, I know that I probably shouldn’t allow the garlic chives to flower, but I just couldn’t resist those beautiful little white blossoms.  The bees have been quite fond of them, as well.
• tasting - the club ciabatta sandwich at The Creperie. Why do sandwiches always taste better when someone else makes them? Because they use crispy fried prosciutto, that’s why.
• hearing - cheers for my niece’s volleyball team. Very proud Uncle, here.
• smelling  – the unpleasant scent of tomato plant on my hands after picking.
• feeling – hot and muggy. I need a fall-like-sweater-vest-wearing-day soon.

How would you sum up your last week in 5 senses or less?  Please share in the comments section. Hope you have  a swell weekend. We have an extra long weekend full of several visits with dear friends and a visit from the cable installation guy.

wordless wednesday

tiny flower thursday & more

I spent my lunch hour on Wednesday walking around the outside of the building with my camera. That’s where all of these photos are from. Either the grounds around the Library or from the top floor of the parking deck. Downtown Akron was gorgeous this day.

tiny flower thursday

A little jem of a flower from our Sunday afternoon hike along the Towpath Trail. Enjoy your day, the week’s almost over. What do you do or think about to get you through the end of a long work week?

five senses friday #2

seeing:

canadian geese….everywhere.

tasting:

honey goat cheese on a simply amazing spinach & salmon salad.

hearing:

tighten up by the Black Keys. you know, Akron’s own Black Keys.

smelling:

newly strewn mulch in the flower beds.

feeling:

lucky, for all that I have.

What are your five senses from the this last week?  Post them in the comments section, pretty please…

holidayfest fireworks

After a great Thanksgiving visit to Greenfield with Greg’s family, we met friends in downtown Akron Friday night for the kick off to Holidayfest. The show ended with a nice fireworks display. This gave me chance to finally use the fireworks setting on my camera. I could use some more practice with this setting, but I was able to get a few good shots. One of which, I’m now using in my web site header.

 

a walk in the national park

This morning, a beautiful for November kind of morning, Greg and I ventured out to the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Our goal was to get to the Ira Road Trailhead and hike the towpath from there for a bit. Now here’s an interesting fact. The Ira Road Trailhead is not actually on Ira Road. But that’s a good thing. Because if it was, we wouldn’t have driven a bit out of our way and stumbled upon the covered bridge pictured above. After a bit more driving we found the trailhead, just a ways down from where we had originally turned off on to Ira Road. Below are a few more pictures from this morning’s hike. We’re looking forward to coming back in the spring with our bikes to do the ride from Akron to the ever-so-quaint village of Peninsula.

on golden pond

I had a free afternoon today, so I thought I’d venture across the street to the park to capture some of the essence and colors of autumn. I think I must have picked the most perfect afternoon.  Temps were in the 60′s, some clouds were in the sky and the sun was in just the right spot for me to catch some pretty good photos at Alder Pond. The reflection from the changing leaves on the water was stunning. I don’t think these photos really do them must justice. There’s not a more beautiful place in the city of Akron than this park.  Greg and I are so lucky to have it right across the street from our house. I’m so glad the more motivated and active me didn’t spend the afternoon on the couch watching television. The real show is outside.

our hiking spree began

Greg and I began our task of tackling the Summit County Metro Parks Hiking Spree. You have to complete a minimum of eight trails from the beginning of September through the end of November. As mentioned in previous posts, we attempt this every year with the intention of finishing the spree and earning our hiking staff and shield. It’s never happened. This year, Greg has set our goal to not just hike the minimum required, but to hike all thirteen trails. Well this weekend, we got three out of the way. Saturday, we hiked the Goodyear Heights Metro Parks trail that is right across the street from our development. Sunday morning we hiked a beautiful trail at the Gorge.  That’s Greg below, pictured beside one of the great rock cliffs in the Gorge. Finally on Monday we headed out to the Hampton Hills Metro Park and hiked one of the more strenuous trails in the system. It was worth it.  The rest of the pictures in this post are from that park. Including the picture above. That was my favorite part of the trail. It was like a forest wonderland. I particularly loved the bright green moss on the fallen trees. Little did we know of the hike up the many steps once you pass through this area.

The entrance to our Labor Day trail. And boy did we labor through it.

This set of steps at Hampton Ridge was a breeze compared to the very steep incline just a few hundred yards ahead of us.

Greg at the Gorge Metro Park on Sunday morning.