On Summit

Last Sunday was sunny, cloudless and 60 degrees. It was, at least in central Ohio, the first of a number of warm days that would add up to a very pleasant "Indian Summer". I'd had a busy week and decided I needed a walk to clear my head and mentally regroup. As I was out, I snapped a few pictures.  This is the view from under the Dodridge Street Bridge. Perhaps to most people this is "just a bridge"; a modest span traversing an unremarkable waterway. To the residents of SoHu, South Clintonville, Old North Columbus and the University District it's much, much more. Closed since July of 2011 the scheduled re-opening on October 31st is cause for much rejoicing! Just north of the Dodridge Bridge is OSU's Olentangy River Wetland Research Park . This park provides a lovely oasis of calm amongst the clatter of the University District. This is the view of the Wetland Research Park's "billabong"; an oxbow th...

A while back I wrote about my 1975 Saab 99 Wagonback . Well, it's time for an update and I'm afraid the news is not good. While the Saab had been a serviceable second car and much-valued conversation piece under my care, this last year had not been good to it. It started with an oil leak. Then, a cooling fan problem that ended with some stripped thermostat housing threads. Finally, in an act of brazen disregard for all that is rare and irreplaceable, someone broke out the back window (Seriously, the 99 is a pretty uncommon model to begin with, the Wagonback version even more so). Instantly what had been a manageable oddity was transformed into a liability. The window had to be replaced. That meant some combination of time and money on my part. If I didn't attend to it the Columbus code enforcement agents would cite me for having a derelict vehicle on my property (Never mind the the fact that the landlocked SS WTF sat for months across the alley from my house. My luck ...