Bunker Hill Pioneer Cemetery

After a lovely visit with friends in Reily today, I took a few moments to stop in at the Bunker Hill Pioneer Cemetery, which was right around the corner from their home.

This one-acre pioneer cemetery is part of the Butler County Parks System today; sixty pioneers are known to be buried here, including veterans from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. I loved the early evening interplay of light and shadow in the cemetery,

an effect made possible by the grouping of headstones here and there, rather than all in a row:

The 172-year-old grave of Elijah Deneen, a War of 1812 veteran, fascinated me, flanked as it is by two tiny (and illegible) headstones:

The Bunker Hill Pioneer Cemetery is located on Millville-Reily Road, just west of Bunker Hill Woods Road, between Millville, Ohio, and Reily, Ohio.

View After a Walk

Loved coming in from my walk/run yesterday and seeing this sight....the usual assortment of shoes belonging to me and the lovely Robin, but with our two-year-old grandson Miles's sandals placed in the midst.

With Gratitude for Union Terminal

Reading this post, "11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell to the Wrecking Ball (And the Crappy Stuff Built in Their Place)," with the accompanying photos made me really, really sad. I hate to see majestic old buildings replaced with ugly modern crap....or worse.

It makes me so grateful to the people responsible for saving Cincinnati's Union Terminal, an art deco wonder, and reviving it as the Museum Center, home of the Cincinnati Historical Society, Transportation Museum, and Natural History Museum.

I Want One

I really, really, really want one of these.

Great American Ballpark

Went to Great American Ballpark tonight, with the lovely Robin, Aaron and Nina, Aubrey and Kevin, and Kevin's parents (Lynn and Ken), an early Father's Day present.

The game started well, with Aaron Harang pitching and the Reds staking him to a 1-0 lead after the bottom of the first. But then the rains came. And came. Play was suspended around 7:40 or so, I think, and by 9:00 it was still raining pretty steadily. We decided to hope for the game to be called and came on home. Alas, the game resumed for good around 10:15. But the Reds won, 7-2.

On the way into the park, though, I got a good laugh from the signs announcing "Fan Accommodation?" With a question mark. It wasn't just this sign (below), either. Others had the same punctuation. So I think the Reds are just not sure they can accommodate.

Peruvian Cuisine

I never take photos of food. Probably because it disappears too soon after it's placed in front of me.

But on our recent Peru trip, I took a couple (could've taken many more, as we had some great and unusual culinary experiences).

The first photo was of the main course of a multi -course meal served to us at Luis and Yvonne's home, which his son prepared and his daughter served to celebrate Luis's birthday:

It was a first-rate meal of chicken and potatoes and vegetables. The other courses were just as delicious and just as artfully presented.

The other photo I took was of our dinner the second day in Cusco, in a lovely little restaurant we fell in love with across from our hotel:

My meal was a wrapped trout dish with a side of potatoes, tomato and lime; Robin had eggs, bacon, ham, and a side plate of fruit (including, in the center, the Granadilla fruit with edible seeds that look like fish eggs. Totally grossed her out). The next day at this restaurant, we tried their subs and never looked back!

Faces of Peru

People ask, "What was your favorite part of your Peru trip?" Expecting, I bet, that we would answer with Machu Pichu or something like that. But both the lovely Robin and I answer, quickly, "the children." And not just the children, but many of the adults, too. We just found them strikingly beautiful and unavoidably lovable. So I thought I'd try to show you what I mean with just twenty of the hundreds of pictures we took in Peru, twenty pictures capturing thirty-plus faces. See if you don't agree:

Museum of Appalachia

We've passed it a bajillion times, on the expressway, I-75 less than 20 miles north of Knoxville: The Museum of Appalachia. Billboards advertise it, but they don't do it justice.

This time, on our return drive from Gatlinburg last Saturday, we decided to stop. Glad we did.

It's a 60-acre village of buildings, animals, displays, etc., containing jail cells, leather shop, blacksmith and wheelwright shops, smokehouse, corn mill, broom and rope house, schoolhouse, loom house, privy, granary, sawmill, and more. Some of our favorite parts:

Dr. Andy Osborne's Medicine House, in the Appalachian Hall of Fame:

A chair made entirely of horsehoes, also in the hall of fame:

The many peacocks on the grounds, and the cantilevered barn in the background:

The Arnwine cabin, built in Eastern Tennessee sometime around 1800 on Clinch River:

Irwin's Chapel, a one-room log church which was built around 1840 near the community of Hamburg in the mountainous county of Madison, North Carolina:

The dugout benches on the porch of the Peters Homestead House (where a couple musicians also serenaded us for a few moments):

The Big Tater Valley Schoolhouse, moved to the museum from nearby Big Tater Valley on Bull Run Creek between Union and Grainger Counties:

And, though there is much, much more I could mention, the underground dairy, used to store milk and other perishables in the days before refrigerators...or even ice boxes:



All in all, just a fabulous way to spend a couple hours in a fascinating journey back in time and back into the hills. I recommend it highly.