Category Archives: Visiting

Out with a Bang

Posted by dkrashb on

When Riverbend ends, it doesn’t fade quietly.  Rather, a pyrotechnics display to rival some of the best 4th of July fireworks I’ve ever seen announces the close of the festival.  This massive display causes virtually every person from miles away to descend upon Chattanooga.  After all, they may charge $25 to go inside Riverbend for one evening, but the fireworks are free for all within viewing distance.

As residents of the North Shore of Chattanooga who live in a building with a roof top deck in an apartment on the 4th floor with a view of the riverfront AND who happen to be house/dog sitting for some friends who have a condo in a high rise with a club house on the 7th floor right on the riverfront, we had the unique advantage of being able to choose from a variety of great viewing locations.

However, we ended up on our own balcony.  The crowds were overwhelming on the rooftops and shared balconies.  I wanted to shoot and there was no room for a tripod in a crowd.

Since our visiting friends were staying at our place and we were staying at our neighbor friends’ place, I brought over as little as possible to enjoy the fireworks.  For me, that means my camera, one lens, and my tripod.  I decided on my 70-200mm lens having seen fireworks from our living room on many occasions.  There are fireworks most Friday nights at the baseball stadium for the Lookouts, a minor league baseball game.  Assuming that was representative of the fireworks we were about to see, I figured I needed at least 200mm to get much of a shot.

Boy was I wrong!

First of all, these fireworks were fired from this side of the river, MUCH closer than the baseball stadium.  Second, this was a massive display of fireworks!  I mean massive!  We’d heard that Riverbend was not profitable and we wondered how that could be with the entry fees they were charging.  Now we knew.  All the money that didn’t go to the bands was going to the fireworks!

What this meant for me was I couldn’t get the fireworks to fit into my frame, so I had to pick out part of the display to shoot.  I still had fun.  But, I couldn’t help remembering fireworks from my childhood.

We would take a blanket to the park for the 4th of July fireworks display.  One rocket would be fired and it would either explode into a glorious display or it would fizzle and die, a dud.  We would clap and say “Ooooh” and “Ahhh” and then, as the sparkles were fading, the next rocket would scream into the sky.  It seemed like it lasted an hour.  The whole show probably used as many rockets as we saw in 3 minutes this night.  It was incredible to watch, but sometimes I do long for simpler times.  Plus, it would be easier to figure out what to shoot.  🙂

Shots Not Fired

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There are so many things to do within an hour’s drive of Chattanooga.  It’s hard to imagine ever running out of new things to show people.  However, it’s a little different when you’re thinking of things to do with children.

On day 3 of our friends’ visit, I recommended we go where there were cannons.  After all, if there was one thing that fascinated the four-year-old, it was guns.  The bigger the better.

When we arrived at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, we thought we’d hit the mother lode.  A group of people were out by a row of cannons loading them.  We were all sure we were about to witness the firing of several cannons.  I’m not sure which one of us was most excited.

Unfortunately, it was just a training session for volunteers who would be firing the cannons at a future event.  Today was not the day.

There’s nothing worse than disappointing a child.  I try so hard not to let a child hear me when I make suggestions so they don’t get their hopes up.  I don’t know why I think children shouldn’t have to deal with disappointment–maybe it’s good for them to start preparing young.  I just don’t want to be part of the preparation.

I’m sure I get this from my mother–she was always one to avoid getting our hopes up.  If she thought we might get to do something special, she kept it a secret until the last possible moment.

For example, the year they decided to take us to Disney World, they never mentioned that we might get to go because they didn’t know if there would be enough money to pay for the trip.  I don’t think my brother or I had even dared to dream about going to Disney World because it seemed so far out of reach.

Not until we opened our Christmas presents and found airplane tickets (which had to be explained to us since we’d never been on an airplane) did we have any idea our parents had even considered taking us to Disney World.  To this day, I still remember the excitement of that surprise.

I always appreciated that about them–we always knew we could trust them to deliver on their promises.  It’s something I try to emulate–especially with children.  I don’t want to be that person who gets a child all excited only to find out it’s not going to happen after all.

I felt like our visit was like that a lot for our four-year-old friend.  We didn’t go on a boat ride because the stroller wasn’t allowed on the boat.  We didn’t go on the merry-go-round because wet clothes weren’t allowed and he was wet from playing in the fountains.  And now, the cannons were not actually going to be fired.

I feel like I may be first on the list of people who will disappoint him in his life.

Food and Water

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After a few hours of wandering around Chattanooga and the Tennessee Aquarium, it was time to eat.  The six of us headed towards Big River Grille and Brewery.  Although Pat and I have been there a few times, it was the first time for dinner.

The 7-month old entertained us through the whole meal.  She is one of those babies that smiles and laughs and looks amused most of the time.

The 4-year old did some interesting things with his food.  He created a whole new presentation by rolling it into balls.  Since we had just come from the aquarium, perhaps he was thinking about fish bait–he is apparently quite the fisherman.  He already knows far more than I do about fish.

After filling our bellies, we took a brief break so we could play with the dogs and the four-year old could change.  Then, we headed over to Coolidge Park to check out the water fountain.

This is a fun feature in Coolidge Park.  Large animal sculptures surround the fountains, providing nice climbing structures.  I enjoyed shooting the 4 year old at play.

I recently had a conversation with a couple of photographers about using the “aperture priority” setting.  (Aperture priority allows you to set the aperture manually and then the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed.)

Apparently, this was stressed as the setting to use all the time at a recent workshop.  I’m of the opinion that there is nothing that applies all the time, but aperture priority is nice when you’re shooting a subject that is moving quickly through different lighting situations.  However, I’ve found that shooting a subject where the background changes but the lighting on the subject doesn’t in aperture priority causes the subject to be incorrectly exposed depending on how light the scene is behind the subject.  For this reason, my default mode is manual.  If I change to aperture priority, I make a conscious decision to do so and I know why I’m doing it.

The irony of this is that I either had a mental malfunction that caused me to not check my exposure or my camera malfunctioned when it read the exposure.  Since I’ve not had this problem before or since, I’m guessing it was user error.  I ended up with about 300 shots that were either horribly over exposed or horribly under exposed.

If aperture priority were my default, I might not have gotten the depth of field I wanted, but I would have at least gotten properly exposed images.

The best default would probably be to always check my settings and my exposure before I fire off 300 shots.  🙂

I’m going to write to Canon and suggest an alarm that goes off if you start shooting without changing settings or viewing a shot.  It can be called the “Alzheimer’s Indicator.”  If it goes off more than 50% of the time, it’s time to get an evaluation.  Photography as diagnosis–who says it’s just a hobby?

Opportunistic Photography

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The other day, I listened to a photographer explain how he had a vision for an image of a knight in armor on a horse in fog.  He went to great lengths to find a renaissance festival where there would be jousting.  He flew to England and shot a knight in armor on a horse.  Back home, he bought a sword and shot that.  He found a dark, foggy setting, and shot that too.  Then, he Photoshopped it all together to get the image he originally imagined.

Frankly, I’ve never had a vision of anything that would motivate me to go to that much expense to create it.  I don’t know if the image was commissioned or if this was just for fun, but I cannot imagine deciding to go to England just to get an image of a knight on a horse.

Perhaps that is why my photography is not getting significantly better.  I go out with my camera in the hope of something happening that’s interesting.  I’m an opportunist.  As such, I find myself in situations where I can’t get a good angle, the light is horrible, or it’s just too intrusive or disruptive to arrange the subject or setting.

Take our recent visit with our friends who came to see us.  We spent the second day in downtown Chattanooga.  In the first image in the gallery, I told my subjects to stand still for a second and took a shot where you can barely see them.  Why did I do this?  Because they were all standing together and I knew they wouldn’t be by the time they caught up to me.

When I showed the image to my husband, I said, “You know what would make this picture better?”  He said, “If we weren’t in it?”   That’s sad–but he’s right.

Asking people to model when their intention is to have fun seems rude.  On the other hand, sometimes people really appreciate the pictures.

However, I imagine my subjects thinking things like, “How long is this going to take?  How much longer is she going to do this?”  I also find that many people think a shot I consider barely OK is wonderful.  It’s hard to imagine asking them to pose significantly longer so I can get a really great shot when they may like my hurried version just as well.

Take the shot in the gallery with the four-year-old inside a bubble in a tank at the aquarium.  He ran in there specifically so I could get a picture.  I told him he was going to need to hold really still (slow shutter speed).  That was more than I could expect from him at that time.  So, I inconvenienced him for a blurry shot of his head.  Not exactly worth the energy for either one of us.

Perhaps I just need to figure out how to be a more artistic opportunist.

Canon for Cannons

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After spending the better part of the afternoon walking around Rock City, we made a beeline for food.  We were all starving.  I got out my trusty Urbanspoon app and discovered a little place called “The Cafe on the Corner” nearby.  The food actually sounded good, too.

When we got there, it was right between the lunch and dinner crowd, which was perfect for our four year old friend–he had some space to run around.  This is the thing that amazes me about young children.  About the time I would just lay down on the floor and take a nap because I’m so tired, they are just getting started.

The Cafe on the Corner turned out to be one of those amazing finds you hope for when you pick a place to eat.  The staff was friendly and wonderfully accommodating.  They were prepared for children with a children’s menu, something to color on, and crayons.  While that can certainly improves a dining experience, I don’t really care how nice the wait staff is if the food is bad.  Fortunately for us, the food was fantastic.

The fried-green tomatoes were breaded in panko bread crumbs and served with hot and sweet jelly.  Just writing this is making my mouth water.  The grilled vegetable quesadilla I ordered was by far the best quesadilla I’ve ever had.  Oops, I drooled–let me grab a napkin.

And, truly amazing, even the kids’ food was so good that our little friend cleaned his plate without prompting!  This may be my new favorite restaurant.

After gorging on delicious food and relaxing in the cool dining room, we headed back out into the heat and made our way to Point Park.  I think Point Park is going to be on my list of places to make sure I take all visitor’s to.  Especially since it’s close to Cafe on the Corner.  🙂

The view from Point Park is pretty darn spectacular.  And, there are cannons there, which amuse most kids, but especially our little visitor.  As I watched the four year old jump up and down with excitement over the cannons in the park, I found myself wondering what the fascination with shooting people is that all children seem to have.

Is this unique to the US?  Do children in India, for example, pretend to shoot each other with their fingers?  Is this an expression of a universal need that all children experience to gain some sort of control on what seems like an uncontrollable world?

I recall playing many games involving shooting people as a child (even though my mother would not allow us to have toy guns), but I can’t remember why that seemed like so much fun.

As adults, we enjoyed the view more than the cannons, I think.  Although, I enjoyed my Canon very much–taking many pictures.  Unfortunately, the light was not so good as seems to be true most of the time when I shoot opportunistically.  It was still fun.

Being There

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Finally, after much anticipation, the big event–my nephew’s graduation day.  Of course, it wouldn’t be my family if we didn’t have a debate as to the necessity of celebrating high school graduation by going to a ceremony.  My family doesn’t require a reason for a debate.  If there’s a question to be asked, someone asks it.  If Hamlet were my relative, he wouldn’t have asked “to be or not to be.” He would have asked, “I am.  But why?  And is it really all that important?”

In any case, we had a pleasant surprise when Sam and Ellie appeared at the house at about 2PM in the afternoon (they were supposed to be at school).  This afforded us the opportunity to take some more pictures!

We gathered in the front yard and I set up my umbrella stand.  This is when I learned about why photographers own sand bags.  Having been a huge fan of Mary Poppins, I was only disappointed that it wasn’t strong enough to carry me away.

Fortunately, with 8 people standing around, it was much easier to find an assistant than a sand bag.

I went through the standard combinations:  Grad with his girlfriend.  Grad with his grandparents.  Grad with his parents.  Grad with his brother.   I’ve really got to start paying attention to group photos to figure out some better poses–I really am horrible at directing people on where and how to stand.

After finishing up pictures, the grads went on their way and we started getting ready to meet them at graduation.  We had a grand plan with three of us going an hour earlier than the rest to get good seats.  However, I got confused on what time we were leaving and we were 15 minutes late.  Then, we stopped to grab food on the way.  When we got there, the best seats left were up behind the stage.  We had a good view of Sam’s seat, but not of the stage since we were behind it.

Having shot my older nephew at the same place 2 years ago, I decided to try to improve on my shots by adding a teleconverter to my 100-400mm lens to try to get tighter on Sam than I was able to on his brother.  This was a fatal mistake.

I have tried to remind myself when choosing lenses to ask whether light or length was more important.  In this case, both were.  However, the loss of light caused by adding the teleconverter was critical.  Few of the shots taken with it on worked–I had too much motion blur because of too slow a shutter speed.

I was very sad about my failure at getting tighter shots, but I did take the teleconverter off just in time for Ellie’s walk across the stage.

After the ceremony, as we searched for the parked car, the sky was so cool, I had to stop and take a shot while everyone else looked for the car.

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Portraits in Suburbia

Posted by dkrashb on

It’s that time of year again:  graduations.  I have begun to divide my life into stages by the kinds of events we celebrate.  Long ago, it was our own graduations and those of our friends.  Then it was weddings.  Next, it was baby showers, followed by divorces (well, that wasn’t usually a celebration).  Then there were second marriages (and occasionally third).

Now, I seem to be participating in the same cycle of events one generation removed.  Because I have friends in many age groups, these events continue in waves depending on how old my friends are.

The high school graduations of my friends’ children started ten years ago.  Those were followed by weddings, and a few baby showers (although babies seem to be coming later and later in people’s lives).

But, this time, it’s my nephew who completed high school.  This event led to us taking Tisen on his longest road trip ever.  Fortunately for us and for Tisen, my brother’s family is willing to accommodate Tisen so he didn’t have to stay in a kennel.  I’m not sure either one of us would have survived the separation anxiety.

The other unintended consequence is that I gained a couple of new models for portrait shooting.  It’s a good thing my nephews were unwarned of my intention to shoot some portraits or I might not have seen either one of them during our visit.  However, I managed to get a few minutes of their time before they got too impatient with me.  What is it about the men in my family that they can’t sit for more than 10 minutes to let me practice portraiture?

They might have been a little intimidated posing next to my strobe on an umbrella stand–I don’t think either one of them has ever posed in front of an umbrella before.

I had fun trying to create some more dramatic lighting by casting shadows with the light.  My youngest nephew seemed to think the lighting was a little too dramatic, but he played along patiently anyway.

Tisen, never one to pose in front of a flashing umbrella, spent his modeling time discovering the joys of the ‘burbs.  I believe the thick, green grass right outside the door was a first for him.  At home, he can cross an asphalt parking lot to find a small patch of grass or walk to the park to roll in a short, spongy variety of grass.  Before he came to us, I doubt there was much grass in his life.

Unleashed and let out the door in the heart of an Indiana suburb, Tisen seemed at first confused and then overjoyed by the large yard to play ball in.  Although there was no fence, Tisen stayed well within the invisible confines of the property lines as if he was  afraid he would get lost if he got too far from me in that endless expanse of grass.  I am now worried he will resent returning to his urban life.

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First Flash

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I finally got caught up on post processing photos from my whirlwind trip to Columbus.  These photos are from the baby shower I attended.  Rule one:  decide if I want to shoot or attend a party.  When I’m trying to do both, I don’t do either well.

There’s a certain geek factor about walking around a baby shower with a big lens and a flash on a stand with a funny looking box over it.  Now, imagine if I would have added my loupe hanging around my neck.  Would that really have pushed me over the line between overly enthusiastic and completely socially inept?

I’m thinking I crossed that line the moment I decided to put my flash on a stand.  And as one guest pointed out, people will put up with my flash because they want the pictures.  This only holds true if you do a really good job on the pictures.

In any case, I discovered several things my first time out with my new flash.

First, I understand why event photographers often put the flash on the camera even though the lighting options are limited.  Having the flash on a stand in a relatively small space with a lot of people was a bit awkward.  It was often difficult to find a position for the flash stand without asking someone to step out of the way.  There were many times I didn’t bother to use the flash at all because I didn’t want to disrupt the whole room by setting it up in the middle.

Another thing I learned was that since I was working without a tripod (not something I do too often these days), I needed to have a fast enough speed to not get blur from movement but also slow enough not to exceed sync speed with the flash.  I ended up with a shot where the shutter speed was too slow for my hand-holding ability when I was using flash. Seems like it defeats the purpose of using a flash.

I was pleased with the effect of using the flash to light the shot of the gifts.  Although there is a bright reflection in the piano, it’s not actually from the flash–it’s just brighter because of the flash.  There seems to be a pretty even light.  Of course, the ambient light from the windows helped with the fall off.

While an umbrella might have been even better light, we decided it was too crowded to have a big umbrella sticking out of the stand.  That was definitely a good decision!

Another thing I learned was the challenge of lighting multiple people.  Especially when the people don’t know each other that well enough to get into each other’s personal space.  Or, when there is a huge height difference between the subjects.  Shadows get exponentially harder to control.

All in all, given it was my first time using a flash, I’m trying not to be too hard on myself.

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Wandering and Belonging

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Sunday morning, we take our time leaving Columbus.  We have all day to get home and nothing on our calendar.  We decide to stop at the Wildflower Cafe for breakfast before heading out of town.  We’re surprised by their almost empty parking lot at 10AM–there used to always be a line by this time.  I wonder if the fact that they’re now open for dinner has diluted their breakfast and lunch crowd.

I think about having a small, healthy breakfast.  Something my body would much appreciate after nearly a week of a “see-food” diet.  However, I have a hard time resisting the eggs benedict on their Sunday brunch menu.  And while I’m at it, I might as well have their potatoes, which are sliced thin and pan-fried to a nice crisp brown on the edges.  I tell myself I’ll start eating healthy again tomorrow.  I laugh at my optimism–seems like I’ve been telling myself that for many months now.

After stuffing ourselves and trying not to drink so much coffee that I have to stop every 15 minutes, we take turns using the restroom before getting on the road.  I don’t feel like a visitor today even though we’re about to leave–the owner recognized us when we came in and the restaurant is just so familiar.  It feels like there’s been a time warp and we never really went anywhere.  But, as we head out the door, the prospect of a long drive looms before us and I feel like a visitor again.

Pat drives and I write.  But I am not feeling prolific today.  I suddenly realize that we will have only 3 days at home before we’ll be packing again for our Thanksgiving weekend trip to the Smokies.  We’ve decided to spend the long weekend at a lodge we discovered on the way home from Great Smoky Mountain National Park over Labor Day weekend.  Originally, Pat’s family was going to come down to see us for Thanksgiving.  Then, Pat’s sister was going to join, so the date changed to when she could be gone from the store she manages (which is not Thanksgiving weekend).  Unfortunately, she couldn’t travel on a date when we didn’t have a commitment, so she went to Youngstown instead and the rest of the family decided not to come for Thanksgiving.

It occurs to me that while Thanksgiving has been the holiday we spent with my husband’s family vs my own for many years, this will be the first time in my life I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving without getting together with any family members.

I stop musing and start talking to Pat about our upcoming plans.  We are both looking forward to the mountain lodge–a mere two hour drive instead of an 11 hour drive to Pat’s family’s house.  I find myself wondering if we should have stayed in Columbus a few more days and then driven up to Youngstown for Thanksgiving, though.  We need to think more about how to get together with Pat’s family now that the drive is so much further.  It’s hard for us to stay in Columbus that many days, but it’s easier than trying to work from Youngstown.

In any case, this coming weekend, we will be in the Smokies enjoying the mountains and relaxing.  I am looking forward to the relaxing part as we haven’t really done a lot of that lately.  To ensure I can really relax while we’re there, I am working on writing blog entries ahead of time.  That way, I can have all my blog posts scheduled to run without me and I don’t have to worry about keeping up on my blog in case there is no internet access from there.

The drive flies by for me.  Between writing and napping and talking with Pat about his plans for his business, we seem to arrive in no time.  Pat, however, is stiff and sore having driven the entire way himself.  I feel guilty that I didn’t do any of the driving, but it did allow me to use the time productively.

We pull up in front of the entry to our building and unload the ridiculous amount of stuff from the van.  Even though I reduced my load by a couple of bags on the way out, Pat picked up a bunch of guitars while we were there, so our load looks vaguely reminiscent of moving day.

A neighbor comes in while we’re unloading and gives us a nasty look.  I’m not sure why, but it’s the same one that was irritated the day we were moving in because we had an elevator blocked.  Apparently she didn’t realize she could push the button and the other elevator would come and she stomped off with a big “huff” to the stairwell.  Another neighbor comes along with a friendly dog who I greet while Pat is parking the van.  When he returns, we load our stuff into the elevator and head upstairs.  I think to myself that we really ought to just invest in a cart if we’re gong to continue to do this on a regular basis.

We get unpacked and then head out to grab dinner.  We end up at Taco Mamacito’s because it’s close and decision-free.  We talk about our trip to Columbus and how much more enjoyable this trip was.  Besides having a get together with friends we haven’t seen in a year who came in from Seattle, we also enjoyed the pace of a Saturday vs a trip where it’s all weekday time.

I contemplate the impact of not having an assigned office at work anymore.  There is something freeing about it–like not having a door with your name next to it implies that no one is waiting for you to show up.  It feels, finally, like we really have moved and when we go to Columbus, we really are just visiting.  As we sit in this restaurant where at least half the wait staff recognizes us contemplating sleeping in our own bed tonight, we feel the sense of having returned home in a way that we haven’t felt here in Chattanooga before.  I find myself wondering how important wandering is compared to having a sense of belonging somewhere.

Chocolate Chunks

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It’s our final evening on this trip to Columbus, we will have dinner with friends we met when we were neighbors int he Walhalla Ravine.  They are picking us up tonight, in the alley behind the house where we’re staying.  We stand in the garage waiting for them.  When a car comes up the alley, we try to judge if it could be them or not.  In the dark, the glaring headlights obscure the shape of the vehicle behind it.  It’s impossible to tell.  When a car stops several houses before they one we’re at, we step out and wave.  But they aren’t looking our way and we are unsure if it’s them or not.

Eventually, they see us standing in the road and pull up.  It is them.  We arrange ourselves in the truck, me and Cindy in the back and Jeff and Pat up front.  I tell Jeff that  there is a home OSU game and that George suggested taking North Broadway to avoid traffic.  North Broadway is the opposite direction from where we want to go and seems out of the way, so Jeff decides to take us straight through the heart of campus instead, hoping to take Neil Ave to Lane Ave.  We’re eating at a new restaurant in Upper Arlington, so this would be the most direct route.

Unfortunately, as less optimistic Columbus locals might have predicted, Lane Ave is closed through campus.  Had Ackerman been open, there might have been some hope of getting out that way, but the bridge is being replaced and we cannot get over the river.  We head back up Lane in the opposite direction we want to go.  We next try going down Pearl Alley.  It’s back-to-back traffic with no where to go.  It’s now about time for our reservation.  I look up the restaurant and let them know that we’re on our way, but caught in game traffic.  They say it’s no problem, so we all take a deep breath and relax as Jeff wrestles his way through the thick of OSU football traffic.  We end up on Fifth Ave eventually, working our way back to Lane.  After a few more turns through traffic, we make it to Lane Ave feeling like we’ve gone on an OSU safari.

A half an hour after our reservation, we arrive at the restaurant.  Fortunately, they still have a table for us and we sit down to enjoy “Asian Fusion.”  I’m always a little perplexed by “fusion” restaurants.  Somehow, the use of the word “fusion” in the context of food makes me think they are preparing two or more distinct styles of food and then searing them together with a blow torch or something.  Given that this has never turned out to be the case, I find myself wondering why they don’t say “blend.” Or how about, “Americanized <type of food>.”  Is there something inherently appetizing about the word “fusion” that I’m just not getting?

In any case, the food is OK.  It’s a background to catching up with our friends, so I can’t say I really care that it’s not exciting enough to distract me.  Not that I don’t like to combine visiting with friends with really good food.  But, not great food goes down a lot easier when smothered in friendly conversation.

These friends have not been reading my blog, either. This is a relief to me.  First of all, I hate repeating myself, something I do more and more often even without considering the blog.  Second, Cindy is an editor for a newspaper and I’m not sure I can handle the pressure of knowing a pro is reading my blog.

We have plenty to talk about.  But, sometimes recounting what we’ve done just seems dull.  The thing I really want to talk about is how bad I am at hang gliding.  Really, it’s the realization of what it’s like to be really bad at something and to keep struggling and struggling to learn it that fascinates me.  Jeff and Cindy seem to get this.  The experience of a level of empathy that I’ve never really fully experienced for this type of situation before.

We swap stories of what we’ve been up to and what our plans for Thanksgiving are until all the food is gone and it’s time to wrap up and head out the door.  I suggest we walk over to Graeter’s for dessert.  After all, it’s our last day in Columbus and we have yet to eat any Graeter’s since arriving.  We all agree and head out the door.  It’s surprisingly warm for mid-November.  I expected to be freezing all week, but there has been only one day that was bitterly cold so far.  The wind is kicking up, but it actually has a balmy sort of feel to it.  This is good because it’s hard for me to enjoy ice cream when I’m shivering.

The black raspberry chip is as delicious as usual.  The big chunks of dark chocolate melt from too-cold chocolate into a creamy mouthful of goodness just like always.  I have tried a lot of ice cream in my life, but none has ever compared to Graeter’s.  Not famous Italian ice in Rome, not farm fresh ice cream in Utica, not Tilamook dairy ice cream in Oregon, not Ben and Jerry’s, and not even home made.  I will take Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chip, the only fruit-flavored ice cream I’ve ever liked, over any of it.  The transformation of the chocolate from solid to liquid in your mouth is a religious experience.

We sit and talk over our ice cream before venturing back across the street to the car.  There are teenagers in this place.  I try to remember being an age where you want to be out doing amazingly fun things but you don’t really know what to do, so you go back to something age appropriate that you know you like.  Oh wait, that’s now.  And look, we all ended up at the same place.