local sights – Believe in the Magic Traci Diary

Fourth of July Parade – 2018

This year I decided to sit at the beginning of the parade not realizing I was going to miss all of the cool floats. Our town’s parade begins in 4 spots – a church and 3 entrances of a shopping plaza. If a float or group started at the church or the one entrance of the shopping plaza, then I got to see it. Actually I saw the fire engines/ ambulances take off from one of the other spots but that was because they had been parked behind where I sat for the parade. I missed the floats, etc. . . that started at the fourth spot. Now I know.

Oh, and the heat index was ridiculous. It was in the 90’s and so very humid. I had a shady spot to sit in but the end of the parade, my shirt was moist. The Wee One, the Imaginative One, and I stopped at Burger King to get frozen drinks afterward because we were so hot.

Enjoy the photos I was able to get of the parade. I think I got some good photos.

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Every year, there is a fly over. This year, I was able to capture that fly over.

The two dogs are therapy dogs. Their names are Spirit and Hairy or Harry. They go to a local hospital twice a month to help people recuperate from surgeries, etc. . .

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I got a few shots showing you some of the floats that I missed seeing. After a while, it was pointless to try to get a photo of all of them since I could barely see them even with my telescopic lens.

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My boys walked in the parade holding the big flag. (Only the Imaginative One is shown in the photo.) They started at that fourth entrance. The people who were sitting next to me at the parade were kind enough to watch my stuff so I could run/ walk fast to get a photo or several photos of them before they started marching in the parade.

My niece was rollerblading with the Girl Scouts. She went past me but was waiting by the Boy Scouts for the parade to move. The Imaginative One had to take a photo of her and heckle her. She responded back. They have such an interesting relationship. They are only 2 months apart in age. She’s going to be a sophomore while he’s going to be a freshman.

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I absolutely love how this collage turned out. They had a group of Marines and some trucks that were with the Marines. These decals on the truck window were awesome so I took photos of them.

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You can’t forget the street cleaners.

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I hope you had a magical 4th of July!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Fourth of July Fireworks

This year some kind soul paid for the fireworks display in our little city. So we had a bigger and better fireworks display this year. When the fireworks display was over with, you could smell the sulfur and see all the smoke.

I was able to get a lot of good photos of the fireworks. My plan was to bring my tripod but I had forgotten it in my haste to leave my house when my mother-in-law came to pick the boys up. The tripod would help with long exposure shots which would have been cool.

However I love the shots I got of the fireworks so it all worked out in the end.

Without the further ado, here are the collages I created of the fireworks.

The sunset – It was gorgeous plus the boys waiting patiently or not so patiently for the fireworks.

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It was 10:30 pm. I was attempting to get a photo of all of the smoke.
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The first video is from sometime in the middle of the display.

The second video is from the finale.

I hope you had a magical 4th of July!

Have a magical day,
Traci

An Oasis in the City

If you ask anyone who truly knows me, they would tell you that I could be a tour guide for our area.

My aunt came to visit a month ago. One morning, we spent time going to go get donuts and then I took her to various places. My mom was ready to come over to my house for us to continue working on organizing my kitchen. She was sort of panicked because we were only suppose to be gone for an hour or so. Yep, we took longer than an hour because I ended up taking her to a couple more places than expected. I wanted to show her some of the places I enjoy taking photos.

Then last week my friend, Molly came to visit. She came in 2016 and enjoyed it so much that she flew down once again. I took her to different places this year. Well, that is except for one place. We went to Carillon Park in 2016 but it was a rushed visit. She talked about the park so my mom got us tickets to see Orville Wright’s home and tickets for Carillon Park. Molly got to see more of the park this year.

Since I enjoy taking people to various places in my hometown or areas close to my hometown, I needed to really think what area of my town I wanted to showcase in this blog post.

Before we begin, where is it that I live or what city do I live close to? I live near Dayton, Ohio which is an hourish north of Cincinnati, an hourish west of Columbus, and an hourish east of the Indiana border. An hourish north of me is Wapakoneta, Ohio where Neal Armstrong is from. There is a lot to see and do in this big hourish circle. Don’t you love how I use the word hourish?

Dayton is known for having the most patents and inventions. Here is a list of some of the inventions that have come from this small city:

pop tabs for pop cans
freon for air conditioners
self starter for cars
airplane
self scanning machines
Etc. . .

We have the biggest free museum on Aviation in our city. People from all over come to see the National Museum of the Air Force or Air Force Museum. However, I’m not going to showcase the museum today. (Air Force One is on display in building 4 of the museum.)

Today I’m going to showcase two places which are located diagonally across from each other in downtown Dayton. Downtown Dayton used to be known for it’s shopping back in the day but that is no longer a thing. So a group of people have worked together to revitalize the downtown area. Riverscape Metro Park and Fifth Third Field are two places that have been built so that people will come to the downtown area. Today I’m going to share why Riverscape is a great place to visit.

One of the cool thing is the RiverScape River Run. It makes the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton more accessible to those who enjoy water activities.

There is also cool statues throughout the park. Here is an example of one of those statues:

I believe this is represent the devastating flood we had in 1913.

There is also a walking path along the Great Miami River so if you want to exercise this is the place to go.

There is also a splash pad for the kids to beat the summer heat.

There are also swings to sit on so you can watch people riding their bikes or walking. You could also watch the wild life. (I once saw a deer crossing the road into the park.) Or read or check your phone while sitting on these swings.

Or you could read a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, a famous African American poet who was a resident of Dayton. Did you know he was friends with the Wright Brothers and is buried close to them?

You can also watch the fountain show.

I forgot to take a photo of their pavilion where you can sit on a hot day or ice skate under in the winter.

You can get food there during certain hours. So if you worked in downtown Dayton, it would be a great place to get your lunch.

Across the street is my favorite sculpture. It’s Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright and their 1905 Wright B. Flyer. (Wilbur’s flying)

Diagonally across from the park is Fifth Third Field where the minor league baseball team plays. (Dayton Dragons) As Molly told me, she had more fun at that game than the minor league team she has in Rochester New York. It’s not just a game, it’s an experience.

I have done another blog post about Riverscape, click here for that post. Those photos were taken during the spring.

I hope you enjoyed my oasis in the city.

Have a magical day,
Traci

Day Trip to Austin Landing, Miamisburg, and West Carrollton

It seems as though my photo blogging posts get the most likes. So I decided to make a video of my day trip adventure that I took on Friday.

After getting up for the day, I went to a few of the suburbs south of Dayton, Ohio. One of the places I had not been to before which is Austin Landing. I had been to the historic part of Miamisburg last year but didn’t really take photos. Cox Arboretum is one of my favorite places to visit especially during July because of the butterfly house.

Here is a video of me in the evening talking about my day. In the background, you’ll hear my oldest asking me what I was doing and then he decides I’m vlogging so that is why I called this video Vlogging Attempt.

Here is the actual video from the photos I took on Friday morning. I am working through trying to figure out how to put music in these videos. For some reason, both YouTube and my video creation program only allow one song which is so frustrating.

Enjoy the video.

Have a magical day!
Traci

Lincoln Park Blvd. Park

Today after an appointment, I found myself at a new to me park. I had never been to this park before and it was at that moment that I wished I had my DSL-R. I found a few good photo ops at the park.

These photos that I took while at the park were taken with my phone.

Across the street from the park was an assistant living home for senior citizens. One of the gentleman in the park had the cutest dog. I overheard him say that the dog knew the whole park. The dog even came up to me to ask for a quick pet. Once I scratched his head, he ran back to his owner.

Here are some photos from my quick 15-minute stop in this park.

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Have a magical day.
Traci

Clifton Mill’s Twinkling Lights

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Wait, I’m not talking about stars in the sky.

Today I’m going to be talking about Christmas tree lights that twinkle merrily.

About 20 minutes from my house is a working water mill called Clifton Mill. Each Christmas season, they decorate the mill. People come from all over to see the lights. Continue reading “Clifton Mill’s Twinkling Lights”

A fall visit to the local market and Mom, What’s for Dinner, Week of October 23 – Blog Post #23

This weekend, I took the Wee One to the Second Street Market. They were having a free pumpkin decorating event. Since he is 12 years old, I decided to take him because it would probably be the last time he would be able to do the decorating. He did not want to go at first but then ended up having a blast creating Jeff, his pumpkin.

They had feathers, stickers, pom poms, rolling eyes, and pipe cleaners to use to decorate your pumpkin. You could use a nail to help poke holes in your pumpkin so you could add the feathers and pipe cleaners. Since the Wee One is older than most of the children, I allowed him to safely poke holes in his pumpkin. He had a blast doing that.

The final product – Jeff the pumpkin

There is one vendor we go to whenever we are at the Market. They have the best granola and jams. The Wee One enjoys picking out a jam or jelly while I get my favorite granola.

Another vendor at the market sells hand crafted Popsicle. The Wee One enjoys squeezing Wilbur the pig. He was not going to get a Popsicle at first but then changed his mind when he saw the cookies and cream one. I got the apple cider flavored one. It was fantastic.

Some of the other things we saw while we were at the market.

The Wee One had fun when we were at one of the veggie vendors had beets and turnips. He told the Wee One to turnip the beet. The Wee One responded by picking up some of the beets and gently dropping them. He told the vendor “Drop the beet” in which the vendor laughed. Such a good memory.

After we were done at the market, we ran some errands. While we were at Walmart, we saw this Mickey and Minnie display.

A co-worker gave me the big pumpkin on Friday afternoon. Check out the size difference between Jeff and the Big Pumpkin.

Continue to page 2 for our menu for this week.

Pages: 12

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