Congratulations to Cara and Mario, whose absolutely gorgeous children are highlighted in this first post of 2012. (Prize package includes special print pricing; please see your gallery.)

Wishing each of you a very HAPPY and PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR!

What is most striking, as I hope you’ll see, is the way the light is reflected from the stained glass windows; it’s literally like walking through a prism in spots.

If you’ve never been, I urge you to put this treasure on your itinerary next time you’re in the Nation’s Capital. And speaking broadly, for those of us who’ll likely never get to exotic places like Rome, walking around DC makes one feel as if she’s got a bit of the globe under her heels.

It’s the holiday season, and nowhere have I seen such an preponderance of luminous holiday cheer than in our new community of Ravenna (which, by the way, was named by our founder’s fiance in 1799 after a city in Italy).

As many of you know, our “new home” here was built in 1810 and is one of the oldest residences in a town that boasts a preponderance of beautiful historic homes of all shapes, sizes and conditions. The through-line of these historic gems, for me, has been the discovery of a community the likes of which I’ve not seen in ages: There’s not a subdivision within sight of town (to my knowledge), and the old-timey feel of tree-lined streets, garden patches and 400 kids showing up at my front door for trick-or-trick has engendered in me a real interest in this town,  its history and how it has managed to maintain such a 1950s sense of neighbor-hood in a world that is moving much too quickly for anyone’s taste, if I may be so bold.

To digress a bit for accuracy’s sake, the median household income in Ravenna was $35,000 in 2009; this is not a wealthy town and it is gated no more figuratively than it is literally. What it is, however, is a diverse town, and somehow it seems to hold together through the range of income brackets. Perhaps a big part of the reason is because Ravenna remains a small town where people seem to know one another and where manners seem to count, for the most part.

While the purpose of these snaps is to give you a glimpse of small-town holiday cheer, what I really want to say is that I love this town for so many reasons: For the 80-something-year-old couple who live next door just because I love the mix; for the chef at Mimi’s who always remembers to ask us how the renovations are coming along; for the 18-year-old server at Guido’s who never fails to stop by our table just to say hello; for the kid who came around to sell us a discount coupon supporting local schools because he seemed so damned sincere; for the neighbor’s plumber who stuck his head over the fence to say hello and ended up coming in to check on a concern for us; even for the hourly workers at the local fast-food joints, who are 90 percent seriously nice, ultimately polite and actually smile at me. Where do you get THAT these days??

So, this one is dedicated to communities near and far that, in this day and age, somehow manage to keep it civil, personal and feeling like home.

Happy Holidays,

For those interested in photos of themselves from the Marathon, they are available at the following link: Purchase Photos

Half Marathon at Maize Valley Farm: Stomp the Grapes!

Saturday was another beautiful fall day, and even if you’ve never pounded the asphalt in a pair of trainers (or don’t care to), that’s no reason to run for the hills when it comes to watching the area distance runners do their thing at the annual Stomp the Grapes Half Marathon at Maize Valley Winery in Hartville, Ohio: Needless to say, these folks are as sleek as the bottle of wine and wear their running gear like a second skin (of which I am jealous, quite naturally

Although this was my first race (as a spectator, of course), it will not be my last. Just watching these athletes test themselves is inspiring.

I hope this selection of photos will allow you to get a quick taste of the start and end of the race (and some intervening moments at Maize Valley). You’ll also note a few sequences within the group of images below. I felt they were just too precious not to share

Enjoy!

What started out as a freezing, overcast day morphed into sunshine and bearable temps just long enough for the local Ghouls to make their rounds today.

We’re new in the neighborhood, and it’s a good thing I’m chatty: I asked a woman in line in front of me in Subway the day before Halloween how many kids she thought we might see.

“Oh, at least a couple of hundred. Maybe 300.”

Well, I didn’t count, but we must have had 400 or more kids. I’ve never seen anything like it, and yes, we ran out of our 10-15 pounds of candy 2o minutes before official treat hours were over. (Note: A few times we had what seemed like an entire third-grade classroom in line for candy. Notice that I said, “a few times.” )

Here are some of our favorite snaps of today’s Ghouls. Hope you enjoy!

Anyone who’s been to Maize Valley Winery’s Fall Festivities already knows that there is no way to capture the whole “rest of the story” in an afternoon of shooting (photos). What follows is a selection of images from its Pumpkin Patch and the back half of Maize’s wonderland of play.

Two points of interest:

1. I hung out in the pumpkin patch for a couple of rounds of visitors, all transported there by hayride. I chuckled at the following observations:

• Most kids literally jumped off the hayride and sprinted through the pumpkin patch, driven by the excitement of finding the perfect pumpkin.
• I had to laugh at how kids I saw in the 8-and-younger set who were transfixed by the a small number of green (still-growing-and-not-quite-ready-for-pickin’ pumpkins). It’s like those things had a kid magnet on them! And every Mom made one or two retorts to the kids who wanted the green ones:  It was either, “Honey, I think that’s a watermelon,” or, “Honey, let’s get a bigger orange one.” lol!

2. While watching a handful of teenage boys jumping haystacks to some made up game of their own, I overheard one say to another, “Hey, this is actually pretty fun.”

Now, speaking as one who is undeniably passionate about the stranglehold that video games and other sedentary time wasters have on our kids (everything in moderation is my motto), had you been telepathic enough to get inside my mind on hearing the young man’s comment, you would have seen me mentally texting back to him the equivalent of “IKR!” (Translation: “I know, right?”)

Enjoy!

Yesterday marked the first of two visits the SPECTACULAR Megasaurus is making at Maize Valley Winery this year, and even at my age, I was a bit awe-struck at the might of this fire-breathing, metal-eating monster (and at three stories tall, why wouldn’t I be?!).

Pre-show, you grown-ups might enjoy the chance to speak with Mega’s inventor, who happened to be manning a booth at Saturday’s show. (I jokingly asked him, “So, how did you get into this? Just come home from work one day and say, ‘Hey, honey. I’ve decided to quit my job and build a giant, fire-breathing dinosaur?!’) While you’ll have your own questions, according to Mega’s inventor, the dinosaur globe trots and has even made a Hollywood appearance or two. (How’s that for following your dreams?)

The mighty ‘Saurus made his debut just around twilight, where he began warming up by growling about the backwoods and throwing a few fireballs. At that point, those who were still busy playing around the farm took note and joined the enormous group of people gathered where woods meets field at the back of the property.

Frankly, to say that Megasaurus completely enraptured the audience would be an understatement. Even I barely took time to turn around and grab a few audience shots because, well, I couldn’t take my eyes off that thing as he picked up two cars filled with pumpkins and made a light snack out them. Metal-metal-munch-crunch! (Truth be told, this overgrown sissy was even slightly afraid to look away…just  in case Mega might decide to head our direction, I didn’t want to turn around to find him hovering over me!)

I’ve decided not to share too many of the images from this particular experience because it is truly something you must see for yourself (and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you) but here are a few teaser images for those who’ve been thinking about taking the kids out for Mega’s second appearance at Maize on October 29.

Before presenting the first in this series – a group of shots taken while kids of all ages climbed the haystacks in the quickly fading light – a word to the wise: For those of you who haven’t been to Maize Valley (just a hop, skip and jump from downtown Hartville), they offer year-round festivities including delicious Vinter’s dinners, cruise-in’s, trail runs, a Farmathalon, an art and wine festival, balloon lift-offs and tons more activities geared to various age groups, from tots to adults only. As well, people travel from far and wide to visit this local winery, eatery, gift shop and all-around great entertainment venue.

Silhouettes at Play

A Study in Silhouettes