Colorful Season Ending

  I thought the recent drought would be the end of any colorful trees this fall. Was I ever wrong. Here's a review of what we enjoyed in chronological order ...

 October gave us only 0.09" of rain and had September not received the remnants of Hurricane Helene to water our ground, we'd have had only 0.60". The trees seemed not to care and the dormant grass also recovered.

 All in all, we had a brilliant season of autumn foliage.

Bryan Wild's Visit

  It's been about 60 years in the making but when Bryan Wild turned into Pinehaven's driveway, our pen pal relationship became personal.

 First, read about how I searched for Bryan in 2011 without result and how, in 2023 he found me. Click here for those background stories.

 Now just 21 months later. we've met face-to-face.

 Here's the story of the last five days ...

 Bryan arrived here from Ontario, Canada on Wednesday, October 16 at about 5:30 PM. He drove a rented Volkswagen Jetta.

 When he walked into the house for the first time he was met by our resident barker - our miniature schnauzer named Parker. She never stopped barking any time he stood up to move, but always with her stubby tail wagging.

Our guard dog and Bryan

 That evening Bryan and I went outside about 7:30 PM and took pictures of the comet. Afterwards I took a night shot of Pinehaven. This would have been at about 8:30 PM.

 We don't live that exciting a life here but Bryan settled right in that evening and watched TV with us.

 Thursday afternoon (10/17) we had a late lunch at Ron's Restaurant in Brookville, Ohio. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet and I got started with this salad.

The Beatles on a mural on a downtown  Miamisburg building

 

A trip to Miamisburg followed. We visited Hillgrove Cemetery  where Bryan stopped by Mom and Dad's grave (and eventually mine).  I also showed him where I lived when we were pen pals in the 1960's. Sadly the neighborhood has taken a serious turn for the worse and it no longer looks like it did sixty years ago. It's hard to imagine it's even the same house. We then took a walking tour of downtown Miamisburg. It, on the other hand, is greatly improved from when I was a teen.

 Then to the Miamisburg Mound. We climbed to the top and took these pictures there.

 A man visiting from Anchorage, Alaska took these shots of Bryan and I.

Bryan Wild (l) and Eric Oda

 On Friday (10/18) we had our usual "Y-Friday" with Eric Oda and while Tom, Eric and I exercised, Bryan walked to the Oregon District for a cup of coffee. Afterward we ate at the the Legacy Pancake House in West Carrollton (pix above and below).

Bill Schmidt (l) and Tom Buhler

 I ordered the cheese omelette.

Bryan pays his bill at the Legacy.

 That afternoon I made a pecan pie. Bryan made a request for two things: a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. He had never had either. He preferred the pumpkin. 

 Saturday (10/19) we had our usual breakfast at the Dixie Diner in New Lebanon and then came home to play cards with Bob.

 Later that morning we drove to the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. We arrived about 11:30 am and stayed about three hours.

 A piece of the Berlin Wall with graffiti.

 Their rockets were impressive but both Tom and I are confirmed pacifists.

 The Air Force One that took President Kennedy to Dallas and brought his body home on November 22, 1963. Bryan and I were writing at the time of the assassination.

 President Harry Truman's plane.

 1940's aviation technology in the cockpit.

 Tom inside The Independence. The aisles are very narrow!

 This is a mock-up of  the gondola Capt. Joseph Kittinger made his historic parachute jump from. I met Kittinger in 2011 and did a story for the Dayton Daily News. My blog entry is found here.

 The space program has always interested me. Here's Apollo 14.

 I saw the next in line - Apollo 15 - when I visited the museum in 2013 with Eric Oda. The blog is here. And I saw Apollo 11 in Cincinnati with Tom. Click here for that  blog.

 A Gemini mock-up.

 The reentry end of the Gemini capsule.

 Bryan standing before a Mercury capsule.

 A satellite. I think this was an advance warning device.

That evening we drove to The Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dayton for a bon voyage meal.

 But all good things have to end and with sunrise on Sunday (10/20) Bryan was readying to hit the road to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) where he had a morel room rented. Tomorrow he'll spend much of the day there, then travel on to Belleville in Ontario, Canada to meet up again with Sandra (he was there when  he left to visit us). So a long trip with be completed.

A sad sight ...

 Bryan pulled out of Pinehaven's driveway at about 8:45 am on October 20.  We were sad to see him go but had a great time while he was here. Maybe we'll visit again someday?