Daily Photos

I like to capture each day with a snapshot. It’s a bit of reflection and meditation. My hope? Recognize patterns to inspire change inside and outside.

Fish Logs

Elmer Ferguson, the owner of the Old Timber Inn passed away at age 89 earlier this year. Before graffiti took over, this sign on the side of the building simply read ‘Fish Logs’ in black san serif letters on a yellow background for as long as I can remember.

Like Maya, I never tried those fish logs before it shuttered, but her rumination on the matter goes deeper.

…if there’s something you’d like to do, you should probably just go ahead and do it. You might regret doing it, but you’ll definitely regret not doing it. And it might not be important but, actually, most things we do aren’t very important. That doesn’t mean they’re not worth doing.

Maya Drozdz

There’s more to the quote in context of her photograph.

Related links: Old Timber Inn site (with some good photos) and A Brief History of Fish Logs

Mental note: Do the things.

Old Timber Inn

An evening with Anne, John and cupcakes

Anne and John came over for dinner and brought a box of miniature Gigi’s cupcakes.

Their visit inspired me to do a deep clean of the house. I maybe went overboard, but dang it’s nice to clear out all the cruft that stacks up over the months and put things away proper.

Those mini cupcakes? Noms.

Every cupcake should be mini. It’s like a Golden Corral smorgasbord of flavors.

KARATE

Scored a breakfast bagel this morning.

You never know when memory will serve better.

It was a’ight, but in this case I’d have been better off with recollection.

—

Drove east to check out the color of a used car. It was too green for my tastes, which is a pity because car colors are abysmal.

Related link: Graph Shows How Car Paint Colors Have Gotten More Boring Over the Years

The side porch

Met up with Nick and Eli for our biannual bending of elbows on the side porch.

A definition that fails to stick with me: Biannual can mean occurring once every two years or occurring twice per year. 

This makes very little sense.

But seeing friends and filling in the gaps makes total sense.

Evening bonuses included fine weather, pizza, meeting Eli’s new pup and good conversion.

Additional notes:

Neighborhood at night. The streetlights in amber, the moon almost full

This is an exercise

In my attempt to stay on track I’ve been keeping paper lists in notebooks. Thing is, these pads of paper get shuffled around, pages turned, random notes made… All of a sudden that to do list is completely out of mind.

I’d been eyeing Jeff Sheldon’s Analog system and hovered over the buy button many times. It commands a premium—but I kept coming back to it.

Sure I could use set of notecards and a recipe holder, but I appreciate a certain tidiness to a workspace and I’ve long appreciated the quality of all things purchased from Ugmonk.

The more I thought it over it seemed like the right solution and investment, so I pulled the trigger.

Now there’s a list, always visible on my desk. The wood base and tactile design of the cards (designated for “Today” lists, “Next” and “Someday”) look and feel good. Blank stock and old cards are filed away in the base.

I’ve been using this system for a month and it’s working.

Whenever I get distracted, my gaze shifts and see what needs to be tackled. I’m getting more done in a day.

It’s not all rainbows, but those faults fall squarely in my court.

Two things became apparent: 1.) I overload the list. 2.) I have too many deadlines.

These are interconnected.

As much as I try to distribute and delegate, I’m just circling wagons hoping to find some secret essence of singularity—that one item on the list that is the thing. But I also know there is no one thing…

This is an exercise.

Nomad

Sunday morning. A patio, overcast day turned sunny, brunch with friends, Bloody Marys, tacos, and loaded tater tots at Nomad.

Also seeing an IONIC 5 for the first time in real life.

Closed out the day watching Labor Day Fireworks on the tube.

Diptych of a Bloody Mary and a taco
Margarita + El Scorcho taco almost in focus
An electric Hyundai IONIC 5 on the streets of Bellevue, Kentucy
IONIC 5

Bagels weren’t back

Sometime during the pandemic McDonald’s nixed breakfast bagels and wraps. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but when I saw they were starting to roll out (insert rimshot) bagels again, I started to think unhealthily about them.

Kept checking the app to see when they’d arrive and scurried over this Saturday morning only to find they were sold out.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder (and healthier in this case).

Spoon + Interpol

Capped off the day with an early dinner at Via Vite. They’ve upgraded their open air space and expanded the menu since our last visit. Luckily their gnocchi dish is still on the list—a must to order. Here’s a bunch of photos from the meal.

Well fed, we walked down to The Andrew J Brady Music Center and caught Spoon and Interpol. Both bands were great and even though this is only my second time at this new music venue, it’s becoming a favorite.

Interpol performs live in Cincinnati silhouetted by white lights and fake fog
Interpol performs at The Andrew J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, OH
The band Spoon performs live on stage
Spoon

Remnants of the Albee Theater

Al Schottlekotte’s Cincinnati History videos popped up in the algorithm on YouTube and I learned about the Albee Theater. The movie palace is long gone from the present day fountain square but the arch entrance still exists–grafted to this side entrance of the Convention Center.

Oodles more information and photos on Ann Senefeld’s post Lost Cincinnati – The Albee.

Historical photo of the Albee Theater in Cincinnati
The E.F. Albee Photo Plays Theater (Source: Cincinnati Views)