corn maize

The fear of corn is called...I don't know I guess there is no official name for it although there are hundreds of links if you google it.
Its a real disease with people suffering a crippling fear of corn. I'm not one of them but the discussion did come up after about an hour of wandering around the corn maze out in where ever that corn field was. Kind of funny the term corn maze, almost redundant isn't it? I would have been in trouble growing up if I was afraid of it, first in Kokomo, Ind then New Springfield, Oh I was surrounded by them almost my entire life.
But its that time of year for hayrides, pumpkins and corn mazes so off we went groupons in hand. And I'm glad we did as I was amazed at the families in front of us dropping 50s for admission to this place. Mojojacob had asked if farming was profitable so I think with this practice hell yeah it is. But its real contrived as I don't believe anything but the corn field was actually grown there but we all suspended believe for an afternoon and had a blast.

Nothing witty to say, inject your own jokes here

Max just hanging out and enjoying the attention.


[where:9669 Ohio 48
Loveland, Ohio 45140]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
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zoo project

[where:paris, france]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
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Sid Saturday

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le monsieur et la dame nier ce qu'ils sont

The last adventure for Paris we had scheduled was a dinner hosted by Jim Haynes, a Louisiana expat who has been hosting these things for over 30 years. Suggested by Jackie who created and hosted the Cincinnati Supper Club that was so successful that it lasted a full year after she left. Any rate with an endorsement like that we could not miss it.
The first challenge was getting there, where we, on the southeast corner of Paris needed to get to the west most point of the city. Lucky for us, a cool thing about Paris is the extensive transport system so hopping the Metro and RER made getting there a snap.

The supper, in itself another function you've been to a million times, hosted outside in an unassuming Paris courtyard with everyone standing around drinking and talking.
Except for two party goers, whom I’m not sure how to label.
deipnosophist? professional party goers? Whatever you want to call them they each had a different approach to mingling.
First up a piquant 20ish girl with an accent I couldn't identify, I go for drinks she walks up to me, where are you from? is it cold? does it snow? and then she's gone.
Only to reappear later as I'm in a large group of people. "AH Mr. Cincinnati" she says and sets off a whole chain reaction of excited conversation. It was incredible to mentally step back and watch her perform.

Later an older gentleman, definitely British with a mild accent strolls up, there’s maybe 6 people around and asks where I'm from. Cincinnati. "Really?" he says, in Ohio? That’s not an Indian word, Italian right? Which leads me into a discourse of the Order of Cincinnatus. But the result was the same, I stepped back mentally and watched him perform.
Incredible.
They both shared one other trick, but I'm not telling because, well because I want to try a few party tricks the next time I'm in a crowd of people I don't know.
It was almost worth going to Paris to meet those two, it's always profitable to know an online person who knows a person.

[where:83, rue de la Tombe Issoire 75014 Paris France]
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Jardin du Luxembourg

"the Latin Quarter" "you have to visit the Latin Quarter" "don't miss the Latin Quarter" were amoung the many things we heard before our trip.
Nothing really specific just that it was a not to miss destination.
Sunday strolling through I was disappointed we had waited until Sunday as most the shops were closed, its not the US for sure. But as we strolled looking at guide books and maps we were drawn to a huge green space, the Jardin du Luxembourg. With no expectations we walked through iron gates and into a heavily wooded area, moving through and bursting out into the open, a green sloping lawn towards a pool and fountain we both smiled and exclaimed at the same time "Sunday in the park with George" That exactly how it looked. Googling the painting later I was disappointed to realize it was painted on an island out near La Defense, but the idea at the time put us in an even more cheerful mood as we stopped and relaxed along with thousands of others.
Is this what Washington Park and the Riverfront Park will be like when finished? Filled with people killing a Sunday afternoon relaxing.
I sure hope so.

There was a good breeze blowing and as we made our way to the pool I was interested in the sailboats, what was going on? Were they remotely controlled?
No, they were rigged to sail straight and when they'd get to the edge, kids with poles would come running and turn them around and off they'd shoot back to the other side of the pool. We sat there forever watching them go.




Deeper into the garden and more trees and shade and fountains, Paris is nothing if not fountains.
Fountains, statues, water. In one form or another repeated over and over.
Public spaces for people to gather don't have a priority in the US but it seems that is slowly changing.


[where:Jardin du Luxembourg Paris France]
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Invader

To tell the truth I'd never heard of Invader before Exit Through the Gift Shop where he played a minor role. And afterwards I kind of forgot about him considering most of his work was done in either Europe or LA he was kind of off the radar.
Not your normal spray bomb graffiti, Invader uses ceramic tiles to reproduce the low-res monsters of the Space Invaders game. He must have really been hooked as the game created a whole sub culture and huge following.

But the very first day in Paris I saw one and stopped dead. I mean, can you imagine as a fan of what ever genre of art you're into and seeing it on the street?


I got goosepimply literally grinning like a little kid every time I discovered a new one.
This one is made out of Rubik's Cubes.


But it didn't stop, I'd see more and more as we walked around the city retracing Invader's steps. Hand he eaten in the same cafes we hand? Waited for the same metros, nervous and anxious for far different reasons than we were?
[where:Paris France]
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Montmartre Grape Harvest Festival , Paris

We usually don't follow the playbook for tourist when we go on vacation, so we knew right off we were doing two touristy things at the most while we were in Paris. And then out of the blue a twitter friend, @krsg clues us in on a wine festival, or more specifically the Montmartre Grape Harvest Festival.
What I found out about it on google,

In 1937 the Mayor declared the day marking the end of Montmartre's Grape Harvest as a day of celebration. He sought to prohibit construction of more housing on the hills of this neighborhood to maintain the cultivation of vineyards and in this way promote the continued existence of this exquisite wine, famous the world over.

What I can tell you is it was craz-eee, think Mount Adams x 50 then add Oktoberfest and Taste of Cincinnati together and mix them all up. At first the shear amount of people almost scared us off, but we didn't travel the whole way there just to back out when the going got tough. And boy did sticking around pay off. I found a liter beer, locally brewed for 4€ and Ms 5chw4r7z found a bottle of wine for 6€ The only thing left?
Something to eat, so what are the chances we run into a Mass. high school French teacher to help us order food? I don't know what the odds are but that's exactly what happened.




These guys got a big cheer. No idea what it was all about.



Yeah, that stay off the grass sign is on the wrong side of the fence, there were about 2,000 people on the front lawn of the church by time it got dark.

OH CRAP, the State Department said to avoid large crowds.
Too late.
We just shrugged and went back to drinking.

Wine and motorcycles, the universal language, you can make friends anywhere with those two things.
Didn't understand anything they said, but we waved our arms wildly and it kinda worked.




We just hung out with thousands of others drinking wine, eating and watching the sun set and the lights come on in Paris.
Magic.[where:Paris, France]grape festival harvest paris france beer sandwiches wine

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