Get me out of here

At the butterfly house at the Cox Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio.

Rose-colored life

My parents and grandparents visited me a few weeks ago, and I forgot to put up this picture I took of my grandma in the Whetstone Park of Roses in Clintonville. It was one of those days that wasn't really that hot, but you could kind of smell your skin burning in the sun.

I wonder how the roses felt.

The same weekend of the terrible floods in some of the southern states, I visited hometown of Jackson, Ohio. My nephew and I went for a walk to a park and checked out the comparatively little flooding in our area.

We found some people swimming there, which I must admit looked fun, but it also looked super gross.

I had a couple of days off at the end of April, so I used them to go down to Athens to visit some friends, buy some new rollerblades from another friend, and catch some films at the film festival there.

It ended up being a great trip, and staying with my friend Ana is always very peaceful. Her apartment is so clean and "unplugged," both figuratively and literally, which inspired me to take the last photo there.

Noah (pictured above) and I went on a rollerblading adventure, and even though it was a Wednesday, we agreed that it felt like a quiet Sunday.

Ana, Noah and I got some Chinese food and picked up a fake mustache from a 50-cent toy machine on the way out of the restaurant, thus the psychedelic mustachioed self-portrait.

I ended up seeing only one Athens Film Festival screening (Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy), but it was still a well-spent jaunt down to Appalachia.

Blue and orange...

I feel like I've been taking a lot of photos lately that use blue and orange almost exclusively. It reminds me of how there is this thing about movie posters having blue and orange backgrounds complementing each other all the time (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check this out). Blue is, of course, calming, and orange is supposed to be energetic or mentally stimulating. I don't know if that's supposed to have some significance with me subconsciously and that's why I've been drawn to it lately, but it is interesting to think about.

Finally, spring is back...

A few weeks before Easter, I went from being (basically) unemployed to working more than 40 hours a week. Working 40 hours a week doesn't sound like a hardship -- and it isn't, really, when I should be grateful to have a job -- but it was a little jarring after having to cobble together working hours with two part-time jobs and a volunteer position, none of which could give me many hours per week.

I got a Easter-season job that was really draining, but at least ended the day before Easter. Halfway through the employment period, I got hired for a part-time job somewhere else, which packed my schedule and had me frantically driving to opposite corners of Columbus most days.

The first photo was taken while the camera was strapped around my neck as I drove home to Jackson to see my family for Easter. This was after getting off of work at 1:30 a.m.

Miraculously, I made it to church on Easter Sunday after about two hours of sleep.

The rest of the photos are from my drive back to Columbus, when I was floating on a serene sense of relief that that seasonal job was finally over.

I relished the opportunity to take time stopping the car whenever I wanted, just to capture the way the sky looked. These images represent a return of warmth and comfort to my life after a few weeks of cold temperatures, anxiety and a little bit of homesickness.

Jackson finally got a respectable amount of snow, so Natalie and I celebrated it with a walk in the woods. We were looking for good sticks to use for a DIY jewelry stand I wanted to make.

Natalie's sister Erica asked me to come out to her house to take photos of their surrounding property because it is so picturesque. I took plenty of nice photos of the Appalachian landscapes, but I couldn't help but spend some time with her dogs, too -- this one is Bailey.

My dad took me to this enormous quarry after we went to Richards Bros. Orchards in Thurman, Ohio. I'm not sure I'd be able to find it again, but that's OK because it kind of terrified me.



This little hollow was somewhere on the way to the man-made canyon.

A nice, cool day at Hammertown Lake.

Roadside views while moving from Cincinnati back to Jackson.

This triumphant sunflower was born in the "edible garden" at the Cox Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio.

My friend Drew took Jen and me to the Cox Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio, on a sweaty August day.

I was taking photos of something completely different when I found this tiny flag on the side of the Appalachian Highway. I imagine this little Appalachian expatriate has some kind of interesting story, but it's a mystery to me.

My uncle goofs around during a family road trip to the cemetery, which is not quite as weird as it sounds.

My niece rolls down a hill during a family barbecue.

My niece rolls down a hill during a family barbecue.

Hanging out with my niece in the meadow behind my sister's house.

Just my grandpa.