359: On the Towpath Trail

Lil' Monet. From the Gnomes and Gardens exhibit at the Holden Arboretum.

It is another beautiful day here in the Bogs.  Sunny with autumn-like temperatures.  Perfect hiking and/or biking weather.  But there was work to be done around Breezy Acres so the only hiking I managed today was around the pond.

Lil' Monet, the close-up view.

Yesterday I went on my first artist’s date.  I took my newly (and nicely) repaired bicycle and my camera for an outing on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.  It was a wonderful outing, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I brought Lil’ Monet along for this post because he’s a little artist, and what better way to celebrate an artist’s date than with a little artist?  The photos are from our gnome hunt back in August, and have little (or nothing) to do with this post.  I was just looking for an excuse to display a few more gnomes.  Don’t be surprised if more pop up here and there in future posts.

The Towpath Trail can get rather crowded on the weekends, especially when the weather is nice.  But on an early Friday afternoon it was practically empty.

Part of the trail runs along the Cuyahoga River.  Unfortunately, there is a waste water treatment (sewer) plant running along the other side of the section I explored yesterday.  As long as you stay downwind of that, it’s all good.  But upwind… phew.

I decided to challenge myself by using only manual settings on the camera.  I took quite a few odd shots, playing around with shapes and patterns, light and shadows.  Nothing I want to post on the blog, but it was fun playing around and I learned a few things along the way.

Did I mention it was a gorgeous day?  It was.  Cool, breezy, clouds traveling across the sky.

Week 1 of The Artist’s Way has gone well.  I faithfully scribbled out my morning pages every day.  Apparently my mind is not as cluttered as I thought.  It’s difficult to come up with three pages worth of stuff to write about.  I often find myself writing about  how I don’t have anything to write about.  Fascinating stuff.

At least I won’t have to worry about someone reading my morning pages.  They’ll fall asleep before they get through the first day or two.  It’s that boring.  The Drama Llama has not paid us a visit here in the Bogs lately.  I’m fine with that.

I’m not sure what the take-away was from my artist’s date other than pure enjoyment.  I took my time.  Meandered is the word that comes immediately to mind, although not in a physical sense as the path was pretty direct.  It was more of a mental and spiritual meander, allowing those parts of myself to wander off and seek new pathways.

One of my favorite spots from yesterday’s outing was the train station at Botzum.  I even like the name.  Botzum.

There used to be a town in the area around the train station, a town that had several name changes (Botzum being the most recent of those names), but almost all signs of it have vanished.  You can read about it here if you’re interested in the history (which includes a mystery of human bones found in an old cellar of a hotel when the building was demolished).

The small train station serves the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.  The have a Bike Aboard! program that allows cyclists to bike one way and ride the train the other (or vice versa).  At the Botzum station you would have to flag down the train to get it to stop for you.

M and I have talked about doing that sometime this autumn.  Taking the train one way will allow us to get in a longer bike ride without worrying about having the energy to ride back.

Today I will be spending more outdoor time at the festivals in Akron I mentioned in yesterday’s post (the Greek Festival and the Irish Festival).  We’re going to the Greek Festival for dinner and the Irish Festival for the music.

That’s it from the Bogs for today.  I’ll leave you with a few more photos from yesterday’s outing.  Thanks for dropping by!

Near the end of my bike ride

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