A Park for All Seasons

Although I haven't posted an update here in a while, we've been to Mill Creek Park at least a couple of dozen times since my last post. After all, it's only a 15- to 20-minute drive from our house depending on traffic. Almost always, we make a pit stop at the visitor center; sometimes, we stop at Lanterman's Mill, Newport Wetlands and/or the golf course as well. Always, we find new and interesting things to photograph. Mill Creek Park is, after all, a park for all seasons.

In the early spring, we take in all the beautiful tulips that line the pathways in Fellows Riverside Gardens. Later, we watched for peonies and daylilies there too. In the summer, the Rose Garden, with its colorful array of blooms, calls our name -- again and again. When we're not roaming round the roses, we head for the bed of some of the largest dahlias I've ever seen out behind the visitor center. And in the fall, nothing is more beautiful than the golds, reds and oranges that appear on the trees -- a signal, unfortunately, that winter won't be far behind. The wetlands begins to don coats of rich browns and tans, and the Lily Pond is drenched in reflections from the surrounding trees.

By the middle of October, all the beautiful dahlias had disappeared, and the roses were disappearing fast. So when we decided to take a run through the park on Oct. 1, it was with no expectation of seeing flowers outside the pots and arrangements always on display inside the visitor center. Imagine my surprise, then, to find quite a number of roses growing strong in the Rose Garden! Yes, most were past their prime, but as any country music fan knows, there's something special about a faded rose from days gone by.

By early November, most of the park is braced for what's to come; and early December brings Christmas at the Mill, weekends of fun, events and the chance to buy gifts for friends and loved ones. Some years, the ground is blanketed with snow, and the bright red ribbons and greenery transform the mill and covered bridge an almost magical look. So far this year, the snow has held off, but nothing has been spared to transform the visitor center into a winter wonderland. There's a play area where the kiddies can roam wide-eyed and not worry about touching things; the gift shop is filled with shimmery, glimmery goodies and intricately decorated Christmas trees are on display upstairs and down. The Garden Cafe puts on holiday airs (not to mention dozens of red and white poinsettias and amaryllis scattered throughout the entire center) and, when we visited on Dec. 12, an exhibit titled "The International Year of Natural Fibres 2009 was lighting up the Weller Gallery.

In January, we choose our entries in the annual nature photography contest with great care; the following month, we take delight in seeing the work of dozens of talented photographers (crossing our fingers that a few of ours will be among them) in the Weller Gallery exhibit. At some point, we're likely to make a pass through the MetroFarm Park in Canfield, especially if there's snow on the ground and the sun is out.

For right now, though, it's a mostly waiting game. Even though our family is smaller this year -- my wonderful father passed away in June at the age of 96, and our son Scott is spending time with his fiance in South Africa till mid-January -- the hustle and bustle of the holidays will come between us and our treasured visits to the park. But once the snow flies, which could happen at any given moment, we'll be back to see doggie footprints on an otherwise snow-covered, and pristine, hiking trail. Or, we'll spy a handful of still-colorful fall leaves imprisoned in the ice on Lake Glacier or a small pond. And we'll look forward to the awakening of spring, when the cycle begins anew!

Spring Has Sprung!

Roses are red
Violets are blue;
But they don't get around
Like the dandelions do!

--Slim Acres

That little rhyme, written in the mid-1930s, was published in Reader's Digest way back then. As payment, the author was given a choice of $25 or a "lifetime" subscription to the popular magazine. He chose the latter. Now, at the ripe young age of 96, he's still receiving Reader's Digest free each and every month. I have little doubt that he's had the longest-running free subscription to the magazine of anyone else in the world.

I know this because he's my father, whose real name is Harold Pickett. Ever since I was a little girl, he's been known for his homespun, cornpone rhymes, hundreds of them compiled into self-published books of poetry (the first was titled Down Country Roads; the most recent, I believe, is called Eighty After Eighty -- a collection of 80 poems he wrote after his 80th birthday).

For many years, he was a much-in-demand public speaker, entertaining folks who attended service club meetings, graduation ceremonies and banquets of all kinds and sizes throughout Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. All this he did under his "persona" of Slim Acres -- a down-home country bumpkin who stumbled through life with the help of his soul mate, "Lucy." To this day, he continues to write -- even winning a state award for one of his poems last year.

What does all this have to do with Mill Creek Park? Not much, I guess, except that the little verse always comes to mind when I think about spring. And it definitely was on my mind yesterday as we made our way to the park to see if we could find some flowers in bloom (besides dandelions). Matter of fact, we did: Lining the grassy pathways out behind the visitor center were hundreds of pretty tulips, mostly pale pink-and-whites dusted with a sprinkling of reds. Out in the family garden, large patches of bright reds and yellows were a cheery sight. Here and there we found sweet-smelling hyacinths and a few brilliant yellow daffodils, but they're a bit less photogenic so we gave them a nod and passed them by.

Also along one of the pathways, we were delighted to find the saucer magnolia trees in bloom. The small-ish white flowers are simply beautiful, although tough to capture with a camera (but that didn't stop me from trying). The grass and foliage were much greener than the previous week when we drove through the park, but there's still a long way to go in the green department, and much of the ground remains covered in dusty leftover brown leaves. Still, the beautiful Victorian gazebo looked inviting bordered in bright greens -- soon it will be put into service as a magnificent place for outdoor weddings and other special events that take place in warmer months. As we stopped to get some photos of Lanterman's Mill just before it opened, we noticed that flour was being ground and visitors were starting to wander in.

We didn't stay long yesterday, but we'll be back soon because now's the time that everything changes quickly and we don't want to miss a thing. The trees are budding, the daytime temperature is making its way toward consistently warmer (keeping in mind that this time of year, 65 degrees is relatively warm and 70 is a blessing). Many more flowers will be blooming near the gardens, the cooters will be lining up on sunny logs in the Lily Pond and it will be hard to find a parking place in the recreation and fishing areas on weekends. Not long after that will come the wonderful array of blooms in the Rose Garden and (hopefully) the dahlia patch near the Family Garden.

I'll keep you posted!

No Ribbons, But Raves for Show

Well, neither I -- nor my husband Jack or our grandchildren Jackie and Jarrett -- took home a prize at this year's nature photography exhibit sponsored by Mill Creek Metroparks this year, but we had a great time looking at all the beautiful entries and look forward to entering more in next year's contest. I will say, admittedly with a somewhat biased eye, that the photos Jackie and Jarrett submitted held their own quite well with the others in the Youth Division.

Yesterday, we wrestled Jackie and Jarrett away from their parents (yeah, right!) and took them to see the exhibit, which is in the Weller Gallery in the visitor center. As always, the exhibit is well laid out. The day was even more special since we met up with our friends Michele and James and their two children, India and Sabrina. Michele and India had photos in the exhibit as well, so we all got to "ooh" and "aaah" over each other's entries. In the photo, left to right, are budding photographers India, Jarrett and Jackie. After we looked at all the photos, the kids found their way to the library area of the visitor center, where there's a special play area for children (that's Sabrina taking a break to flip through one of the books).

This time of year isn't the best for outdoor photography; even if you manage to keep your camera batteries from dying in the freezing temperatures, everything -- water, trees and ground -- is a sea of browns (and maybe the occasional patch of dirty gray snow). In fact, Jack and I made a pre-grandkid run to see the exhibit the previous day -- the first day the show opened -- so we could decide whether or how to warn the kids about what they won, or didn't win. Of course, our hope was that if one got an award, so would the other -- which in the end is how it turned out (although we'd have been happier, of course, had they both been winners).

But on that day, we drove through most of the park and found no reason whatsoever to stop except at one spot where several of the geese seemed to be enjoying the rather gloomy day. I snapped a few macro shots of what few flowers were on display inside the visitor center, but that was about the extent of it.

Same for yesterday, except we didn't bother driving through the park. Instead, we piled the kids into the car and headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, joined by our friends. Even though we ended up with few good photos and no award ribbons, the chance to talk with old friends and let the kids get to know each other better was well worth the trip.

Let the Exhibit Begin!

It's that time again -- the amateur photo contest and exhibit sponsored by Mill Creek Metroparks. There's a limit of seven photos by any one entrant, and the entry fee is a quite reasonable $2 per photo. My husband and I have entered for several years now -- Jack even won an award year before last -- and this year is no exception. There are upwards of 400 photos on display in the Weller Gallery at the visitor center, and it's great fun to see all the beautiful work in the various categories.

Also last year, we encouraged our grandchildren Jackie and Jarrett to enter photos they'd taken (with our supervision) at the park, and if you've been following my blogs, you know they both won a prize. This year, they're entering two apiece, so we'll see what happens. We try to emphasize that it's the effort that counts, but it would be nice to see ribbons on their photos anyway.

Since nothing much was going on at the visitor center, we bypassed it this time out and headed straight for the Ford Nature Center, where the contest photos were to be delivered. On the way, I got a few nice photos around Glacier Lake, which can be seen from the visitor center windows and Fellows Riverside Gardens. The sun was shining when we arrived at the nature center, too, so I snapped a few there just in case it decided to go back behind those clouds that were getting thicker by the minute.

Once our contest entries were logged in, sure enough, the sun decided to do a disappearing act -- and it remained in hiding for the rest of the day. Even so, we drove on to Lanterman's Mill, stopping for a short time to take more photos. I'm happy to have some pictures of the mill in winter, but it sure would have been great to see some sun!

From there, we made a pitstop at the Newport Wetlands area and the scenic Goose Bridge, which was almost obliterated by what had to be more than a foot of snow. By then, it was gloomy everywhere, so we gave up trying for decent photos and headed for the Big Family Restaurant in Girard, Ohio, where we drowned our sorrows in a couple of brewskis and some delicious pieroghies filled with mashed potatoes and jalapeno peppers. Jack tried one of their pizzas for the first time, and it was quite good. I wouldn't know -- he polished off all eight wedges before I could finish my pieroghies and the side order of zucchini fries with creamy horseradish sauce (not that I care, mind you -- I was more than satisfied with what I'd ordered).

As for the photo exhibit, it begins Feb. 28, and you can bet we'll be there that weekend. The exhibit organizers do a great job putting the show together, and it's always great to see the entries that made it into the show. I'll be sure to add another blog entry then, so stay tuned!

Holidays at the Park

Fellows Riverside Gardens is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the "golden year" theme is evident throughout the park. Dec. 6, in fact, launched the park's Winter Celebration: Golden Holiday. And yes, we were there.

No, we didn't drive through the park this time -- it was a rather gloomy and quite cold day, the kind that cameras hate. In minutes, almost brand-new batteries can cease functioning -- an experience my husband and I try to avoid (not to mention fingers so cold they won't bend to push the shutter button). In fact, the main purpose of our trip wasn't the park at all. Rather, it was to stop at the only real camera store left in our area, which is the Youngstown suburb of Boardman Township. My husband was looking for a backpack-type camera bag to make toting all his gear a bit easier, and I needed a smaller bag that will hold my Canon SLR, a couple of special filters and maybe one extra lens. The huge bag I have now is great for keeping all my equipment in one place, but it's so heavy that it's impossible to carry more than a few feet.

That said, the park is on the way, so we decided to check out the holiday decorations, which always are impressive. Besides, today is World Day of Photos at one of our favorite Web sites, PhotographyVoice.com; members upload photos taken wherever they happen to be any time during the day. The visitor center not only was warm, but we figured it would give us plenty of chances to snap something for the Web site -- so we decided to stop there before heading on to the camera store and lunch.

At least an hour and 300-plus photos later, we were on our way again. Needless to say, the visitor center was decorated to the hilt; everywhere were live poinsettias in pale yellows and bright reds and gorgeous red amaryllis. In between are beautiful Christmas trees, carefully created by local organizations. A gorgeous gold-bowed tree stood tall in the cafe, which offered a lovely view of Lake Glacier and other decorated trees and holiday garlands on the outdoor patio. The lower floor, too, is filled with a number of the decorated Christmas trees.

On the main floor, the gift shop fairly glistened with sparkly wreaths, vases, ornaments and other goodies that would make wonderful gifts. Another small room is devoted to children, with colorful origami birds suspended from the ceiling amid organza clouds and "shop windows" filled with enchanting displays of shoes (think Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz), hats and such.

Of course, we took our time and got some great photographs before deciding we'd had enough. Then it was on to the camera store, where both of us got early Christmas presents. We capped the morning off with lunch at the Golden Corral, a buffet that is so awesome it's impossible to describe. We'd visited one for the first time the day before for an article I'm writing for the newspaper on "bountiful buffets" and quite literally waddled out. I guess we simply couldn't believe our good fortune and wanted to confirm that what we'd experienced was real. For the record, it was; nearly seven hours later, I still can't even think of eating again.

All Good Things Must End

Given all my allergies that seem to take a turn for the worse in the fall -- things like the dust and mold from the falling leaves, ready for harvesting hayfields and such -- you'd think I'd want to hibernate this time of year. Not so: In fact, this is my favorite season of all. The weather is cool (anything much above 80 degrees and I turn into a shrew), and who can resist all that gloriously colored foliage?

By this time, though, much of that color has disappeared, falling to the ground to be raked up into huge piles that delight children (just not me -- those allergies, remember)? Even worse, Nov. 2 marks the end of Daylight Savings Time in this neck of the woods, meaning that for the next five months or so, darkness can fall before most folks get home from work.

So yesterday, the last day of October, we headed to the park for what we suppose is the last time before the trees and bushes are predominently barren. From then until the first big snowfall, there's not much worth photographing.

When we arrived at the visitor center, we noticed park maintenance crews and volunteers hard at work cleaning out flower beds, mowing and otherwise preparing the area for the onset of winter. Pumpkins, gourds and orange ribbons still are scattered here and there, adding touches of much-needed color to some of the now-leafless nooks and crannies.

In one way, it was sad; it's never fun for me to watch fall disappear. But in another, it was a good sign -- evidence that when spring finally makes a reappearance, everything will be all right with the park world. We snapped a few photos around the visitor center and Fellows Riverside Gardens, then moved on to other parts of the park to see what we could see. Lanterman's Mill soon will be decorated for the Christmas holidays; on this day, it looked a bit stark.

Then, we headed for Newport Lake, stopping briefly to get photos near the Goose Bridge. Even the large geese, usually out in such great numbers that it's hard to navigate without watching carefully where you step (if you get my drift!), were almost nonexistent.

With a sigh, we pointed the car out of the park and toward home. That's it for a while now -- although I'm quite sure the sun will make an appearance one of these weeks, beckoning us to once again make the journey to our favorite Ohio park.

When we do, you'll be the first to know what we found!

Fall Back to the Park

One of the things I love most about living in the Buckeye State is that the seasons change (we have four, you know -- winter, spring, fall and construction). :-)

But seriously, folks, it's fall that's far and away my favorite. Yes, despite the seasonal allergies that hit with a vengeance as soon as the evening temperatures start to drop, it's impossible to resist the vibrant colors of Ohio's foliage as leaves turn to bright reds, oranges and golds.

It's early yet, but things are starting to change noticeably now. So, on the spur of the moment my husband Jack and I packed up our cameras and headed for Mill Creek Park. As it turned out, the leaves have a long way to go before peaking (an incentive to return if I ever saw one). Still, the onslaught of fall was evident, both in the trees and the decorations at the visitor center. Everywhere, colorful pumpkins and brightly colored chrysanthemums were interspersed with bales of hay and huge stalks of corn to welcome visitors to the park and the season.

And in back of the visitor center, the beds of dahlias were still in bloom -- giving me at least one more opportunity to capture their beauty (this time with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel and a Moose warming polarizer, the latter perfect for bringing out the richness of fall colors).

I was quite surprised to find a few remaining blooms in the Rose Garden, but many of these were fading fast. Still, the buds here and there mean more will pop out in coming weeks unless the weather takes a real turn for the worse. I managed to get a rose or two, but the vast majority weren't worth bothering with. Ditto inside the visitor center; Halloween-type decorations were much in evidence as were several arrangements highlighted by dahlias, but there wasn't much else of interest to photograph. Outside, though, the Victorian gazebo -- photogenic no matter what the season -- looked especially gorgeous with its columns decked out in pumpkins and cornstalks.

It's worth pointing out, by the way, that there's rarely a dull moment at the park. There's almost always something special going on at the visitor center or the MetroParks Farm in nearby Canfield, Ohio. If you're interested, the park's Web site has a calendar of events that's updated each month (and you can sign up to get it by e-mail, as I do, so you don't miss anything).

After poking around there, we drove through other parts of the park. Only here and there were the leaves colorful enough to warrant photos; we stopped to get a few at Glacier Lake and Newport Lake, but not at the Newport Wetlands area, which was less interesting at this point (but we'll be back soon). Ditto for Lanterman's Mill; it's a favorite of photographers this time of year, but the foliage around the river hasn't quite reached its peak in terms of color so we passed it by.

As a matter of course, our final destination was to be somewhere we could enjoy a late lunch. We considered Smoky Bones and the Youngstown Sports Grille in Boardman Township, but then we remembered the new family restaurant in Girard my dentist's assistant had told me about the previous week. Would you believe something like 24 types of peroghies and roughy 100 different beers? Wow! It's located in the building that once housed one of our favorite restaurants, Mikeee's (yes, that's the correct spelling). It stood empty for quite some time after the Mikeee's owners left town to open in the Youngstown-Warren Airport, but now we have an equally delightful alternative.

Mmmmm, mmmmm -- we just left and already we're hankering for more of those peroghies (Jack got sauerkraut-filled and I opted for potato-bacon filling, both delicious)! I recommend it any time, but especially as the perfect ending for a visit to Mill Creek Park!