Unknown Artwork

Good morning,

Have you ever come across a piece of art and have no information about it or if it is worth anything?  Of course, it has nostalgic value because it hung in my parents' home for many, many years.

My digital image above has somewhat more vibrant colors than the original painting, I believe is a watercolor.

Here's a close up of the signature.  Japanese?

The painting was framed by Suder's Art Store in Cincinnati, probably in the 1930's.

Does anyone have any insight into this lovely piece?

Thanks!

Lois

Very Fancy Pedestrian Bridge

Good morning,

I snapped this picture while we were waiting for that red light near downtown Cincinnati. 

If you look carefully, you'll see "Cincinnati" is written out on the bridge.  We've had more and more of these popping up here and in surrounding communities.  We've noticed them in other cities on our road trips, too.

They are all very nice, but look extremely expensive in times when money in most cities is tight.

Have fancy pedestrian walks popped up in your city?

All the best,
Lois

Tree Cutting Finale - Ready to Split

Good morning,

All of the wood from our four trees has now been moved into our back yard where we will split and stack it.

But, not today.  ;)

All the best,
Lois

A Little Tree Trim Over the Driveway

Good morning,

Yes, the tree person is still in the tree.  He has moved from the tree next to the neighbor's home into the trees that beside our driveway.  No, he didn't come down to get there, he just "tree hopped."

Here's a shot with a little less zoom.

And, here's the full shot.  Can you see him up there to the right of the flag pole?

The assistant took a little more off of tree number two.

The clean up team was busy on the ground...

 ...while the tree climber continued moving from tree to tree.

 Amazing.

 I must admit there was a lot of noise in our neighborhood that day.

 There was also a great deal of cleaning up to do.  These are steps on the front side of the house.

 This is debris from trees number three and four on the other side of the house.

 More chipping here.  These guys not only cleaned up our yard, the neighbors' yards (on both sides), and our property, they made sure the street in front of the house was swept and clean.

 They moved all of the fireplace length logs into our back yard.  The area you see here is a walkway at the side of our home. 

Soon it will be finished!

;),
Lois

More Action in the Trees

Good morning,

Continued from yesterday's post, this series of images is of The Tree People removing the second tree of four a few days ago.  These first two trees were growing very close to our neighbor's home so we had them removed before any damage could happen.  

That's the neighbor's roof where the men are working.

These guys are amazing!  You wouldn't believe how fast all of this happens.

This shot gives you a better perspective.

 Pieces of the tree were removed until the tree was short enough to cut near the ground and pull over without causing any damage below.

 These are really strong guys.  I can't believe how they lift these things so easily.

 He tossed that log into our driveway.

 The tree climber, left, then swung over to the next batch of trees along our driveway...

 ...to be continued...

All the best,
Lois

The Tree People Return

Good morning,

The title sounds like a scary movie, doesn't it.

The Tree People is the name of the company we hired to remove four trees.  Two of them were leaning toward a neighbor's home.  They cut other trees away from our driveway and roof.  Here they are unloading their equipment.  They found the stone base below our flag pole a good place to organize everything.

This man is amazing!

Very quickly, he goes up a tree...

 ...roping, then cutting small branches as he goes...

 ...then roping the trunk further up as he climbs.

 On the way down he cuts huge pieces of the trunk....

 ...while workers below hold ropes to guide the descent of logs that are cut.

 All of this happens very fast.

 Here a very heavy hunk of tree is being guided away from the neighbor's home and into our driveway.

More amazing acts by The Tree People to come....

Enjoy,
Lois

New Flag Pole

Good morning,

Back in 2010 I shared the sad story of our old catalpa tree here on my blog.  The dear old catalpa was going to come down on its own so we had it removed before it could cause any damage.  That story is here.

The stump of the catalpa tree was removed so the ground was soft.  We waited nearly three years before installing a much-wanted flag pole.  These first pictures were taken last Fall.

Our friend Bill does things right.  Here he's preparing a base of concrete...

...while carefully measuring.

These are the reinforcement rods that would go into the concrete base.

 Here Bill is carefully setting the holder for the flag pole.

 He is extremely accurate. :)

 I had to take a picture of Bill's kayak that he had on his truck when he came over.  He and daughter Catherine were on their way for a trip on the river after some work on the flag pole. :)

 Back to the flag pole base first.  :)

 As soon as the concrete was poured, it needed some time to harden.

 A few days later Bill was back to lay the stones.

 Again, it's perfect!

 

If you look in the background of this image (it's that bird looking into the security camera again!) taken several months later you can see the stonework finished and tulips blooming around the flag pole base.

FAST FORWARD to now!  Here is how the flag pole looked a few days ago.  Those are The Tree People's tools at the base of the flagpole now.  And, that's one of those tree people on my neighbor's home removing our tree that was getting too close over there.  :)

More tree removal images to come.  :)

What's happening at your home this summer?

All the best,
Lois