7.1.23Soiled Safe SpaceWe took Myrtle to Hueston Woods this morning so she could swim in the lake. Unfortunately, it rained this morning and the beach turned into grainy mud. Myrtle didn’t care, though. Every time she ran into the water to retrieve her frisbee, she flew past Ashley and ran straight to me—the person NOT throwing the toy for her and who found dry, clean refuge on a picnic blanket in the nearby grass.Uncomfortable in her water-logged state, a vigorous shake followed as did a few expletives from yours truly. My safe space had been compromised.

7.2.23Dog FriendWe went to a baby shower and Ashley became this dog’s BFF by the end of the night.

7.3.23Hamburbers and SandwichesWent over to RESLV to give Steve a hand on a project and came across this door a block away. Need to go back and see if this is an active restaurant or a remnant from another time.(NOTE: I didn’t mean to misspell hamburgers in the title, but that’s how it was originally published, so that’s how it will remain.)

7.4.23Fireworks With FriendsTravis and Allie hosted a great Fourth of July gathering this evening. We lit sparklers on the roof and twirled them around to celebrate freedom or whatever. It was a great time and I’m lucky to have so many good people in my life.

7.5.23Turning PointI’ll make this brief because I’m already sick of talking about it. Monday, while I was helping Steve, my knee finally decided to call it quits. I’d been having trouble for months, but this time it was fully done. I’m in constant pain unless I’m standing (yes, standing). If I lay down, it aches. Unless I sit at the edge of the seat, a shooting pain goes up my leg.The x-ray reveals nothing beyond “it’s not arthritis” but the ortho doc says he thinks it’s a torn meniscus. Whether surgery is in my future is TBD. Starting physical therapy next week and returning for another visit in three weeks.Being unable to live normally is awful. No bike rides. Can’t drive without horrible pain. Can’t take a walk with Myrtle. Can’t do stairs well. And losing a large portion of the money I’ve worked so hard this year to make to meet the deductible has me in the dumps.Really hope this thing can be solved sooner than later.

7.6.23A Little Help For a Little OneSteve’s dog, Pippin, had major back surgery a few months ago. As a result, Pippin can no longer jump up on the couch or do stairs. As a little dog, everything is too high for him and he needs help. When I was over there the other day, Steve kept having to lift him up on the couch when he wanted to sit with us.This little dog ramp I made should solve this issue. I had almost all of the materials already on hand, so with the exception of the cheap carpet (which I have loads more of), I didn’t spend an additional dime on this project.Standing doesn’t hurt my leg nearly as bad as sitting, so finding a project that I can work on that won’t stress the knee is critical right now. Maybe I’ll make more of these at some point.

7.7.23Stunning Sunset On the RiverWe met up with my father’s cousin, Justin, and his partner, Bill, for dinner at the new Cuban joint on the Levee. It’s called Amador and it’s owned/operated by the Pesola Group—same people responsible for Revolution Rotisserie and Milkman.Long story short, the food and ambiance were equally fantastic. Highly recommend you check it out regardless if you’ve had Cuban-inspired cuisine or not. The view of downtown from the dining room makes the interior pop, especially at sunset.Afterward, we got a couple of mixed drinks from one of the bars in the box park and enjoyed the scene pictured.

7.8.23Night OutBad decisions were made. Or were they?Should I be going out on a Saturday night and putting added stress on this knee? Should I be ordering drinks when I’m on meds? Should I be spending money on food and drink when I have impending medical bills?No, I probably shouldn’t. The alternative, responsible thing would be to stay home and ice this joint in solitude.But making bad decisions is relative. What I gained—a fun, memorable night out with friends—is worth more to me than the alternative.

7.9.23Ya Love To See ItAshley and Allie went to the Post Malone show, so Travis and I decided to hit up a few places while we waited to pick them back up.Wandering Monsters in Anderson had its grand opening this weekend. After a flight of beer there, we drove over to Factory 52. It being Sunday night, though, everything was closed—except for one place.I never thought I’d see Jeni’s in Cincinnati. With UDF and Graeter’s reigning supreme in the local ice cream department, it seemed unthinkable a challenger would dare try to scoop out a piece of the market. People were lined up around the building for it, though.

7.10.23The LoyalI didn’t go on a walk tonight; it was more of a slow hobble. The knee is fractionally better than before, and I got a little too confident about it, so I took the dog on a hobble.The last two blocks were painful.Photographed the outside Bellevue’s dive bar on Foote, The Loyal Cafe. It was recently forced to comply with the no-smoking ordinance the city passed. I’ll check it out at some point now that I don’t have to inhale an ashtray while inside. It always stank from the outside.

7.11.23Jake at Binski’sMet up with Jake, Ronny, and Rob at Binski’s in Camp Washington tonight. Great bar, will return.

7.12.23Devou DwellingIt’s gotten noticeably hotter over the last 24 hours. After sweating through my shirt taking photos of the community pool, I photographed this condo in Devou Park for Rebecca’s listing.It doesn’t have a city view, but the view of the woods is nice. It’s a two bed, one bath with a balcony and garage space. I like the lofted ceiling and high windows that draw in extra natural light to fill the living room. The accent wall really takes the room up a notch, too.This was my first job while managing knee pain and it went alright. I think I can do this without too much trouble. Photographing events, though, will probably be a lot harder.

7.13.23Four StoriesA four-story house in Mt. Adams with a good view of Over-the-Rhine needed photographing. The building, likely built in the 1800s, had been heavily modified to support more modern living.The humidity outside was brutal, increasingly invading the house the higher I climbed the staircase. It’s a good reminder that, despite technological advancements in micro-climate control, nature will always find a way to get you.Also, my knee has made noticeable strides in getting better today. Even managed to walk the dog (slowly) for a few blocks. Feels good to be seeing progress.

7.14.23Two Decades of Great SignageSince moving across the river three years ago, I’ve been meaning to photograph two unique signs in Highland Heights: La Ru Lanes and E-Jay Plaza. The former looks like it was designed and built in the 60s, and the latter looks like it could belong to either the late-80s or early-90s.I honestly don’t know which one I like more. They might be equally as appealing to me but for different reasons.La Ru has two things I love: blinking carnival bulbs and MCM geometry. The bulbs on the acute triangle remind me of being a kid and running around Kings Island at night, riding as many rides as possible before crossing the never-ending parking lot to find Dad at the pick up area reading a book under the cab’s dim, yellow dome light. And the bulging, unevenly lit rectangle with big, plastic lettering reminds me of when I’d go out to change the theater’s marquee as an early 20-something.E-Jay has two things I love: cool blue and hot orange neon, and that signature squiggle inherent in that era’s aesthetic. Maybe it’s revisionist history, but I feel like that Memphis Design/Solo Jazz style of loud, squiggly colors and shapes were crucial to making childhood in the 90s feel so visually unique. Every era has its aesthetic, and while that one could be argued as garish and might prove unpopular after the 90s revival moment we’re experiencing fades, I’ll always have a soft spot for it.Pardon my nostalgia. I haven’t verbally talked to anyone but Myrtle in almost two days (Ashley’s out of town again).

7.15.23Chestnut Street CemeteryWhile on a walk with Myrtle, I revisited the Chestnut Street Cemetery: the oldest Jewish cemetery both in Cincinnati and west of the Allegheny Mountains. It’s one street over from the Betts House—Cincinnati’s oldest surviving structure.About 100 people are interred in this small, fenced-in corner of the West End. It’s also believed that Joe Jonas from Plymouth, England, was the first Jewish settler in Cincinnati. I don’t know why he died in Mobile, Alabama.The cemetery is truly a blink-and-you-miss-it phenomenon. The headstones are old, weathered, and hidden behind a stone wall. The only way to see them is from the corner. A double-sided historic marker with information about the cemetery stands just outside the fenced section. I knew it was here from spending so much time on Clark Street about 10 years ago, but I never photographed it until today.

7.16.23Fixing Past MistakesIf you go back to the January 24th entry of this year, I mentioned having to remove part of the basement wall to move the new sleeper couch I bought into the room. It wasn’t the best solution at the time, but it had to be done.Today, with the help of my father-in-law, we reframed the doorway and added two bifold doors to separate the finished and unfinished sides of the basement. I still need to add trim and paint/stain everything, but the hard part is over. I didn’t have time to take many photos, but I wanted to spotlight my miter saw; this MVP helped me cut and complete this project. Without it, the job would’ve been much harder.

7.17.23Getting LuckyWhoever said a black cat crossing your path is bad luck clearly didn’t appreciate how adorable black cats are. This little one was at the end of the alley before coming nearer to me when I pspsps’d at them a few times.

7.18.23Obligatory Bee-On-Flower-in-Summer PhotoThis bee was unconcerned about the close proximity of my iPhone’s camera while taking its photo. I think it was too lost in the sauce to notice.

7.19.23MRIGot an MRI done on my knee. They had me change into paper shorts, gave me headphones, and slid me 80% of the way into a noisy tube for 30 minutes.The white noise I had them play wasn't loud enough to mask the sounds of the machine, but it did help a bit. In fact, I was so comfortable that I kept fighting the urge to fall asleep so I wouldn't twitch and ruin the image. I could look out the window for "entertainment" because my head wasn't inside the machine. Still, I wish they'd given me a magazine or something to read.Anyway, I didn't take any photos because I wasn't allowed to have anything in the room with me. Here's the waiting room where they were playing King of Queens on a TV in the corner.

7.20.23Love BirdsArtWorks is in the process of creating an elevated Pride-themed mural above Queen City Radio, and they brought me along to photograph the process for them. I climbed a couple of stories of scaffolding to get up on the bar's roof, and from there, I climbed more scaffolding to photograph the artists doing their thing. Choosing just one photo for this project was challenging because almost every frame was filled with an abundance of color and positivity. I chose this one because I couldn't believe these adorable pigeons were "kissing" just like the muralized people in the background.It was also challenging to choose a photo of the day today because we went to Travis and Allie's house later that evening to watch the Ludacris show on the lawn of Hard Rock Casino from their rooftop. The view from that height offered a perfect, almost completely unobstructed look at the stage. I took my Tamron 150-600 with me and got a few decent shots of the performance.If you don't pay to see a show and manage to see it from outside the venue, does that still count as "going to see Ludacris?"

7.21.23Vingt-Trois et MoiMy sister did 23andMe and got me thinking about how my own results might turn out compared to hers. So I paid $100 to spit into this tube! I will report back in a few weeks when I get my results.

7.22.23Barbie FeverThe marketing campaign for the Barbie movie is honestly impressive. I cannot think of a film with such a weird and powerful push to get people into theaters in a while. In contrast to Oppenheimer, the film is seemingly unserious about itself, though still very serious about making big box office numbers on opening weekend. It’s pretty fun to see little pop-up photo boxes and memes being shared for this lighthearted affair.While I’m neither opposed to seeing it nor willing to spend the money on a ticket, I figured I’d commemorate this particular moment in pop culture by photographing my favorite Barbie-pink house on Berry Street that’s totally unaffiliated with the studio and accidentally prescient at this moment.

7.23.23Where Are All the Butterflies?Is it just me or do you see fewer butterflies these days? Maybe I’m misremembering, but I recall seeing far more of them every year than I do now. When I see them in the wild now, it honestly stops me in my tracks because they’re no longer a common sight.One of the big reasons we ripped out the grass in our front yard last year was to plant flowers and create a pollinator sanctuary to hopefully attract more bees and butterflies. While this one wasn’t in my front yard, I hope to see more of them this summer.

7.24.23Guilt-Free PogThe first thing I ever remember stealing as a kid was a pog with a cat face on it. Little cardboard discs with graphics on them were all the rage in the early- and mid-nineties. Instead of baseball cards, we saved money for this stupid game. Sometimes kids would even gamble with them, though I never did because no one cared enough about taking my pogs.I stole that cat pog from a friend down the street. It was so desirable because I had very few "official" pogs of my own compared to my friends (I cut up shoeboxes and drew the artwork on my pogs to build my library early on). Stealing that pog filled me with a tremendous amount of guilt, though.Every time I looked at that tiny cat face, it made me sick. Those adorable kitty eyes that initially made me take it eventually filled me with a sinking feeling in my gut and made playing with it unbearable. Whenever a slammer exploded a stack and the cat pog bounced free of the pile, I was judged anew. And I knew I deserved it. The cat pog that "fell off the back of a truck" eventually bounced its way into the garbage can so I could avoid continuing to feel guilt.I told this story to Tiffany and Steven last month, and they sent me this holographic cat slammer (it's surprisingly heavy!) they found on eBay as a joke. To me, though, it's the guilt-free version of that childhood treasure, and I unironically love it.

7.25.23New ViewThey’re building a tall parking garage by Findlay Market at the moment. As it goes up, so too does a south-facing ArtWorks mural. Working alongside the apprentices and the project coordinators, I photographed the progress from the multi-story scaffolding erected next to the wall.It was my job to document the process for ArtWorks, but I couldn’t help but grab a quick skyline shot from a new perspective at the top of the scaffolding. As someone with a relatively healthy fear of heights (don’t come at me with an ‘actually, it’s a fear of falling’), being up that high without much to keep me from falling over the edge was a bit scary.The best part about this is once the garage is open, everyone can get up here and get the same shot. I’m going to try to get one at night next time.

7.26.23LibelIs it libel if I take a photo of graffiti someone else did and publish it? While throwing something away next to the coffee shop, this caught my eye. I won’t speculate further.

7.27.23Tiki NightTiki night at Japp’s with Travis and Rob. It began thunderstorming pretty fiercely as I was leaving. Thankfully Ashley came to pick me up so I didn’t have to manage a streetcar and a bus in the rain without an umbrella. The lightining was spectacular!

7.28.23Blurry Malort ShotBlurry malort shot both because it’s out of focus and because my vision blurred from the foul taste when I took this shot. Binski’s does it in a clean ashtray (never used except for malort), making it awkward to take. Pretty sure a quarter of it landed in my beard instead of my mouth.A bunch of us gathered for Lammi’s birthday and drank Old Style and High Lifes while laughing about bad toilet experiences and playing dominoes. Eventually, the majority of the group landed at Camp Washington Chili for a late-night meal. I took precisely one photo because I was enjoying myself too much.

7.29.23Surprise Visit From An AngelAshley, Maria, Kenzie, and Aaron went to the 50 Cent show at Riverbend, so Mike (husband of Maria) and I hung out while we waited to pick them back up. We smoked cigars, ate sushi, listened to a mix of 80s/90s hip-hop and punk, and were about to hit up the barcade on Walnut before the ladies summoned us back to the river to collect them.After picking them up, we went to Kenzie and Aaron’s house for a nightcap and saw this beautiful cat on the shed next door. She emerged from the darkness and sat pretty up there for us to gawk at her. At one point, she came close enough that I could pet her.

7.30.23The Empty SpeedwayWhile at Binski’s Friday night, Travis and Ronny discussed going down to the Kentucky Speedway to photograph it for a story Ronny’s putting together. With one of Ronny’s friends, Matt, in tow, we went down early-ish in the morning before it got too unbearably hot and wandered around outside the fence.I’ve never been interested in racing like this, but seeing the speedway essentially abandoned. While it’s clear someone is still cutting the grass around the speedway, it’s also apparent this is no longer a place where people come together to watch an event. I don’t know all the specifics of the place, but I imagine everything I need to know will be in Ronny’s upcoming piece about it.

7.31.23The Old SwitcherooWhile at Friendship Park, this engine roared slowly down the track before stopping shy of the switch. The man pictured climbed down, pulled the lever, and another man still inside the engine inched forward. It parked briefly in the middle of the driveway cars use to enter the park parking lot. Successfully switched over, the engine reversed and went onto the other set of tracks that run parallel to the set it had just ridden and proceeded back from whence it came.