April

Let's compare two other Aprils.
Here, April 2022 and April 2023

Entry#248. 4/28/2024.  
Once again, it’s the time of the year. Flying Pig Marathon events will happen in May 4th and 5th. 

https://www.visitcincy.com/events/uniquely-cincinnati-events/flying-pig-marathon-weekend/

The officials created Handcycle division last year for the first time ever. They kept this program as the same setting as a 10k race. So officially it’s “the 2nd Handcycle 10K race in Flying Pig”.  
And YES, my husband will attend this 10K race!  
In fact I don’t know the real fact “they have had wheelchair participants (push-rim or just wheelchair) before or not?”  
Like you imagine, I didn’t pay any attention about wheelchair users nor disabled people. I sound bad. (I was bad.)  
If my memory is correct, my husband told me about a push-rim wheelchair racer in Flying Pig half marathon.  It was when he met his escort cyclist in the morning on his race day 2023. That cyclist told him a story about it. So according to him, there was at least one push-rim racer in Flying Pig history.  
I did some searching on internet about it.  
There was one push-rim wheelchair racer indeed, in 2018 and 2019, in Flying Pig Half Marathon.  
I’m impressed by stories of him (he is from West Chester, yes!!!)   
https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/amateur/2019/04/28/ken-archer-marc-van-rafelghem-rory-cooper-toledo-glass-city-marathon-wheelchair-racing/stories/20190428142

https://littlemiamistatepark.org/park-and-trail/history-park-trail/2-uncategorised/265-wheelchair-racer

He competed Half marathon pushing wheelchair rims. His time (it’s amazing) 1:30:11 in Toledo. 1:38:29 in PIG 2019. (1:41:10 in PIG 2018).    
He even competed in Toledo right before Pig race (April 2019). Amazing.  
I maybe told about differences between push-rim wheelchair and handcycle. It is so different and these two types have to be awarded separately, as different types of sports.   
Here is a good reminder about handcycle setting/mechanism. 

This video mentioned about classifications, but it’s mostly used in Europe (I assume).  
Then I see this page now about this year’s Half Marathon. They set up “Wheelchair Start” in Half Marathon. (I cannot tell whether actual push-rim participants in this year, though.)  

https://flyingpigmarathon.com/flying-pig-marathon-weekend/event/wheelchair-start
Either way, it’s always great to know this kind of information to myself. Are you asking me if my husband is ready or not?? I’m smiling. I believe he is ready. I’m just worried about the weather, the rain. That’s it. 

4/29/2024.  
My first Iris of the season is here! It was 2 days ago. Then my eyes were wide open with a joy in this morning. See? How are your Irises doing?

4/27/2024.
Have you experienced “sewer backup” inside your house before? How much people have experienced it, in general? Should you know about sewer line system before you become a home owner? Hmmm.
Well, it happened two springs ago here in my house. It was quite a terrible/scary (?) incident to me. I was terrified and had no idea what happened thinking “What have I done wrong??”  Yes, a professional came and fixed it. I watched what they did and learned a bit from them. That was two springs ago.  
Last spring, it happened again, unfortunately. We did the same process to fix it.  
See the photo below? 

We have a long upper lateral pipe because our driveway is too long. Our house is over 40 years old. We were told we had a roots problem, growing into a pipeline.  
Right after the fixing process, I got relieved and I felt “it’s all fixed”.  However, you know, roots are alive and keep growing, of course.  
Again, unfortunately, it happened AGAIN last week. Sigh.  
A professional guy suggested “Root Killer” at the same time my husband searched it online. So we did it this time. Fingers crossed.  
My husband taught me that I needed to do this treatment regularly. I need to remember that.  
Well, it’s challenging to be a home owner. I keep learning.

P.S. Let's laugh out loud together. Christmas cactus update! It's FULL blooming! I think, it's celebrating Graduation season, I guess. 

Entry#247. 4/26/2024.  
Oh what a fun day!!! It was Miami University’s 30th Annual Undergraduate Research Forum at Shriver center. 

https://miamioh.edu/undergraduate-research/research-opportunities/undergraduate-research-forum/index.html?_ga=2.206900890.844512119.1714172014-1816361791.1714058408

Here is a Miami News article. The latest one. There is a video on it, too. 

https://stories.miamioh.edu/building-bridges-to-brilliance

In the past, I visited just several times for my husband’s undergraduate students to see their posters. I visited there today! And I had a joyful time more than I expected. I’m not a scientist and actual researcher, not at all. But I’m always curious about anything interesting. This year was a bit more exciting just because our son presented his research, too. Plus I know several students there who are graduating next month, they are THS graduates (the same class of our son, class of 2020 at THS). It was so nice seeing them again. They all were eager to “talk” (explain) what they have done for their research. They all sounded so proud of themselves. Of course, they are. They made me smile a lot.  
It was so much fun being around young researchers.  
You would love listening to our son’s talk, I think. 

Entry#246. 4/24/2024.  
After my husband became a paraplegic, we have met several SCI people including some paraplegic people. It’s always great to meet them to exchange our paraplegic life stories. From good adventurous ones to hard tough difficult times.  
I always have “personal questions” to them about paraplegic life because I’ve been wondering how they do compared with what my husband does. It is personal thing most of the time, so it wouldn’t be so easy to ask them directly. But if there is a chance showing up in front of me, I would ask, you know? (As you can guess, I sometimes sound so NOSY, I know. I will try to be careful.)  
Once my husband’s wonderful mentor (paraplegic professor of physiology at University of Kentucky) invited us to his gorgeous huge house. He told me “Take any pictures of any parts of the house. So that you get the idea of accessibility inside your house in future.” He is so generous, wonderful and knowledgeable with powerful energy.  
I learned a lot from him and his house. You can re-readhere.

Sometimes I wonder. You know?  Each paraplegic people have different conditions. Different wheelchair settings. Different styles of self-chatheterization. Different amount of spending times for some sports.  
Here is an article about self-catheterization.

https://www.urologypros.com/how-much-do-catheters-cost-a-practical-guide-for-patients-needing-self-catheterization#:~:text=This%20usually%20ranges%20from%2050,cathing%20six%20times%20a%20day).

If they became paraplegic at young ages, they would have accessible house at their first time for buying a house. It might have an elevator for wheelchair, it might have all accessible kitchen, it might have accessible entrance doors and patios, and so on.  
Our house is a minimal accessible condition for my husband. I do wonder thinking “how much should I renovate our house for wheelchair?”. It’s always hard to determine. Is it necessary RIGHT NOW? Is it number one priority?  
The wish-list gets longer and longer. Only if we were a billionaire, you know? 

1.Accessible entrance doors (front and back)  
2.Accessible kitchen (clearance of under a sink and lower counter plus stovetop)  
3.Sliding down shelves  
4.An elevator to access a second floor  
5.Accessible patio  
6.Changable-height wardrobe rack-stands  
And so on and on…..  
At least I feel comfortable about my house because wheelchair user guests can enter inside from a garage, can use a bathroom and wheel around at least in three rooms. At least we could invite wheelchair users into our house. That’s a start, I believe so.  
Yes, sometimes I keep wondering about these kinds of stuffs. 

Photo: we invited a para-friend for the first time! I have several things I want to share. Maybe later.

4/24/2024.  
Endpapers updates: I'm now really into "checking endpapers in books". I'd love to chat with people about their favorite endpapers someday. That'd be fun. 

And it ended up finishing to write a fan-letter to a sweet girl who shared her favorite books. I will send it to her by a snail mail! Hope this would surprise her with a joy. We will see.

Entry#245. 4/21/2024.  
I once used to work at the local public library in this town as a shelver (“page” as of the old job title). I loved it at that time, you might laugh. I still love our library here, of course. All staffs and entire atmosphere.  I peeked “Kids picks” shelf the children’s section created. Recently I noticed it was Picks by a sweet girl whom I really knew. Guess what I did next several minutes?  I checked out books from her picks. Because her collection made me so curious and I was eager to read them. Well, I’m working on it right now with joyful happiness. I’m not done yet but I want to make some notes here.
I love seeing “endpapers”. Do you know where are endpapers in a book? 

https://youtu.be/udNElAVytGU?feature=shared

https://penandoink.com/2013/08/19/the-story-with-endpapers/

Two of sweet girl’s picks have nice endpapers which I love very much. I’d love to chat about it with her someday. That’s on my to-do-list in future. That’d be so much fun to discuss about it with her. I’d tell her “thank you” as well because she gave me new excitement and awesome “wonders”. 

The middle book has a map endpaper, see?

These two are series.

4/21/2024.  
PIG statue update! (Go scrolling down to 4/03.) I found another "Pig"!! 

Entry#244. 4/19/2024.  
This is Part2 of 4/17. The non-profit organization “The Bridge adaptive sports and rec” provides many kinds of adaptive sports opportunities to disabled people. One of them is “handcycle training” for Flying Pig 10K race.  They have tried using several facilities. This year is their second year for this program. They need the place that it has a big storage space for more than 10 handcycles and has a bike trail around it.  
Since this organization is related with UC (university of Cincinnati) medical health /physical therapy program, the Bridge director found the most efficient place for us. It’s UC rowing club facility (it’s for their inside training place in winter). I’m so grateful and thankful for all the connection the director has and his great efforts.  
The place is right next to the Sawyer point park.  
When I walked into the garage, I was excited and my eyes were wide open. It’s funny because I saw tons of Erg machines there. And that’s why I was excited. I believe you don’t know Erg at all.  
It’s a rowing machine for indoor training.

https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/concept2-rowerg

Recently my great-runner friend became a rowing coach at Queen City rowing club. We chatted a little bit about rowing and Erg. Yes, that’s why I’m familiar with Erg. Plus you might be surprised. My son and I did “try it out” experience with this Erg machine once about 6-7 years ago.  
Whenever you see things you are familiar with, you’d be excited and happy. Wouldn’t you?  I was.  
All the connection and coincidence make me happy.  
Yes, I’m sending some cheers to this rowing lady for her season and cheers to all handcycle athletes on Flying Pig 10K on the 4th of May!

photos from 6-7 years ago. You like them? We had no idea about rowing at all. You know? It's very hard to "row", really.

P.S. Here is the photo of my husband and the awesome-runner-rower friend together in Flying Pig 10K last year! You see "our bonds", yes?

4/17/2024.  
My Christmas cactus (!) UPDATE. What? It's blooming in my house. Hmmmm

Well, these are more season-appropriate here. My Lily of the valley are UP to show off. (May 1st is the official Lily of the valley DAY, you know that?!)

P.S. This is 10 years ago today. Look how Ranger wanted our son's snack. 

Entry#243. 4/17/2024. 
What does “handcycle group ride” (handcycle group practice) look like??  Have you ever wondered??  
My husband started riding his own handcycle on December 2021. It’s been almost 2 and a half years of his handcycle career.Here is a Timeline of his “machines”.  
Go to Entry#154 (you need to scroll down a bit)https://gomrstgo.webador.com/september-2023

For the first time in his life, he “met” handcycle thing on November 2021 @ Try-it-out event.  
December 2021. Purchased a used handcycle.  
May 2023. Purchased a used “racer type” handcycle (it’s his current machine).  
Here is a number-fact of official races.  
Flying Pig 10k 2023.  11 handcyclists. 
Air force marathon 2023.  15 hand crank athletes 

Going back to talking about a “group ride”.  
He pedals his handcycle as much as he could on no-wet days (sunny/cloudy). Most of the time, he and I only.  He tried a group ride with his cyclist friends several times. He did pedal with another handcyclist once.  
There is not much chances to gather up with several handcyclists around our town. Just because there are not much disabled people owning/having their own handcycle. My husband is a lucky one, I can say that.  
Then, once again, the great wonderful organization “The Bridge Adaptive sports and rec” is leading the program “Handcycle training for the Flying Pig 10K 2024!”  
What they do for adaptive people who want to attend this 10K race, is 1) providing handcycles 2) fitting and helping them to ride on and off 3) training them 4) storing handcycles 5) preparing for the race day.  
Because of the existence of this organization, more than 10 beginner handcyclists (various types of disabilities) could attend the 10K race. So fortunate and grateful.  
So here it is.  This is what a handcycle group ride looks like. The training session near Sawyer Point park. 

4/16/2024.
I still keep following my husband to go to coffee shops outside Oxford. It is still for “just in case” situations. He might be able to go driving to some of coffee shops by himself, managing/handling everything (carrying a coffee, pulling wheelchair into a van and driving). Maybe. But for now I just keep following.
One day, a barista asked me if I was a Japanese. He said he just started learning Japanese because he was planning to visit Japan this September. That sounded wonderful. He even wrote down some hiragana ひらがな, one type of z Japanese alphabets, on a counter top with an erasable marker. Then he asked me this. “Do you recommend some Japanese songs? I want to learn from songs because I love music. It might be helpful.”
It was a bit tough question and I needed minutes to think about it. It was very interesting to me because I never learned English from songs.
Then after several minutes of searching/YouTubing, I realized I was too old to answer this question. I picked 3 songs which were my forever-favorites. However it was released in 90s and 80s. Do you think this young barista would like them? I believe it is (at least) appropriate to understand Japanese. Plus two of them are an encouraging songs.  
It wound be easy to “mimic” the sounds without knowing meaning. How do you think? 

バンザイ Banzai by Ulflus ウルフルズ in 1996

まけないで Makenaide by ZARD in 1993

Linda Linda. By ザ　ブルーハーツ The Blue Hearts in 1987

Entry#242. 4/14/2024.  
The another exciting thing happened here in our household. You might laugh. It’s exciting to myself. My husband gave me a brand new road bicycle which I’ve never imagined before. Trek AL3 Gen3. My previous road bicycle is Specialized Sirrus, it was kind of a vintage bike. I loved it and it was red. I’ve ridden on this for one year. Then my husband told me “Okay, let’s upgrade your bicycle. It’s time.”  
My rode bicycle journey started after my husband got into his handcycle.  
At first, it was not a rode bicycle. See below? A flat-straight-handlebar.

Then I got my red. (It was a used one and a good deal.) At that time, the wonderful local bike repair shop owner/great cyclist/cycle-dad did some adjustments for my body size. 

I tried to make a good cycling form on it. Oh and see a helmet? It's now a "bicycle helmet". 

Between this and the new Trek AL3, my husband gave me a mountain bike also.(a used one. It was even a teen-size.) I learned the great differences between rode bikes and mountain bikes. Great to know. 

This Trek AL3 Gen3!! 

Did you know there was a “fitting” process for bicycles? I had no idea about it. The local bike shop, BikeWise Oxford, the owner provided this process for me. My husband also amazed this fitting machine and computer.  
photo1: before fitting.
photo2: after fitting 

We will see how my body reacts to this cool new bike!! I know you are laughing now about my journey of becoming a cyclist. Yes, this is how I became a cyclist. Well, almost a real cyclist.

Entry#241. 4/13/2024.  
That “Total solar eclipse 2024” was phenomenal and unforgettable indeed. I kept yelling “whoa, whoa, woooooow!” for 3 minutes long. That “darkness” and “cold temperature” amazed me so much. Loved the whole “The Sun and Moon” show.  
I did the math (I know many news sites and websites provided the fact. But I did anyway.)  
In Ohio. The last time was 1806. It was 218 years ago. 218 years ago!  
In the United States, the one which was visible “across the whole country” happened in 2017. (7 years ago) Before this, it was year 1918. 106 years ago. Very interesting.  
I read this page.

4/12/2024.  
Oh, I forgot to report this in March. Our son got this cool "poster" as his 22nd birthday gift. The title is "Back in 2002"! There are several fun facts and interesting things on it. The Postage Stamp was 37c back then. Do you remember? I remember only the song "How you remind me". Funny though. Of course our son doesn't remember these stuffs. Of course not. He was born in this year, in 2002. 
My most favorite part of this poster is "Year in Review: You are Part of Generation Z!" That is a good reminder!

4/11/2024.  
LOOK!!!! How cool is this! It's in front of the Pearson Hall building. The last photo was taken by my husband's student who is in that pole banner with my husband(!) (I didn't take a good shot of it just because I was too short.) 

Entry#240. 4/10/2024.  
Before my husband’s accident, before our paraplegic new normal started, there was not much difference about how often we visited Cincinnati downtown. (I’m grateful that we still can go visiting with his wheelchair.) We sometimes visited to walk around several our favorite spots including favorite coffee shops. I love seeing any wall murals, art sculptures, and public items (chairs, swing sets so on) out there. It was funny though. When my husband’s parents visited us from Japan, we saw the big 3D sign of “Sing the Queen City”. It obviously looked perfect for photos on social media. It was my first time to see it with my own eyes. You might be shocked because this sign was built in 2015!! 

So do you know why it says “Sing the Queen City”? (Is it very popular? Everyone knows?).
The description is here.  

https://www.sculpturecenter.org/oosi/items/show/2040

It’s basically one phrase of “the crowd-sourced love poem”.  
Artworks people asked anyone who calls Cincinnati home to send their words, poems and expressions of love for the Queen City. Here is a long whole original poem. 
https://www.artworkscincinnati.org/public-art/other-public-art/cincyink/cincyink-crowd-sourced-love-letters/#making

Wow. It’s really nice to know the behind the scene story about that sign.  
Then my eyes were stuck on the other project that ArtWorks has done. It’s about Bike racks in Cincinnati area. 
https://www.artworkscincinnati.org/public-art/sculpture/bike-racks/

I borrowed images from their site. Are those all bike racks practically? I’d love to see them in near future. It’s gonna be so much fun since I am now a cyclist. 

4/10/2024.  
One day, my son brought his potteries into my house. Another day, he brought more. There are many variety of sizes, colors and textures. It is really amazing. Look at these below. The BIG one and tiny ones. 

4/09/2024. 
You would enjoy when you stop in my yards because my different daffodils are coming out one after another. They look so different and I love their differences very much. 
And my new addition "Virginia bluebells" are blooming with "smiles". I love them.

P.S. These are my favorite as well!!

4/07/2024.  
We’ve been driving through Hamilton a lot because it has a great nice distance bike trail. However we haven’t parked our van on High street because we haven’t found an accessible parking lot yet. It’s always crowded and there is busy traffic there.  
So I was simply happy that we parked in the garage parking and were able to explore alongside of High street (and made it to the ceramic exhibition place).  
I stopped by the cupcake shop to give a hug to my wonderful friend who worked there.

https://lukescustomcakes.com/

You know? These moments are tiny happiness each. But my heart was jumping with joy. 

Entry#239. 4/06/2024.
Today’s title would be “How my husband takes photos of a tribolium (red flour beetle) by himself in his lab, as a wheelchair user.” Are you curious?
After his accident, after he returned to his research places, some of his friends and colleagues asked him about the accessibility in his lab, at lab spaces. His answer was “It is okay for now.”  The building itself was renovated and the accessibility is fine to get into the building. The door itself in his lab is very heavy (there is not a handicap door opener) to pull for him. He learned that there was a certain strict rule for setting up a handicap opener, his lab door is not qualified for it. But he manages it. He has not requested any renovation yet about lab tables’ height or shelves’ designs or sinks’ designs.
Yes, you are right. Somehow lab tables(benches ) are high (with high chairs). There are three shelves from the ceiling. Sinks don’t have clearance underneath. Those are inconvenient for a wheelchair user.
At least (!) microscope tables are suitable height because able-bodied people use them sitting on a chair (make sense?). I am glad that my husband’s knees are not blocked by those tables. (If it’s a too low setting, he cannot use a microscope at all.). 
Most of the times, both his undergraduate students and grad students could help him to “reach” items that he cannot reach.
He keeps doing his research stuffs with his students. I am grateful and I will keep supporting/cheering for him and his students. 

You know? I am bad. Because I haven’t started thinking about creating accessible kitchen spaces or accessible wardrobes for my husband in our house. I attach three videos here. One is about accessible wardrobes. Two are about pull-down cabinets. It is eyeopening to know these things to myself. 

4/06/2024.  
Our son's ceramics are displayed in Hamilton until 4/12. Would you like to go and see?

P.S. There was a nice surprise in the concert. It was a surprise to Japanese audiences (!) because it was a Japanese song “Hotaru koi” 蛍こい(ほたるこい).  I didn’t know there was a choir arrangement version of this song. It was nice and fun to listen to. They did a great job (Lakota East HS). I wonder how much audience noticed it was in Japanese??

Entry#238. 4/05/2024.  
I attended the choir concert “Miami Sings Music Hall” at Cincinnati Music Hall. Yes, that Music Hall! It was such a wonderful place to be and it was a gorgeous concert indeed. Thanks to my wonderful neighbor couple who gave me a ride to Cincinnati downtown, my heart was fulfilled with big joy and happiness.
It was a special program (to myself) that there were 6 choir groups combined (Miami University Men’s Glee Club, Chambers singers, Choraliers, Mason HS choir, Talawanda HS Chamber Singers, and Lakota East HS Black&Silver Choir).
I loved the grouping program structure very much. I found several my favorite tunes in the program.
The highlights for me:
I loved the appearance of Men’s Glee Club of “Bayasibiza” the most. Their style of entertainment is always fabulous and eyeopening. I attached a video which is from YouTube I found randomly (not their performance). 

I became a big fan of Men’s Glee Club last year because I found three singers were THS alumni and I knew them very well. Then I discovered two other choirs, MU Chambers Singers and Choraliers last month. And I met them again at Music Hall. Knowing more about them, feeling merrier I get. I’m grateful for this “discovery”.
My two other favorite tunes: “Twa Tanbou” and “The Storm is Passing Over” performed by THS and MU Chamber Singers together. 

I always enjoy watching both conductors and accompanists (pianists) as well. I know THS conductor and accompanist very much. Love their gorgeous performances all the time. I got excited more this time because their sounds (piano sounds, too) were so phenomenal with the Music Hall structure! Amazing.  
I’m becoming a big fan of Men’s Glee Club accompanist and MU Chamber Singer’s conductor. This lady conductor caught my attention very much. Her elegant movement, powerful existence and the way made singers “shine” were so perfect. Bravo!  
I love the moment I discovered something powerful and beautiful. I’m also grateful for my husband who let me go to this concert. I could keep talking and talking about this concert. You can see I loved that much?? 

Oh if you are curious about the whole show, there is a link here. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/WWTV9jWcU9k?feature=shared

4/04/2024.  
Every night, I need to take my bird feeders down and put them inside the house. If I don't, all feeders are all empty in the morning. You know a suspect? Suspects?

Our son took these photos in our yard. Yes!!! They are suspects. 

Entry#227. 4/04/2024.
My parents’ house was built in around 1990. At that time, as a Japanese teenager, I was living in “my world”, not seeing “around the world” at all. Poor me. Right now I do feel that I wasted my precious young era. Well, it was a long time ago.
I’m talking about “knowing house structures” or “knowing how to build a house/interior design”. I was not interested in it at all when I was young. I had no idea how important it was to know those knowledge for our lives. I don’t mean that it is for being an architect. It is for being a house owner.
Well, I think a lot about accessibility recently. As you can see, I had no idea about that neither when I was young. I wish I could have had a tiny bit of opportunity to spend time with disabled people (including elderly people).
Well, I’m at age 50 now and I’m learning about accessibility a lot. It’s still good. It’s not too late, I assume.
Recently I asked my mother in Japan to take some photos of her bathrooms (especially bathroom vanity) because I wanted to (re)check out accessibility for a wheelchair user. You know? Just in case. I just wanted to see it. And I’m seeing many points through her photos to understand accessibility.
I am impressed that my mother installed this type of bathroom sink (vanity) without a cabinet underneath at that time in 1990 without any knowledge about accessibility. I haven’t measure the height of the sink. But it looks there might be a possibility my husband can use it. His knees and legs (on a wheelchair) could go underneath the sink, you see the idea?
My mother didn’t think about a wheelchair at all, she just picked the design. And now I’m pleased to know this kind of style in my parents’ house.

However as I wrote before, Japanese genkan 玄関(げんかん) = traditional Japanese house entrance is not accessible for a wheelchair user.  
Both my husband’s parents’ house and my parents’ house have a big gap/step at the entrance. Two able bodied people could lift up my husband and wheelchair together and make him onto a floor inside a house. But my parents are too old to lift. I would ask them to have a portable “long” ramp, I would.  
It is sad that we might need to give up to visit our parents’ house. That’s okay, though. Our future goal would be “flying to Japan safely” as a wheelchair user. That’d be the very first step. As long as we land on Japan somehow, we could meet our parents no matter how.  
It will be a long way to make it happen for sure. 

In case you wonder.  
photo1: 2nd floor bathroom in my parents’ house. This has cabinet underneath a sink. It cannot be for my husband.  
photo2: bathtub and shower is the right side inside a glass wall. That “step” is a hurdle for my husband. He cannot be in a bathtub room at all. Maybe those facts are interesting to you. 

4/03/2024.  
Guess where I was at tonight? I have so much to tell (write) about.

4/03/2024.  
I wrote about “Pigs in Cincinnati” in February 2024.Here. (You need to scroll down to 2/14 and 2/23. I cannot link directly to the each entry, unfortunately.) Yes, we took a picture of my husband’s mother and his niece with The “Hamlet” Pig! As you can guess, they were wondering “why pig?” standing by him. 

Then I found a book titled “The Big Pig Gig” at the library. It explains everything about these Pigs. Several of them are my favorites now. However I don’t think I can see them with my own eyes, not anymore. Oh there are at least 5 Pigs that you can find in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is such a fun place to visit. 

Below. Photo1: See the Hamlet? Photo2: See the Marathone Pig? Photo3: I really really want to see them, ballerina pigs!! Photo4: Look at that Pig's nose! See? See a butterfly??

Entry#226. 4/02/2024.
I am a big fan of Cincinnati Streetcar (Connector) now. The very first ride (Feb 2024) was so much fun to discover the existence of Streetcar. I was excited to see it, ride on it and hear the sound of “Ding ding 🎵” when it was reaching to the stop. 
The recent rides happened when my husband’s parents visited us. Then I noticed the different “wrapper” designs of Streetcars!  Did you know that?  I did my homework then. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/02/23/blink-illuminates-the-cincinnati-region.html

https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/02/05/new-arts-themed-streetcar--mural--unveiled-as-part-of-artswave-fundraising-kick-off

photos below are from websites. Look at that "Music Hall" one!!!! I really want to see it.

I couldn’t dig deeper into the actual details. (If you know it, let me know.) So far, I found several photos on social media. “Cincinnati logo” “BLINK theme” (you know? That BLINK event is on my future wishlist, a forever list) “The Music Hall” “Paintbrush with colorful paints” and “We are ALL HUE-MAN”.  
I rode on two designs, Paintbrush and HUE-MAN!! I am not sure the rest of designs are still remaining on Streetcars or not. However guess what? It gets me excited more about next rides to find out which wrapper design would come to me. I sound so “maniac” (or train-geek? Art-geek?), don’t I?  Yes, I do. It’s so fun!! Just love it. 
photos: the last one is in February. The rest of them are in March.

4/01/2024.  
How much are you excited about the Total solar eclipse 2024??

Entry#225. 4/01/2024.  
Entering into a bird blind pedaling a wheelchair was fun to my husband especially with his parents and his niece. With his FrontWheel, he feels safer. It is an ideal attachment for a wheelchair user. We love it very much. 

https://rgkwheelchairs.com/wheelchairs/power-solutions/frontwheel.html

Introducing his “machine” to his parents was a success as well. We were planning to go to the family-group-cycling around the Loveland area on a bike trail. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?  We thought using rental e-bikes for his parents would might work well for them, that was our initial plan. However weather/temperature didn’t cooperate with us during their visits. Instead we showed it off to them at our neighborhood. Because his handcycle is his favorite and meaningful machine, I wanted them to see him pedaling. I was happy. I hope they enjoyed watching the whole process. (How to ride it in and out. How to pedal it and control it.)

P.S. And my son and my husband entertained them with an extra twist(!) of course. See? My husband pulled my son who was on a skateboard. It was a pure joy. I'm impressed what they do all the time.