Coffee

I really need a cup of coffee this morning.

Hair

Wilmore has approximately 4 jillion places to get your hair done. Jody's, on Main Street, is one of them. Run by Jody, it's a great place to catch up on all the town gossip ... um ... I mean news.

Horse Farms

A cool view of a horse farm through the windows of the Hopewell Presbyterian Church, built in 1785 near Paris, Kentucky.

Paris

Sign at the (apparently abandoned) train station in Paris.

Stone steps

Stone steps at one of the older houses on Main Street, Wilmore.

Museum

I have to admit I have never actually been in the museum, since it has rather inconvenient hours. Looks like it would be fun.

Scott Station

Wilmore was originally named Scott Station, but was later renamed after John Wilmore. You can read more details of that particular saga on the Wilmore website.

Paris

No, this isn't the Paris Daily Photo. But I've got a few more Paris photos lined up.

Ray

A little further afield than usual, this is from the Newport Aquarium, in Newport, Kentucky, which is the part of Cincinnati on the Kentucky side of the river.

Road signs

I've had a number of people from other states tell me that our road signs are weird. In particular, the fact that we have four-digit road numbers. Apparently in other states, it's very uncommon to see road numbers more then 3 digits. Well, around here, the roads follow old wagon trails, and weren't exactly planned, so you need a few more numbers.

Ford

When I see abandoned homes and vehicles like this, I can't help but wonder what the stories are behind it. I imagine some proud young man driving this off the lot 20 or 30 years ago, and all the work that it did on the farm before it ended up here, slowly sinking into a disused oil change pit.

Bluegrasss

Bluegrass is actually a species of grass, and it does actually look blue. But it's also a species of music. This gentleman was playing bluegrass at an art show we walked in on in Paris, during the Paris Art Walk, which we were lucky enough to be there for last week. It's an annual event, and all the art galleries on Main street (and there's several of them) are open for the public to come in, look around, and meet their neighbors.

Leaf

I believe this is a burr oak leaf. We took this at the Kentucky Arboretum, at the University of Kentucky.

Country Charm, Paris

We spent the weekend in Paris, Kentucky, which is just a few minutes down the road from Lexington. We spent our honeymoon in Paris, France, a year ago, and decided to spend our anniversaries in Paris henceforth. Did you know that there are 22 Parises in the USA, and two in Canada? That should keep us going for a while until we can afford to go back to the one in France.

We stayed at the Country Charm Bed & Breakfast, and can HIGHLY recommend it. The house is beautiful, and the people that manage it are kind, interesting to talk with, and great cooks.

Tractor

A large percentage of the Fourth of July parade is always tractors. Here's one of the tractors that is always in the parade each year.

Leaves

No idea what kind of leaves these are, but they sure are pretty. Also at the University of Kentucky Arboretum, in Lexington.

Old Mill - Update

My dad tells me:

Re: your picture of the Old Mill.  For the past 50 years, oats have been processed there daily. They are delivered every night, and every day, the company bags them there and delivers 200 bags a day to horse farmers in the area.  They recently put a new roof on it. I forget the name of the company, but it has three names in it. Something like, Greenpace, smith and Hale... that is not the name but it is that kind of name.  The city is negotiating to buy it and make it a full time craft show and have specialty shops in it. In fact, they have gotten a grant to do this but the negotiations are not yet complete.

This was a surprise to me, because when we went over there, it sort of looked abandoned, but we weren't quite sure, since there was some evidence of recent habitation on the front end of the building. Good to hear that it's going to become a bit less of an eyesore, but then where will the farmers get their feed?

Sounds like it's something interesting to look forward to.

Grass

Grass at the University of Kentucky Arboretum, Lexington.

Mailbox

A patriotic mailbox in Wilmore.

Old Mill

I don't know a whole lot about the old mill. Perhaps one of my readers can write and tell me more. As I understand it, the mill was one of the reasons for Wilmore to be where it is in the first place. One of the older residents of the town once told me about riding into town on the back of his dad's wagon, bringing the harvest (corn?) in to the mill for grinding, and the line of wagons being backed up all the way up Main Street. I'd love to know more about it.

These days, however, it's just a decaying hulk on the edge of town. There was talk a few years ago about renovating it and putting some businesses in there, but I don't know if it was ever more than just talk.

Art Gallery

This is an art gallery downtown, where apparently classes are held, too. I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention, although the pictures in the window caught my eye.

Lawnmowers

I think I've posted a photo of the Wilmore Precision Lawnmower Brigade before - perhaps very early on in the life of the Wilmore Daily Photo. This is always the highlight of the Wilmore Fourth of July parade - at least, it is for me.

City Council

The Wilmore city council throwing candy at the start of the Fourth of July parade.

It rained on our parade

For the first time I can remember, it rained for the Wilmore July Fourth parade. Turnout was lower than I've ever seen, but the parade happened anyway, and I'll be posting a few photos from it over the next few days.

Charlie Brown's

The lighting wasn't great - in fact it was quite dark.

This is Charlie Brown's in Chevy Chase, a section of Lexington over near the University. It's always been there (well, at least as long as I've been in the area) but I've never been there until last Saturday. The food is good. The atmosphere is wonderful. And there are books covering all the walls. What's not to like?

Daisies

Some wonderful person planted these daisies in their yard beside the road, *just* for me. I can't remember which street the house is on, but it dead ends at Asbury Drive at an old house with more wonderful flowers right within reach of the camera. We'll post a picture of it soon.

Wilmore Community Yard Sale

Part of the festivities surround the 4th of July involves, for no explicable reason, a community-wide yard sale. Someone got an early start on Thursday.

July Fourth

Here in the USA, July Fourth is the day we celebrate our independence from England in 1776. This is usually celebrated by parades, featuring, among other things, the local fire department, sirens blaring.

Preparing for the 4th

The 4th of July is two days away, and Wilmore knows how to celebrate, regardless of the holiday. The streets will be lined with Old Glory, and there will be a parade down Lexington Avenue and Main Street, complete with the Lawnmower Brigade.

Wilmore Police Department

Yesterday morning I got word that the Wilmore Police were looking for me. Yes, that's right. The Police. They had apparently dropped by (or perhaps called, I'm not sure) my former employer. They called the IS office, and then they called the HR department. Neither place had my new work number, so they encouraged the Police (actually, the Police Chief!) to call my parents' house.

I called the police station (pictured here) to find out what was going on, but they didn't know anything. I left my office number, and then called various other people to make sure I wasn't being informed of some tragic accident. Had no idea why I was being called by the police.

Well, about an hour later, the police chief calls. Turns out he likes my daily photos, and wanted to find out who I was, and possibly meet me. Perhaps we'll run into one another at the Wilmore July Fourth celebration.

So, here's a picture of the Wilmore Police Station for the occasion. (My sister took the photo this time.)

Megawheats

We've always called these megawheats (you know, like the miniwheats cereal) and in the winter, they are frosted megawheats.