The Cardinal tweets

Happened to be in Columbus (Ohio) for three days and spotted a Northern Cardinal on the very first day (a first for me)

I just managed to click one shot and he flew away.

On the third day when it was time for us to leave Ohio, one of them made a special appearance for me and was even ready to sing for me. I quickly managed to capture her performance with a hand held camera (so you will have to excuse the slight shake in the video)

It is said that both the male and the female sings together while nesting.Northern Cardinals live for about 13 to15 years which is pretty impressive for a bird. They are the state bird of seven states. Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Virginia and North Carolina. The airbnb that we stayed in,  was located in an Italian  community, and it was a peaceful place.

The green and red leaves formed a good canopy for the house

It was good to see early morning joggers passing by waving out with a smile.

I even spotted a vintage car parked in front of a house.

There is a Roman Catholic church (St John the Baptist) within walking distance and we could attend the Sunday morning service at this church.

It is said that this church is more than a century old and functioned  as a hub for the Italian speaking community who migrated here. A sketch of the church when it was built in 1898

The previous day when I passed by the church, a wedding just got over and the photo session was in progress.

On Sunday evening we went to the topiary park. The topiary figures are several varieties of Taxus, commonly known as yews.

The figures are trimmed and tied each June after their main flush of growth.

They are also trimmed through the summer to maintain their appearance. The beautiful gardens filled with perennials and annuals are planted and maintained by volunteers of the Friends of the topiary park.  If you are near the Convention Center, don't miss the bronze sculpture of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Before leaving that area we made a stopover at Jeni's for icecream

Had to wait in line for about 15 minutes but it was worth the wait.

The cones are hot and crisp, maybe because it is made right there in front of you.

Among the famous quotes, here is one from Clark Gable "I am just a lucky slob from Ohio who happened to be in the right place at the right time" .............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 employees to 220 employees

I read a review of a hotel and it went like this:

We all need a reason to wake up in the morning and Financier-patisserie is mine.

I was surprised to find that the Yelp site had 173 reviews on the Financier-patisserie eating place.

We are talking about Mr Bedoucha who made this happen.

It takes a lot of courage to resettle in a different country especially when one takes up a new job, with no idea about who or how the clientele is going to be. But that is exactly what Mr  Eric Bedoucha did. A pastry chef, he shifted from France to New York and created Financier Patisserie, a famous and successful French pastry company in New York city.

Now for the last 30 years he is in the United States. In his own words “but during the first twenty years I did not feel like I had truly settled here. It took me a good 20 years to understand Americans and to make them trust me, because they are very open and very friendly, but to gain their confidence, it takes time. However once you have gained it, then it’s good for life”

 His greatest challenge was to guess what the . . . . .  read on