October 21, 2026- Hana is tiring of being called “baby”. She groaned a couple of times, when I was rocking her this afternoon and used the word. I’m not sure how she sees herself, but I sense she wants to be given credit for not being totally helpless. Yet, until she can walk under her own power, accepting our help, most of the time, is obviously necessary.

All the same, she was grateful, this evening, when her parents were out shopping, it was pitch black in the bedroom, and she was a bit scared. I went in and stayed with her for a while, until she finally decided to lie down and try to sleep. When Aram came home and checked, she was sprawled out on her back, thoroughly content.

HANA’S NOTE– I like the routes that Papa picks for our morning and afternoon walks. There is always Halloween stuff, in at least one yard. Today we saw a whole bunch of skeletons and zombies doing different things. Some of them even had clothes on. I think zombies are funny looking.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Ohio- I have criss-crossed the Buckeye State about twenty times. The first was in 1972, and I spent a night at Ohio State University, on my way back from Colorado and Kansas City. I visited my brother and sister-in-law four times, when they lived in the Cleveland area, in different suburbs. Toledo, Lima, Van Wert, Springfield, Bellefontaine, Mansfield, Columbus, Zanesville, Youngstown, Canton, Chillicothe and East Palestine have all rolled out the welcome mat at different times. Cincinnati has always been off the track, for no reason other than I was ever headed either too far north or too far south. It remains on my radar screen.

The turf- Most of western and central Ohio is flat, with considerable tree cover, aside from areas of heavy agricultural use. The Ohio River Valley and the eastern 1/3 of the state is rather rugged mountains and ravines. The Hocking Hills are foothills of the Appalachians, and cover the southeast quadrant of Ohio. The state is drained by the Ohio, Maumee, Ottawa, Auglaize, Little Auglaize, Toussaint, Portage, Sandusky, Huron, Vermillion, Black, Cuyahoga, Grand, Great Miami, Scioto, Tuscarawas, and Mahoning Rivers, as well as their tributaries. Ohio has 293 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie, thus giving the Buckeye State the longest shore along that Great Lake, outside of Ontario.

Ohio has a statewide hiking and biking trail, the Buckeye Trail, which encircles from the Cleveland area, south to Marietta, then west to Chillicothe and Cincinnati, before heading north through Springfield and Dayton, heading back to the east at Defiance, and ending at Painesville, northeast of Cleveland.

First Nations-Ohio is the ancestral home of the Shawnee, Kickapoo, Erie, Ottawa, Seneca, Wyandot, Miami and Lenape peoples. The ancestors of some of these nations built an extensive system of mounds, throughout southern and central Ohio, The most prominent of these are found in the Chillicothe area. The largest is Serpent Mound, a National Historical Site., as is Hopewell. Miamisburg and Alligator Mounds are also well-preserved.

In the Nineteenth Century, European settlers began arriving in Ohio, in earnest. Flawed treaties, such as the Treaty of Greenville(1814), resulted in the removal of the Erie (who blended in with other tribes), Wyandot and Miami. The Shawnee, largest of the First Nations in Ohio, were largely forced to move to what is now Oklahoma. The last Wyandots were removed to Kansas, in 1843. Today, there are no Federally or state-recognized First Nations groups in Ohio.

Where I most feel at home- Mansfield, Zanesville, Euclid, Conneaut, Toledo,

Where I most feel at peace- Hopewell National Historic Site, Van Wert

NEXT: We head back to the Southeast, and Alabama.