At least once a year I try to get back 'home' to Marion, Ohio.  While I haven't lived there in over 12 years now, it will always be that place for me that feels unexplicably familiar, peaceful and comforting.  Just driving through town and along the back county roads in the amazing fall weather makes the world feel just a little more right... at least for a few days a year. I had big plans during this recent trip to get out with my camera and just wander through the old downtown and out in the country for several hours and see what I could find, but between the napping, eating, Xboxing, flat tire changing, Ohio State gaming, Shark Tank watching (that show rocks!), Reaganing, Rudying, family reunioning, Styering, Tubby's Pizza'ing, searching for my wedding ring'ing, etcetera'ing... it never really materialized like I envisioned. I did manage to get out a little bit, though, and fire off a few images. I'll start off with an image that has a little personal significance for me.  This is my grandpa & grandma Nicolosi's old house where my dad and his 5 brothers/sisters grew up and my grandparents lived for - I think - nearly 50 years.  While both of my grandparents are still dearly missed, I have a lot of fond memories in this house... sitting with my grandma while she would draw what must've seemed to her like endless requests for birds & dinosaurs - I truly believe she instilled the desire in me to be creative and as a result has had a huge impact on the direction my life has taken.  I also vividly recall years and years of big family gatherings at Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve... some of my most endearing childhood memories.  Every year grandpa would cook his homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch on Christmas Eve, and every year I'd scoot it all on to half my plate to make it look like I ate, well, half of it because as a kid, my still-unrefined taste buds preferred the sophisticated blend of preservatives and empty calories made by my buddy Chef Boyardee.  Today, I miss grandpa's homemade sauce.  I remember spending the night and grandma letting us stay up to watch Chiller on Friday night which was basically a series of low-budget B movies that tried to be scary with occasional breaks where some guy in cooky owl-shaped glasses played host and interjected his own lame commentary.  Good stuff as a kiddo, though.  I could go on and on, and I might in a future post some day.

Somewhere in the country between the airport and Delaware, Ohio.

Looking down the main drag in Waldo.

Don't remember where this was, but it's not important... it's yellow leaves, and that's what matters here.

Found these original wooden doors on an old, decaying house under an overpass in downtown Marion.

It's sad how much of down town Marion has been neglected since it's hay day many years ago, but man, this place is a photographer's dream.  Are you kiddin' me?  I'd have a field day down here with seniors.

A little infrared post-processing action on a barn out in the country side.

Near Schrode's house...

A little self-portrait cheese in an old storefront window in downtown Delaware.

More downtown Delaware.

Peaking through a window into an auditorium in an old building on the Ohio Weslyan campus in Delaware.

Along the roadside off state route 23 across from the entrance to Delaware State Park.  BTW, for those of you non-Ohioans that may be a bit confused at this point, Delaware is a city in Ohio in addition to being a state somewhere near the eastern border of the US (don't ask me to pick it out on a map... I'm sure I'll get it confused with New Hampshire or Vermont).

There's nothing better in the world than fall colors in the Midwest.