A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
On a very non Scottish weather like day, the contestants and participants brought out their best kilt for the Celtic Festival and Highland Games at Rillito Racetrack in Tucson.
There were numerous tents celebrating all things Scottish and beyond.
The highlight were of course the games.
One thing is certain, there is competition for everything. On this hot Saturday we found ourselves at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati for the annual Daylily competition.
But first we checked out the rest of the historic conservatory.
The building is fairly small for a conservatory, however when it was opened in 1933 it was one of the best in the country. They do make great use of the space they have.
As with most conservatories, it was very colorful.
Normally when you go to a conservatory and go into the tropics areas you feel the heat and humidity, although on this day it was nearly 100 F in Cincinnati so it was actually cooler inside than out.
They had a great variety of plants.
The Daylily competition was held in the Bonsai room. Normally the bonsai trees are the center of attention, but not this day!
There was a separate competition for the centerpieces.
The colors were very vivid, with many reds and oranges not normally seen on daylillies.
While a competition, everyone there were very friendly and anxious to talk to you about growing the flowers, and encouraging you to join their club.
A beautiful start to our afternoon in Cincinnati.
With the good times we had at the robotics competition in Cleveland, we decided to go to Marion, Ohio for the National Robotics Challenge. This event bills themselves as different from the other robotics events due to the fact that there is no kit, rather they encourage the contestants to find materials and equipment best suited for the problem at hand. This results in a lower cost.
In addition this event is open to anyone from 6th grade through graduate school, although we only saw middle school and high school contestants.
It was obvious from the start the concept of freelance approach, as they appeared like erector sets with servos, motors and wheels. This is not a slam on the approach, in fact it is a testament to ingenuity.
It did seem to lead to very uneven competition though. We watched the finals for ‘Sumo Robotics’, Robot Hockey and very small robots in battle in a glass case. It was clear that one would be far superior to the rest.
The only downside to the event was the venue, and more specifically the placement of the rings for competition. They were up against the one side of stands, with a railing that made it difficult to see, and with judges and some contestants standing it was virtually impossible to get a decent view of the action. The judges should recognize this and take into consideration the paying spectators.
RDZ Photography 