Billiter Studio

Many thanks to for the super fun collab this year! I love Anna’s concept of a functional bag you can use everyday with the strap that doubles to carry your gear in adventures!

Check out Little Bike Bag at the Crafty Supermarket today!

Many thanks to Otiose Emporium for carrying my Cincinnati Sticker Sheets in their art vending machines. You can check them out at The Comet as well as both High Grain locations.

The River Roots Festival is occuring during a lovely Fall weekend! We walked along the river the other night and it brought back some fond memories of seeing the Steam Ships visit as I was growing up. Even though the Delta Queen isn’t among the fleet this time it brought back this memory:

One evening my family was on a boat downtown when a dense fog rolled in. The first tank ran out of gas on the runabout’s outboard engine and we were trying to change fuel tanks and we dead in the water. Suddenly we were bathed in bright light and startled we looked up to see the bow of the Delta Queen cutting the a part in the fog, bearing down upon us, sounding its deep steam whistle, as we were helpless to move. Gratefully, the captain adjusted course, and I felt like I had a brush with a ghost of river town history as we watched the starboard side glide past our stern.

The Delta Queen’s home port was Cincinnati from 1946 to 2008. The Delta Queen moved to Chattanooga to be a hotel from 2008 to 2014, and is now being refurbished in Houma, Louisiana.

The Westwood Branch of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library has been enlightening and serving the community in its elegant Art Deco building since 1931. The architect Stanley Mathews combined Art Deco with the Spanish Mission Revival style.

The original building has a white stucco-clad exterior, recessed window openings with diamond-pane and mullioned casement windows, and features such as a side oriel window. It also has two pyramidal copper roofs with finials and geometric Art Deco-style sconces at the entrance (And I love that typography above the door). Interior elements included a stone fireplace, a balcony over the circulation desk, and oak shelving and trim throughout. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Westwood Town Center Historic District in 1974. In 2002, the CHCPL renovated, expanded, and modernized the branch and improved accessibility as well as providing more reading area for children and teens.

In 1907, the Westwood Fire Department left the Town Hall and moved into the elegant new facility designed by local architect Harry Hake. The Junietta (Westwood) Firehouse is a good example of Hake’s earlier, classically informed work. Built about 1907 and also known as Engine Company No. 35, the little brick station displays Renaissance-Revival details such as limestone trim, an arched second-floor window over the apparatus bay, a carved lintel identifying the company, a bracketed cornice and a hose/tower element. The Junietta building also followed the practical floor plan needs of an early-20th-century firehouse while receiving modest decorative treatment that helped it read as a civic landmark in the neighborhood.

In 2018 the vacant Firehouse saw a new life and served the community again in a new way. It reopened as a second location for Nation Kitchen & Bar — their renovation preserved much of the historic architecture and interior finishes while adapting the space for dining, with features like outdoor seating, a carry-out window, and later indoor dining.