10 Random Things About Me

I am trying to "learn & play" along with my old and new friends at the library. They were given an "assignment" to come up with ten random things - I thought this would make a good topic on my blog as well. So here they are - things you may or may not have known about me.

1. Fly-fishing is one of my favorite pastimes - any kind of freshwater fishing really. I love being around a pond with the cattails, frogs and dragonflies.

2. I didn’t go take my test and get my driver’s license until I was 25. I never needed to drive anywhere, I always had someone to take me where I needed to go. I could get to most of the places I needed to go by city bus - I lived right off of High Street, went to Ohio State, worked at Whetstone Library – all right on the bus line.

3. I made my own wedding dress. Lace inserts, pearl beading and all. I’ve made 2 other wedding dresses since then (and probably close to a hundred bridesmaid dresses).

4. I can’t swallow pills – when there is no liquid version available, I have to crush or dissolve them. I remember choking on a cherry Lifesaver in the backseat of a car when I was very young - maybe the reason.

5. Never had even a single puff on a cigarette, ever – honest!

6. I love Ohio Stadium: I was an usher for the home football games when I was in Girl Scouts; My mom bought a piece of the old turf when they tore it up years ago; I sat in Block O when I was in college; I used it as the subject of my photography class at OSU; I made sure I graduated in the Spring so the ceremony was in the stadium; We made a donation and have a commemorative brick at the south end still today.

7. My stupid human trick – I can name all 50 states in alphabetical order in less than 30 seconds.

8. When I was 12, I was the horseshoe champion in my age bracket for the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. (Unfortunately, I haven’t retained any of my horseshoe throwing ‘skilz’ though…)

9. I have become a germ-a-phobe. Hand sanitizer is never far away. (Especially right after punching the numbers on an ATM machine or handling the canister in the bank drive-thru. Gives me the heebie-jeebies!)

10. Someday I’d like to have an old house to refurbish. Home improvement projects, knocking out walls, laying tile, installing faucets, decorating, painting, design and layout – bring it on!

Falling...

My office closed early at noon today for the holiday. Labor Day

weekend - the weekend signalling the end of summer, the last chance to go to the pool before they close till Spring, having a final cookout and hanging out on the deck before cleaning up the grill and putting away the patio furniture, vacations are over and kids are back in school.

Many people mourn that summer is ending - especially the kids! But not me - I love fall, it's my favorite time of year. There's a feeling in the air, a crispness - the muggy stickiness of August goes away, it's cool in the evenings and mornings yet still warm during the day. Perfect evenings for sitting around a firepit or bonfire. Time to break out the jackets and sweaters.

Fall means my gardens are full of color (and the weeding is coming to an end - yay!). Spring flowers have their own appeal, but they seem so fragile, pastel-colored and short-lived. Flowers of the fall are bright, bold and hardy as hell. My perennials begin to display their structure as they drop the petals and foliage and show what they're really made of. The vegetable garden has produced a few zucchini and some cucumbers over the summer, and now with fall upon us all that remains is a veritable plethora (yes, plethora - look it up if you don't know it, it's a great word) of cherry tomatoes!

Of course fall brings college football, and with it the Saturday "tailgate" parties at friends' houses. As an OSU alum, the sound of the best damn marching band is music to my ears, and watching as they perform Script Ohio and the dotting of the "i" always makes me smile. When the team takes the field in that beautiful old stadium overflowing with scarlet and gray, they'll kick off another great football season. If all goes well, we'll be watching and cheering them on - hearing neighbors and friends shouts of "O-H," we'll answer with the requisite "I-O" - till the victory bell rings and the team sings Carmen Ohio on the field after the game.

Other bonuses of fall? The colorful leaves as they change and drop from the trees, pesky bugs start to die off, grass mowing comes to an end, my husband and I both celebrate our birthdays, and daylight savings time ends giving us a bonus hour of sleep.

It's obvious - I fell in love with Fall!