Ohio Drive

I do love Ohio.

I can sense a change in the political climate from when I was a kid, and I don't think it's just because I was young then and now I'm not, but the scenery doesn't change - beautiful. In fact, perhaps much of the mindless development that Chrissy Hynde sang about in My City Was Gone seems to have abated. Or did it just go south?

At any rate, one thing that HAD changed - drastically - was the physical makeup of the main quad at Denison U. I'd have to say it's definitely for the better - buildings are gone, some new ones are up, more common areas and yet the same old pit in the Slayter Student Union is still there. Of course, while in Granville I had to make several stops:

I had lunch at Aladdin's - a college haunt - and even though the main street is crammed with interesting places to eat, I had to return to my roots and the Yum Yum. Suffice to say I didn't feel much like having dinner last night.

I stopped by Needling Yarn, the new yarn shop in Granville, where I had a nice long chat with Gretchen and met the owner briefly.

I bought a Denison Sweatshirt for myself, Tshirts for the kids and absolutely nothing for Gerry. I'm evil. Actually, I got him some really nice stuff the day before at the Eddie Bauer outlet in Columbus (not one of those weeny outlet stores in an outlet mall, but the REAL DEAL warehouse outlet over on Fisher Rd in SW Columbus! I got myself some stuff, too, not least of which is a cool travel bag that will do nicely when I don't want to drag the computer bag around with me...

And after a restful night at a local Best Western, now I'm firmly ensconced in the Wooster Inn (owned by Wooster U) in Wooster Ohio. Woo woo. My room is lovely, it overlooks the golf course and the outdoor patio (same room I had last year...) and the wireless doesn't quite reach into my room so I'll be blogging and checking email from the lovely loby by the grand piano. I'll need to dress for dinner and blogging.

Tonight they're having a jazz group playing out on the patio - let's hope the rain that's been hovering finally abates. Last night we had a spectacular thunderstorm and I drove around looking at downed branches by the lovely old homes in Wooster. I was early arriving, but they very kindly allowed me to check in early, so with any luck I'll get some major knitting and pattern writing finished while holed up in my room watching Cspan and old movies. Ah, life is, indeed, very good.

HAVE YOU SEE THESE KIDS?
I miss the kids so much - I ache. I don't call home as much as I should because when I do I get off the phone and cry. At my age, with my thin skin around my eyes, when I cry you can tell for about 5 days - so I have to watch it. Jeeze I miss them. Gerry sent me this picture - aren't they amazing? 4 days until I hug them again!

INSPIRATION
While in Cinncinnati my bed had the most beautiful cover on it - and it was inspirational! I'm working up a pattern for a matelasse-esque skirt with chain and crewel embroidery, let's just hope I can make it work! Big ideas, but sometimes they don't work up very nicely. If you only knew the amount of knitting and ripping out I do to get to a workable pattern or motif, oy!