Christmas in Colorado

So this year, for the very first time, I spent Christmas away from home, and went to visit my daughter in Colorado. It was VERY cold - sub zero at some time on most days in Summit County - with a little bit of snow most days. Of course the forecast was to warm up a little after we left! And interestingly enough, there was more ice in our subdivision when we arrived home than I saw anywhere in Colorado. I got to ski 2 days, and Chris skied 5 days, and we got to see Juls almost every day, which was very nice, since I hadn't seen her in over a month, and Chris hadn't seen her since October.

The strangest thing for me was Christmas eve and Christmas day. Usually I am a whirling dervish finishing the wrapping, cooking, cleaning and getting ready for the holiday, followed by a house full of family on Christmas day, with a big meal with all the trimmings. But when you are staying in a hotel, there is no cooking or cleaning to be done. Wrapping consisted of putting bows on presents I had shipped already wrapped, and stuffing everything else in a gift bag - I even ran out of tissue paper. On Christmas day, it was too cold for me to ski ( but not for Chris, of course, he went out and froze his toes with the best of them) so I watched 5 hours of a Bones marathon, before going to dinner with Chris and Julia and a friend. It was undoubtedly the most relaxing Christmas day I have ever had. Not sure I would want to do this every year, but it was nice to try it once.

No new orchids bloomed while we were gone, but there are 12 with spikes on them, and 2 that bloomed before I left, that I need to post pictures of. The kitties were a little spooked when we got back, but here is a picture that charmed us before we left!

Thanksgiving Orchids?

Yes, for some reason, my orchids are exploding and I have 6 beautiful plants in bloom, pictures below. I have another 10 or 12 with bud spikes which will bloom in the next few months, so expect more pictures.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we did another hike at Clear Creek Metro Park. A great hike but VERY steep the first half mile or so - I thought I was going to die. I'm going to have to start taking pictures. I'm also going to have to get in better shape - who knew there were steep hills in Ohio, of all places?

Over Thanksgiving, we had the traditional family feast gathering, minus my younger daughter Julia for the first time, who we missed. We failed to take pictures of this also. I am seeing a trend forming here, we are going to have to do better at picture taking!

We went to a Cleveland Cavaliers game over the long weekend - my very first! Let me tell you, they know how to entertain you! It was nice that the Cavs beat Dallas, but I'll tell you, I think the unicyclist who did the halftime show was the most entertaining of all! The young breakdancers who performed at the breaks were also quite talented. I'm convinced, everyone should go to at least one Cavs game.

Here are pictures of what is blooming now, for those of you suffering through the grey midwest rainy fall drizzle!

Fall Weekends

Another beautiful fall weekend in Columbus, and so we went for another hike. We have this book about 50 hikes in Ohio, and this week was our second hike, at Darby Creek MetroPark. It was supposed to be 4 miles and take 3 hours. I definitely agree with the 4 miles, but it took about an hour and a half. There was some hilly moments, but mostly just a nice walk in the woods. It was not a paved path, like most of last weeks walk, but definitely easier to follow. It was an oak and hickory forest, and I'm not sure I saw one maple or beech tree! Of course, with no leaves, I could be mistaken! Once again, it was brisk and windy, but the trees blocked most of the wind, and there was a couple of beautiful views of Darby Creek, and the confluence of the Little Darby and Big Darby Creeks.

I have another orchid starting to bloom, which makes 3 now., with another 8 or so starting bud spikes. People ask me why I like orchids, and this is why. It is gray and November, and here is a group of plants that STARTS to bloom in november, and continues on through the winter! It cheers me up just thinking about it! Here are pictures of what is blooming now!

Great Fall Weekend

Usually I have a quiet weekend at home, getting caught up around the house, but this weekend we were busier, and did some more interesting stuff than usual.

Friday we went to the local high school football game, where I watched my alma mater get beat soundly by the school my kids went to. It wasn't as bad as last year, but still not good. I had mixed feelings, since I had rooted for the kids school for eight years. In the end, I wore my school colors and sat on the home (kids school) side, with mixed feelings, cheering for both teams.

On Saturday, in the mist and drizzle, we took a hike on the Black Hand Gorge Nature Preserve Bike trail. This is a really nice paved bike trail by the Licking River, east of Newark. It was a scenic walk, and actually probably fortunate that most of the leaves were down, if you wanted to see the view. If you wanted to go off the bike path onto the foot path called the Quarry Rim Trail, however, the leaves made the footing a little slick, and to be quite honest, I'm not sure I could have followed the trail without Chris to lead the way, it was so obscured with leaves. But it is definitely a nice hike, and I hope to do it again!

Since we were already east, we drove up north a little and had lunch in Berlin, at an Amish restaurant we hadn't been to before. We were intending to do a little shopping in Amish county, but the afternoon and early evening ended up being a tour of the wineries in the area, and we stopped at four wineries, and tasted at three. Two we had been to before,and knew what to expect, and two were new to us and the last was the best of all. We bought more wine than we can use in the next 6 months or so, which engendered the idea of perhaps having a little street wine and cheese party over the Thanksgiving weekend. We'll see if we can make that happen, with all the other excitement of Thanksgiving weekend.

Sunday we caught up on house things, and Chris really got after the leaves, to the point that I can't even lift the bags the leaves are in. I made some fantastic pumpkin bars, which I was a little nervous about because I replaced half the sugar with splenda to accomodate my fathers dietary needs, but the nervousness was totally unfounded, and they were great!

So today we are back at work, but tonight we will go out to celebrate Chris' birthday, so all in all an extended fun weekend!

Made My Day

So I was in the Taco Bell Drive Thru for lunch yesterday, since I was short on time and had errands to run on my lunch hour. For those of you that don't live or work in Dublin, you may not be aware that the Taco Bell Drive Thru can be pretty cut throat at lunch, with cars jockeying for position in line, not even letting parked cars back out, even though cars in the drive thru line are blocking them in. There are also two ways to get in line, one from the main road, and one from a side road out of the mall. So I was in the main line, and in front of me there was a car waiting to get in line from the mall road. A couple of cars in front of me kept so close to the car in front of them there was not space for the car in the side road to squeeze in, so when I got there I waved it on in front of me. Didn't think anything of it, until I got to the window to pick up my food, and found out the driver in front of me had paid for my lunch! They didn't have to do this, but it was so nice! It made me smile all day!

Only in Columbus, Ohio

Given that it is October 29,I thought I would take a moment to explain to everyone why Trick or Treat is celebrated tonight in Columbus Ohio, rather than on Saturday, as in the rest of the world.

Actually, in Columbus, we don't really celebrate Halloween, we celebrate something called "beggars night", or Trick or Treat, which in Columbus was always declared to be on October 30. Perhaps this is so the small children trick or treating don't come to any harm by being out after dark on the "real" Halloween? Though, given that Trick or Treat starts at 5 in some communities, and it doesn't get dark until about 630 or so, now that the start of daylight savings time is delayed, most trick-or-treaters will be cold and tired and home sipping hot chocolate by 6:30. Perhaps it is so we never really celebrate that dark and sinister holiday of Halloween at all? Possibly.

But to get back to the point , if Trick or treat, or beggars night, aka October 30 ,occurs on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, that is when most communities in celebrate Trick or Treat in the central Ohio area. Of course, there are a few "beggars night" purist communities that celebrate on October 30, and a few Halloween purist communities that celebrate on October 31. So depending on what community you live in, you could have trick-or-treaters tonight, or tomorrow night, or Saturday night.

This is further complicated by which school district you reside in. If you live in one city but are in the school district of another city, as I do, it is totally possible that the schools will decide to celebrate Trick or Treat with the school district city, rather than the actual city of residence. Whether this is so children can trick or treat together or what, I have no idea ( and believe it or not, I really understand this better than most.) So once again, if you are like me, and you live in one city, but reside in another city's school district, but have no children in school, you have to guess, or read the local communiity newspaper to determine which night is Trick or Treat. Of course this is even further complicated by the fact that the local newspapers come out on Thursday, and as of last weeks local paper, there was no mention of when Trick or Treat was occurring. Fortunately, a local school teacher lives on my street, and was able to clear up my confusion. It really is essential to know your neighbors when you live in Columbus, but that is fodder for another days blog.

Anyway, the enquiring mind that has followed this complicated story so far might wonder, why we don't celebrate Trick or Treat on Friday or Saturday. The story I got from my parents, who were born and raised in Columbus (as I was, thence my deep understanding of when Trick or Treat usually occurs) is that Trick or Treat is not celebrated on Friday or Saturday to prevent excessive vandalism celebrating the "Trick" portion of the holiday, as older juveniles might possibly be inclined to such tricks.

And let us not forget Sunday. We NEVER celebrate Trick or Treat on Sunday, apparently due to the significant influence of churches in Columbus, possibly the most northern city of the Bible Belt. Church attendance might be in a decline world-wide, but I am personally convinced that if polls that enumerate church attendance included Columbus, they would find a true and significant counter-trend. Many churches, in fact, have youth group parties on Halloween to prevent the celebration of the Halloween holiday by budding young Christians. It seems to me that these "non-Halloween" parties are really Halloween parties masquerading as "non-Halloween" parties, adding yet another level of misdirection and masquerade to an already complex holiday.

So - the summary for those of you who are STILL wondering when trick or treaters will show up each year:

If October 30 occurs on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, that will be trick or treat night.

If October 30 occurs on the Friday, Saturday or Sunday, trick or treat night will be on the Thursday before.

Exceptions include various "purist" communities, and homes residing in one city but belonging to a different school district.

Any questions? Ask a neighbor who is a teacher, or call the local elementary school!

And don't forget to have a few cans of food available for anyone trick or treating for the local food back!

Now that i have the story clear in my mind, I need to explain this all to my out-of-state boss, who might wonder why I need to leave at 4:30 pm tonight!

First Post

I've never had a blog, and never had a purpose for one, but thought it would be fun to just have a place to express my thoughts, my activities, my rants, and what is going on in my life in general. I have no idea if it will develop a theme or if it will remain random. We're about to find out!

Today I took part in an internet market research study, which was very fun. Plus, they paid me! I wish I was a desirable demographic for these types of studies more often.

It was a beautiful fall day, and I got to enjoy the fall colors as I drove along the river to and from downtown, which I don't get to do very often, since I live and work in the suburbs. The third week in October is almost always beautiful in Columbus, and I'll try to post some pictures soon.