Back to Ohio

My sister, my niece and I took a road trip to northeast Ohio last week. Yep, you heard right - 16 hours in a car - one way. But people, it was fun!! When I left the parking lot here at work to head to my sister's house, it was 91 degrees (Fahrenheit for those of you who perhaps thought we were on the sun). Anyone with any sense knows that's too hot for October, unless you're in Australia or something. I worked on Multnomah on the way up. And the way back. And in between.

I'm using my own handspun, once dyed aqua, now a dark green. It'll be done soon (with any luck), and I'll post a picture once I have it blocked. I didn't stop at 10 repeats of the feather and fan part - I'm just going 'til I run out of yarn. Hope it was a good call, because I'm not ripping it out!

We got in late, so the next morning we hunted around for a place to eat breakfast. There's bound to be at least one diner in a small town, and we found a good one. I can't remember what it was called (State Street Diner??) but this was probably the best omelet I've ever eaten. The only bad part about it was the name - the Moon Doggie omelet. I was embarrassed to say it aloud. Just veggies and cheese - and everything tasted like they just picked it, including the eggs.

It was overcast and rainy, like the picture shows, but it was cool!! Cool as in not hot. Cool as in we're not in south GA anymore. It looks like summer in this picture, but most of the trees were turning. The area along Lake Erie was quite a bit behind the area farther south. The first thing we did after breakfast was to hit a rummage sale at the Catholic Church. My aunt was working there, so we killed two birds with one stone. Not that we wouldn't have stopped in to see her if she wasn't working there, but you know my sister loves a good sale! While I was there I demonstrated how to use an ab machine to the church ladies. Thank God no one had a camera. They'll not soon forget the chubby lady from Georgia who got down on the floor to exercise. Of course, while I was down there my loving Auntie Margo yelled over, "Look at that roll!!", referring to my not so sleek abs. That was just in case no one had already noticed that I was out of shape. Not likely!!After that we were whisked off to Cherry Valley Amish Country & Gift Store, to buy some fresh apples, among other things. I took a picture in the store to show how dark it was!! There's no electricity, of course, so all the light you have comes from the windows and the propane lanterns. I think I had SAD (seasonal affective disorder) when I left. They carry all kinds of stuff, including furniture. I found some bluing, which sounded like an intriguing laundry experiment, and some bulk candy for my husband, who doesn't need it. I also got a half bushel of Jonagold apples, most of which I've already eaten. You just can't find a GREAT apple in the south.

After all that wild frolicking we went over to visit my Grandma. The picture on top was taken at their farm circa 1972. That's me, the tall dark-headed one (how things change!), my Mimi in the middle, and my cousin Lori, who is 16 mos. younger than me. In the bottom pic it's 37 years later, and that's Lori, who grew up to be tall and skinny (damn her), Mimi, my sister Betsy, and me. Mimi's going to be 93 on November 2nd, and still doing well, although she admitted she wasn't sure how old she was. Hell, most days I can't (or don't want to) remember how old I am.

Okay, this has gone on long enough. More later!