Fourth of July weekend

Thursday July 2, 2015

Today was a partly sunny/cloudy day with a few rain drops. CNA, as per what has become the custom in the last year or so, bought half a dozen pizzas to feed the office during lunch. Still had best part of two pizzas left at the end of the day, so a coworker and I split the leftovers and Andrew and I had Saturday lunch with enough left over for one more meal. 

After dinner Andrew and I went to the Grandview Theatre to see, “Inside Out,” and actually had to wait in a short queue to get our tickets and snack (I bought M & Ms and water and Andy got a beer). Prior to that I had popped in to “Pure Imagination Chocolatiers” (just a few doors down) and was pleased to see it was still open, so I bought a box of 9 truffles. Next time I plan to try their ice cream. Among the flavors I got were: PB & J, Raspberry, Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Blueberry Gouda and something that started with ‘M’ from the movie, “Chocolat.” 

We, along with the rest of the audience, really enjoyed, “Inside Out,” another masterpiece from Pixar. It’s funny, sad and so, so clever! I find myself still thinking of the movie several days later whenever my moods change[is fear in charge or maybe sadness? Where's Joy? I want her to be in charge!] 

When we got home (it was early, so still light out) Andrew was the first to notice a deer in our backyard and directed my attention to the back window. I grabbed my camera and cautiously watched from inside until the deer moved next door to our neighbor’s (Joe & Sue's) yard, so I went outside and watched it as it moved from yard to yard. I ended up going over to Joe & Sue’s once Joe came outside. Sue also said hello from the window.  

Eventually the doe met up with her fawn and the doe pawed anxiously at the ground a few times warning us to keep away from her baby. Andrew came outside, so I went back over to our side and we chatted with Joe until it got a bit dark.

Friday July 3, 2015

Today I got up and had a run around the neighborhood first thing, and while jogging down Darbyshire noticed a garage sale, so made a mental note to come back later after I had showered and had breakfast, so I did. They were selling mostly kids’ stuff, so I passed on most of the merchandise, but did pick up a few dvds and a framed print of a line of doorways. Not sure yet where to hang it, but got it for $1, so not too concerned if it never finds a home. 

After much deliberation, I decided to finally tackle some long overdue projects – like gluing my collage from Amy’s last art class unto heavy cardboard, and gluing wrapping paper onto the trunk tray I bought last summer from our neighbor’s moving sale. I quickly ran out of spray adhesive, so used another kind of spray adhesive, then switched to rubber cement. It’s still sticky three days later, so perhaps rubber cement wasn’t the best choice. 

Next I decided to finally sand the wine bottles I had scored and separated last year so I could give Karen the glasses I promised her. First I used pliers to break off jagged bits of bottle before turning them in circles on sandpaper under water. They’re a bit bumpy, but not razor sharp anymore, so they’re good enough to drink out of if that’s what Karen opts to do with them (or perhaps put a tea light in them or a little plant?). On Sunday I scored a few bottles I had soaked and removed the labels from in case Karen wants to try and break a few to make some more glasses (she said she’d do that if I’d scored them first). 

It rained for most of the afternoon, but cleared up by evening, so we decided to drive to Delaware for their First Friday night out event. http://www.mainstreetdelaware.com/first-fridays.html I don’t remember if it was my coworker Heidi, or coworker Connie, who first told me about it, but it sounded like fun and seemed to be in the same spirit as the Gallery Hops in Short North and Grandview. 

We took the country roads to Delaware, rather than Route 23 to Sawmill like when we came back that way from vacation last July. All the curves and gentle hills (and several farms) reminded me a lot of Northeast Ohio, which surprised me though, but not sure why. Still, it was nice because it kind of reminded me of home. 

Downtown Delaware reminded me very much of Geneva and impressed me far more than tiny downtown Hilliard. It’s a lot of probably century-old (or at least decades old) red brick buildings and Victorian homes. Heidi and Connie were right that parking can be difficult, but if you persevere, you’ll eventually find a spot somewhere, which we did (on a side street). 

As the downtown isn’t huge, it doesn’t take too long to walk the streets to get the lay of the land. We quickly spied a sign for Pierogis, so we walked around the block to where Sophie’s Gourmet Pierogies food truck was parked. We each ordered four, but selected different sauces. I chose the mustard one and couldn’t have been more pleased. The flavor reminded me a little of the secret sauce McDonalds uses on their Big Macs (which reminds me a little of Russian salad dressing). We ate our pierogies while listening to a string quintet playing in front of the local Methodist church. They were quite good and I could have stood there all night, but wanted to pop into some of the shops. 

After we finished, Andrew said he was thirsty (not sure if the Pierogie truck sold beverages), and while we were getting a bottle of water, why not get some ice cream? Thus it was that we ended up in a short (10 or fewer people) queue outside Ollie’s Fine Ice Cream. We could have gone to Handel’s, but I prefer to support the small, independent businesses. Once we got inside I saw a sign advertising alcoholic ice cream you could only buy in pints (but had to be 21 to purchase) which were all sold out, unfortunately, not that we could have kept a pint of ice cream cold while we walked around. There were two flavors – Bailey’s and Chocolate Merlot. I will definitely have to make a return visit for a couple pints of those!

As we were walking around I saw my young coworker, Heidi, who said she often attends the First Friday, so I wasn’t surprised to see her there. I told her I’d try to attend at least once, so she probably wasn’t surprised to see me either. Introductions were quickly made and then a brief chat before we went our separate ways. 

Among other places we stopped at was an art gallery displaying prints made using highly pixelated 1980s computer graphics. Customers were allowed to take one art book each, so I selected Two or Three Lines from Sketch Books of Chen Chi which has some cool drawings and text and a gold box with writing on the cover. There was another sketchbook I liked too with drawings from the West Coast. I should have told Andrew to pick up that one. 

Near the art gallery was The Strand movie theatre, which had three films listed on their marquee. It’s probably bigger than the Grandview Theatre and I wonder what it looks like inside? Perhaps a future visit is in order! 

Prior to the art gallery we stopped in at Endangered Species record store (which actually sells LPs and 45s) that seemed a bit too small for its vast square footage, but maybe rent is cheap? I browsed the discount CD rack while Andrew checked out the rest of the stock. He chose a CD and I got a couple .99 ones – one with Irish music (including a song supposedly dedicated to the owner of the store, according to what he told me when he added up our bill) and another with Marine marching band music. Also got some cool swag (bumper sticker and a couple buttons). Yes, I know we missed the whole point of shopping in a record store when we didn't actually purchase any records. However, until the belt arrives to fix my vintage record player, I'm holding off on anymore purchases for the moment. 

Our last stop was a rather large antiques store packed with shelf upon shelf of every manner of antiques from salt ‘n pepper shakers to stuffed animals. The items I was most intrigued by included a tiny hand cranked razor sharpener. Not sure why I was so taken by it, probably because it was small and shiny. I also saw an antique from my lifetime – a Mansfield Reporter 8mm Viewer. If space weren’t an issue, I might have bought it just for the novelty value, but I’m not running a museum. I ended up purchasing a black cat salt shaker and a couple vintage post card albums that I may or may not use for storing our own vintage postcards. 

After we got home I decided to make up a play list in case I was ever in charge of coming up with the music to accompany a fireworks show. Andrew was outside burning our stack of sticks that had been accumulating from various storms over the last several months. He came in just about when Red, White and Boom was starting, so good timing on his part. Andrew commented that the music drowns out the sound of the fireworks (when watching them on TV), whereas when you go see them in Hilliard, it’s the other way around, depending on where you stand at least. 

Saturday July 4, 2015

Went for another run first thing. Showered, had breakfast and then went to the mall for my 10am hair appointment. However, I quickly noticed that my stylist wasn't there. Apparently her schedule had changed and she called my work number on Friday to notify me, but since I wasn’t there I obviously didn’t get the message, so I just rescheduled for the following Saturday. 

Earlier in the morning, before leaving for the mall, I saw our resident deer (doe?) in the back yard, which was a bit of a surprise since we hardly ever see deer, let alone two days out of three. I wonder if it was hungry, which is why it was risking a daytime visit. 

After I got home, I asked Andrew if he wanted to go shopping for something to plant around our pergola, so we headed for Oakland Nursery having to go the scenic route since I forgot some of the local roads were closed because of the upcoming Fourth of July parade. After some deliberation, we decided on two different creepers/vines – two (orange) Radicans Trumpet Vine and one (purple) Amethyst Falls American Wisteria. 

We left for the Hilliard fireworks at just after 9pm and parked at Karen’s (thanks!). As we’ve done in previous years, we walked all the way to the rec center from there, which is at least a mile, maybe two. Andrew figures we probably just about burned off our dessert (two scoops each of United Dairy Farmers ice cream). I was cold at first, but by the time we got to the rec centre I was sufficiently warmed up. We both thought it was a pretty good show and were glad not to be stuck in too much traffic since we knew which way to leave the Weston Trails estate (exit on Davidson so we could go straight across at the traffic light). When we got home I saw a strange glowing red object in the sky that Andrew said was some sort of a balloon lit from below that obviously floats for quite awhile. It kind of reminded me of an experiment James May once did when he tried to send a balloon into space (and I believe he was successful). 

Sunday July 5, 2015

Doe a deer, a female deer…

Our resident doe was back for another late morning/early afternoon visit in our back garden before heading next door to Joe and Sue’s where it sat down and chilled out for perhaps half an hour to an hour. Andrew thinks it somehow got separated from its group, which is kind of sad. I hope they meet back up again. I hate to think of a lonely, scared deer away from its herd. 

I spent the rest of the day doing a little yard work, a little house work, and even took some time out to sit under the pergola and read and later watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Kudos to the USA women's soccer team!!!

Have a good week everyone!