Sunday December 25, 2016
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Monday, December 19, 2016
Friday December 16, 2016
We
decided to brave the frigid temperatures and head downtown to check out the
lights after my sister’s recommendation last weekend. Apparently we were the
only ones in the family not to have seen them yet. I was told there was a giant
screen with a fireplace projected on it as well as store windows with scenes
from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” displayed in them. We parked in the
Columbus Commons garage and emerged from a glass enclosure completely
encompassed in blue lights which was kind of funky. We immediately saw the TV
screens at the far end of the field. It’s too bad they were only faux
fireplaces as a bit of warmth would have been nice, but we soldiered on.
We
found the store windows (across from the old Lazarus store) of which the
displays were done by the Ohio Arts Council I think. I also liked the many
buildings made out of all white Lego, one of which had a moving mechanism.
Across
the river we saw an American flag projected onto a set of steps or bleachers,
which was certainly large and kind of cool.
On
the Scioto Mile where there’s normally a splash park in the summer, there was a
TV screen where a figure skating Santa and several reindeer would appear from
time to time. It’s just too bad there
wasn’t also an ice rink there. Add a few vendors selling hot cocoa or dry
roasted peanuts, etc. and you would almost feel like you were in a proper big
city, but Columbus is a bit low key. You have to travel to Cleveland or
Cincinnati to really experience the holiday festivities.
After
about an hour or so of wandering around we figured we pretty much saw all there
was to see, and had experienced as much of the cold as we could take, so we
headed home (where we enjoyed mugs of hot chocolate while wearing our furry
slippers in front of our gas fireplace).
Sunday December 18, 2016
Tonight
we attended the second annual Irish Christmas in America concert in the Abbey
Theatre at the Dublin Recreation Center. I honestly don’t remember hearing
about it last year, but the holidays are so busy I often don’t have time to
make note of every event.
There
were six musicians covering the keyboard, guitar, fiddle, bagpipe and Irish
flute, and at least a couple vocalists. Occasionally a trio of Irish dancers
came out and danced a jig or two. Aside from the music I especially enjoyed the
banter between songs and the few jokes they told.
The only thing that could
have made the concert more enjoyable is if it were held somewhere with a liquor
license. Not to sound like an alcoholic or anything, but Irish music is best
enjoyed with a glass of whisky or some other spirits. That’s why I enjoyed our
one evening out in Dublin this summer when we went to a local bar to hear a
couple musicians catering to the tourists. At any rate, if there’s a third year
for this event, you can bet I will be first in line to get tickets.
Slainte
(in good health)! Have a good week everyone!
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Chinese Lantern Festival
Wednesday December 7, 2016
Tonight
I suggested to Andrew that we attend the Chinese Lantern Festival being held at
the state fairgrounds. I first read about it in one of the local papers and had
just seen an article about it in Ohio magazine, so it reminded me that we still
hadn’t gone yet. It opened just after Thanksgiving and is around until just
after the new year. After checking the weather forecast and stepping outside, I
determined that now was as good a time as any since temperatures are supposed to
plummet over the next few days and we may even get some snow.
So,
after dinner we donned our warmest clothing, grabbed our cameras, and drove out
to the fairgrounds. Being the middle of the week we didn’t expect crowds, and
we got that right as there were just a few dozen cars in what is almost always
an overflowing car park when we attend events there (like the Home & Garden
Show in 2015).
We
entered the fairgrounds via a large Chinese arch that was also a lantern of
sorts. None of the lanterns were what one might think of as traditional shapes,
so it definitely wasn’t what I expected, but was still impressive. Some even
moved like the rocking pandas and the windmills, so those were kind of neat.
Since it wasn’t crowded I was grateful to not have to wait too long for people
to move so I could snap my pictures. Since I wasn’t wearing gloves most of the
time, I was certainly trying to be as quick as possible.
I
only paused briefly to look over the merchandise for sale. I couldn’t resist
buying a panda necklace (which I’m sure is aimed at the child market, but what
can I say, I’m a big kid!). There was also lots of (Chinese) food and drink for
sale on the midway (including spiked cider and hot chocolate).
At
8:00pm there was a brief show demonstrating the balancing, juggling and
gymnastic talent of half a dozen young Chinese men who were probably freezing
cold, but performed like troopers. Because most of the audience was wearing
gloves, to make up for slightly muted clapping we vocalized our praise by whistling
and shouting. Andrew and I also enjoyed splitting a nice toasty cup of hot
chocolate and some chocolate dipped fortune cookies. I dipped mine into the hot
chocolate forgetting about my fortune inside. It was a bit soggy, but I think
it said, “You will eat many fortune cookies in the future.” As there were five
in the box, I think that fortune will come true.
We
walked around and saw the rest of the lanterns before heading home. I figure we
got our money’s worth ($15@ + $5 parking) in the hour and a half we spent there
and I can definitely recommend it. There are concessions for seniors and students,
so it is possible to get a discounted rate.
圣诞节快乐 (that’s Chinese for Merry
Christmas)
Monday, December 5, 2016
Lots of Projects...
Friday December 2, 2016
Tonight’s
project was to wrap lots of yarn around a Magnolia branch to make myself a cute
little Christmas tree (which may or may not take the place of a proper tree).
My friend, Leslie, was kind enough to give me a bag of her leftover yarn. You
can’t beat a completely free $$$ project like this!
Tamsin in action |
I
spent the better part of the evening sitting on the floor surrounded by colorful
balls of yarn while our cat, Tamsin, occasionally joined in the fun running off
with a ball or two when the mood struck her.
(the stray twig is now secured with electric tape) |
In
three hours I managed to complete the entire trunk and may just end up leaving it
like that since I am a bit short on time and have plenty more projects to
complete (like a yarn wreath!).
I
will be sure to take a photo later after I’ve anchored it and hung a few
baubles from it.
Saturday December 3, 2016
Today
was my Quilting 101 class at Joann Fabrics. Although I have no plans to make a
formal quilt as such, I thought it would be interesting to learn the mechanics
of making a simple square. Fran was our instructor. It was her first time
teaching a class there and I thought she did pretty well. It’s not her fault
there’s a lot of math involved (most of our squares had to be cut to 5 7/8”). Although
she had cut out her own pieces and may have planned to make a square as well,
she made sure to check on each one of us (there were three of us) each step of
the way, which I very much appreciated.
The BEFORE picture |
Although
two and a half hours were allocated for the class, I knew I wouldn’t get done
in that short a period of time, and I don’t recall the other two finishing that
quickly either (though one of them might have since she had had some quilting
experience previously). I ended up staying over an extra hour and was forever
grateful to Fran for not minding (I would have). My bobbin ran out of thread,
so I had to take extra time to refill it and then try to remember how to
properly put it back in place. I also had to rip out stitches on more than one
occasion and had to recut one piece. All these little setbacks cost me maybe a
half an hour, so that explains some of the delay.
the AFTER picture |
All
total about half my squares turned out symmetrical, so I am happy enough with
my first effort. I am thinking of making a pillow out of it sometime later.
Would
I be interested in doing another quilting class in the future? Possibly, but it’s
so time consuming (and a bit frustrating when things don’t quite line up), that
I’m not sure when I want to allocate the time to do that. Fran told us they
also have a Square a Month class where I guess you make a quilt out of the
collection when you’re all done. To be honest I haven’t had a chance to look at
the list of future classes, so too early to make a decision.
Sunday December 4, 2016
Today
was our annual pre-Christmas outing. Last year Andrew and I drove to Cincinnati
where we spent the day walking around the city observing and enjoying the
festive atmosphere, especially in the square where an ice rink was set up with various
food & merchandise stalls surrounding it.
This
year we opted to stay a little closer to home and went downtown to the Columbus
Museum of Art to take in the special exhibit, “The Sun Placed in the Abyss.”
Seeing so many photos/films/videos of the sun on such a dark day outside was
most uplifting and made me yearn for summer days. I thought the public had some
interesting thoughts about the exhibit as noted on the index cards displayed on
the opinion board.
Afterwards
we browsed in the galleries at the rotating collection seeing a few new pieces
as well as some old favorites. While walking around we had the pleasure of
musical accompaniment as the Columbus Choir performed a free concert in the
atrium at 3pm. Nothing says Christmas quite like hearing a choir perform. The acoustics
were fabulous, so it sounded a bit like being inside a cathedral (bringing back
happy memories of being in England). After a quick browse around the gift shop
(of which I am happy to report I didn’t buy anything), we headed out.
All
in all a pretty busy, but pretty good weekend.
Have
a great week everyone!
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Thanksgiving Weekend 2016
Sunday November 27, 2016
Happy
post-Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend whether you
spent it with family or friends or out shopping or just at home catching up on
things (like we did).
Wednesday
I got out of work early so I treated myself to a late afternoon matinee of “Bridget
Jones & Baby.” As I was in the middle of reading the book I was concerned
there might be several spoilers in the movie, but I need not have worried as
the two took slightly different paths (and I quite honestly enjoyed the film
version more). I won’t give away the sex of the baby, but there’s not much else
I can say without spoiling either the book or the movie. Suffice it to say I
got my money’s worth ($2.25) and it cheered me up a bit (after having yet
another bad day at work).
Thanksgiving Day 2016
Since
my family had already gathered the weekend before, Andrew and I spent the day
at home alone. I decided it would be a good time to catch up on some projects.
Some things took longer than I anticipated as I literally spent the entire
afternoon scanning a roll of APS film. Yes, I know that dates me as a nostalgic
Generation X. The reason for scanning the roll (on the ancient scanner Andrew
bought me at least 15 years ago in the UK) was the company I paid to develop it
and make prints apparently no longer prints panoramic photos full size. Instead
they squeezed them onto 4x6 photo paper. For most of the photos it was okay,
but there were at least 10 that had some of the detail cut out of them because
of this. Hence, I have decided to have proper reprints of these done (not sure
if I will print them myself or have them done elsewhere).
While
I was waiting on the scanner I decided to finish a photo album/scrapbook I had
started last summer in an art class at the Upper Arlington Senior Center. Not
wishing to try and interpret the written instructions and drag out the project
any longer, I decided to just do my own thing, which was to glue on a set of
metal rings/spine and punch holes in the pages and attach them that way. I also
selected some photos I can insert into each page (the pages are designed as
envelopes to hold photos or whatever other ephemera one would like to store). I
am quite pleased with it even if I did leave out all the flourishes (I have
ribbon and other bits and pieces). I can still add more to it later, but at
least it’s more or less functional as a photo album.
Since
we had already had turkey, we decided to do something a little different and
made a Japanese themed dinner of Gohei-Mochi (rice on a stick) and meatballs
with a side of vegetables and sweet Saki to drink. Andrew decided to take up
that challenge and did a pretty good job with it. The hardest part was getting
the rice to brown under the grill. A kitchen blow torch would have sped things
up a bit, but we don’t happen to have one. Either way, they tasted great and I
discovered I quite like Saki (but couldn’t drink too much since I had to go
shopping after dinner). For dessert we had Green Tea Kit Kats purchased on sale
at World Market. I still couldn’t taste the green tea, but they certainly are
green.
My
first fail of the weekend (other than grossly underestimating the amount of
time my various projects would take) was not studying my Goat Cheese Pumpkin
Pie recipe more closely. If I had, I would have seen that it needs to sit and
chill for 6-8 hours. Also, I didn’t have enough powdered sugar. Thus it was
that I nipped out after dinner for my first ever Black Friday (on Thursday)
shopping trip to Target. I was worried that the lines would be horrendous, but
management had a plan and executed it expertly. Having all hands on deck and
using taped off areas, shoppers were herded through and distributed to the
first available cashier (much like lining up for rides at Disney) where purchases
were rang up in record time. Hence, from the time I left my house to the time I
got back home I think only about a half an hour or so had lapsed, so I was
quite pleased. It was at least another hour and a bit before I had the pie made
and the kitchen cleaned up, so I very much enjoyed putting my feet up
afterwards.
Friday November 25, 2016
In the
morning I sorted through my candle collection and decided to thin it out a bit.
I then spent best part of the afternoon putting all sorts of ads on Craigslist
and Nextdoor Ridgewood figuring people would be in a spending mood being Black
Friday and all. Sadly, not a single response, so it ended up being a colossal
waste of time.
I was
cheered up when I saw that I had received an unexpected package which turned
out to be a dvd mailed to me by Larry Auman, owner of the Auman Museum of Radio
and TV. The dvd contained three 8mm/Super 8 movies I had donated to the museum
earlier this year (since we don’t own an 8mm or Super 8 projector). The movies
were a Tom & Jerry flick, The Rescuers and Captain America. Two out of
three I had seen previously, but the Captain America film was new to me. I didn’t
realize Iron Man was a vintage comic book super hero having only seen him in
films over the past 10 years or so. I must remember to send Mr. Auman a nice
thank you note. Although it would have been nice to see them in their original
format, the film wobbles and sound irregularities were recorded, so it was the
next best thing.
In
the evening we headed to the Lennox AMC where we had reserved tickets to see “Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Anticipating that it might be quite busy we
thought it would be prudent to reserve tickets in advance. We need not have
worried as there were only about 7 or 8 of us in the theatre. Apparently
everyone else was still out shopping or had already seen it last weekend when
it first came out. I wanted to demand a refund of my $3 service fee, but knew
that it would be more trouble than it was worth. At least the movie was good
and didn’t feel like a two and a quarter hour film. Andrew and I are both
curious where this franchise is going next since we read that there are seven
films planned in this series.
Saturday
and Sunday were spent running errands, decorating the church for Advent, and
raking leaves, so nothing too exciting to report. It has certainly felt like a
long weekend, and although I certainly didn’t get everything done, I at least
accomplished something, and Andrew felt it was a pretty productive four days
too (he made his Christmas cake and Christmas pudding).
Have
a great week everyone!
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