Thursday June 8, 2017
Camp Oyo Fundraiser...
Tonight my husband, Andrew, and I attended a charity event to benefit
Camp Oyo, which is a camp for kids who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. One
of the founders of my husband’s company is involved with an organization that
supports the charity, so she asked if any of the employees wanted to attend.
Since I’d been taking ASL (American Sign Language) lessons since February from
a retired teacher from the Columbus School for the Deaf, Andrew thought it
would be a good chance for me to finally put my lessons to use.
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| Andrew trying out one of the many pinball machines |
Although I saw several people signing to each other, I’m not sure how
many were totally deaf as they seemed to speak to each other as well. Being a
little shy and not too confident in my signing abilities, I was hesitant to
just go up to someone and interrupt their conversation. However, I did have a
conversation with a man named John who is a hard-of-hearing (with a hearing
aid), and is actively involved in the deaf community and volunteers at the
camp. He had to correct a couple of my signs (at least in terms of the position
of my fingers), but overall said he was impressed. I was also complimented by a
deaf lady at my church, and by Andrew, but I know I still have a long way to go
before I am in any way competent enough to communicate smoothly and quickly.
Still, I’m glad we attended, and I hope the fundraiser was a success.
Saturday June 10, 2017
Worldwide Knit in Public Day & Historic Hotels of Columbus...
Today was a busy day as I had several activities to attend (as well as
taking our cat in for a nail trim, a stop at Lowe’s to purchase a weed whacker,
and drop off a book at one of the Free Little Libraries).
Historic Hotels of Columbus
At 10am my husband and I attended a two hour lecture at the Upper
Arlington Municipal Center which was all about the Historic Hotels of Columbus.
The lecture was given by Tom Betti and Doreen Uhas Sauer who are both from
Cleveland and connected by having families in the same neighborhood. Now both
live here in the capital city and are involved with the Columbus Landmarks Foundation as well
as coauthoring books about various historical aspects of the city.
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| the Great Southern Hotel as it looks today |
Not surprisingly, of the approximately dozen and a half people in
attendance, we were the youngest (with the exception of Mr. Betti) in
attendance. One of the attendees, an older gentleman, bragged somewhat jokingly
that he (or at least his company) was the reason for at least one of the hotels
(Deshler I think?) closing as his newer, nicer one took its place. In spite of
that, or perhaps because of, Ms. Uhas Sauer gave him a free book to show there
were no hard feelings. Obviously this older gentleman was interested in the
history of these now defunct buildings, or maybe he just came to brag or throw
in his two cents worth. Either way, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Other
attendees shared their stories of visiting these hotels; one remembering how
down market one of the hotels had become when she stayed there in the 1960s.
Another said she and her family always used to always have their Sunday meal at
one of the hotels.
Andrew commented to me afterwards how interesting he thought the lecture
was and even suggested we buy a copy of their book (so I did). We both look
forward to adding it to our summer reading list.
Worldwide Knit in Public Day
Though I don’t personally knit, I have a great appreciation for this art,
and hope to learn this skill (and crochet too) someday. Much thanks to my great
friend, Leslie for getting me started by giving me a set of needles and an
instruction guide. I promise you that someday I will actually get them out and
have a go (or enroll in a class either).
Anyway, the Dublin Arts Council was having a party to celebrate Worldwide
Knit in Public Day alongside their Yarn Over Dublin event which was installed
earlier in the week. By “installed,” I mean that various pieces of public art in
Dublin suddenly got a temporary (until about mid July) “yarn makeover.”
The first one I spotted was the infamous “Field of Corn (with Osage
oranges),” which are draped with knitted squares (see above), a hat,
I felt a bit bad that I wasn’t there to knit (and openly admitted that
when asked), but was there to express my appreciation for the cool yarn bombing
over at the corn rows. I haven’t seen the other sculptures yet, but plan to
visit as many as I can over the next several weeks. The lady who knitted the
hat told me about a couple wool-related events (The Great Lakes Fiber Show & A Wool Gathering) after I told her about being
interested in learning to weave. I made sure to jot down the details and have
shared that info with my above mentioned friend (hoping perhaps we can attend
one of these events together).
Many thanks to Karen Dendiu who hosted the event, Program Manager,
Christine Langston, and Executive Director, David Guion. I very much enjoyed
watching the slides of the knitters hard at work and seeing the various yarn
creations installed at the different locations. The pastries and cookies were
also very delicious. I’m not too embarrassed to admit I tried one of everything
(though only ate one cookie) and felt stuffed for the rest of the afternoon. :
)
Can’t wait to see the rest of the yarn bombing around the city. Besides
visiting all the local Little Free Libraries, I will add to my summer bucket
list a visit to the various public art around Dublin that has been so
beautifully adorned.
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