The Last two Weekends...

Friday July 6, 2018

Today I stopped by the annual Arthritis Foundation Car Show which is held in the Metro Place circle where I work, so we always get a free wristband and parking pass. I’ve never needed either, but it’s a nice benefit all the same.

The highlight of this year’s show was a couple cars from “The Munsters” as well as a visit from Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick,* from whom you could get an autograph and a selfie for a price (E-bay has totally ruined getting anything for free these days).

“Butch Patrick, best known for his role as Eddie Munster in The Musters is coming to the 36th Annual Classic Auto Show and Cruise-In! We are excited to welcome Butch and his Munster Koach and Dragula Tribute Cars, original 1964 Barris/Von Dutch Chain Link Schwinn Stingray Bike, and other Munster props to include Baseball Bat, Miniature Spot, and Street Signs in an amazing display at the show. This is a do-not-miss opportunity! Butch will be available for meet and greet and photo ops at the show and will be selling some of his merchandise, autographs and memorabilia for Munster Fans. Find him Friday and Saturday in the Main Lot at his awesome Munster display and on stage giving out trophies with the CAS team each night.”

https://arthglr.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/2018ClassicAutoShowColumbusOH/AbouttheShow/FeaturedAttractions/tabid/933510/Default.aspx

As I’ve rarely ever seen the show (it’s a bit before my time), I wasn’t too bothered, but I did check out the cars and saw Mr. Patrick posing with a fan.

That evening my husband and I went to see the latest Avenger movie, “Ant Man and the Wasp,” which stars Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, and Evangeline Lilly. I’m glad we streamed the first Ant Man movie, but as we haven’t seen the last Avengers movie where Ant Man helps the other Avengers in Germany, we felt left out on a couple of the jokes, but it didn’t ruin our enjoyment of the movie.

Anyone who enjoyed “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” or “Innerspace” would probably enjoy this too. It’s action-packed and full of humor and sentiment, so there’s a lot to like. I won’t be surprised if there’s a third Ant Man movie, and I’ll definitely be there!

Saturday July 7, 2018

Today my husband and I visited the Worthington Farmer’s Market again with our main objective being to obtain a bucket of blueberries from a vendor who was visiting from Mansfield (which saves us about an hour and a half drive). Luckily we found that vendor and another selling blueberries, so we bought 3 lbs. and have now bagged and froze them. We also bought a couple blueberry flavored donuts that were quite delicious. Most of the rest of the stuff we purchased was various produce.

Andrew bought a tiny (and somewhat overpriced) loaf of Gingerbread Pear bread. It was a booth where the bread was behind large cardboard posters, so we didn’t actually see the size of what we agreed to purchase until it was handed to us. I’m sure it will be delicious (we sampled it), so hopefully worth the cost.

I still hope to get to the Hilliard and Upper Arlington markets after we get back from vacation (when we’ll probably need stuff).

That evening we attended the monthly Short North Gallery Hop (held on the first Saturday of every month). Unlike the first Gallery Hop we attended last year, there were slightly fewer galleries to visit because a couple were closed (which I wished we had known before walking out of our way to visit them). We also skipped browsing in the shops, but did have a nice sit down dinner at the Hubbard Grille.

We saw some nice art and got to chat with a couple of the artists. There were a few pieces I would definitely have liked to purchase, but most were out of my art budget or wouldn’t fit (size-wise) our walls.

Friday July 13, 2018

Tonight my husband and I attended the first ever Italian Heritage Festival in Dublin, which was set up in the same location as the Irish Festival (which is held at the end of the month). However, unlike it’s more well-known cousin, the $$ Irish Festival, the admission cost was an affordable $5, which included a line-up of Italian musicians you could listen to while eating a Stromboli and sipping a shot of Limoncello. I was disappointed that Camelot Cellars weren’t in attendance (due to last minute permit issues I heard), so the only choice of beverages were: lemonade, beer, a shot of limoncello, or a wine and peaches drink. After all, what's an Italian Festival without wine? (Hello, it's one of the things Italians do best next to making delicious pasta and pizzas!) We stuck to our bottle of water and each had a Stromboli and a bowl of gelato.

Like most festivals there were various vendors (some more related to Italian heritage than others). We sampled some really expensive olive oils that were quite tasty, but Andrew didn’t want to spend $20 for a bottle, so we passed on that.  I enjoyed looking at the art by artist, Laura Bova, who designed the cover for the 2018 Comfest program. I bought a print of that and another of a sort of multi-colored face that I thought was interesting.

Next to her booth was a tent advertising the Jubilee Museum located in downtown Columbus. It’s a museum housing various religious art and church-related articles (everything from nun’s clothing to a room full of altars, etc.). They were also selling misc. religious articles, but we both passed on that.

After looking around for a little while and eating dinner, we headed out. We perhaps spent about an hour or so there. My suggestion for next year is to either bring in a lot more vendors, entertainers, activities, etc. or move what you have closer together so it looks like more. Also, maybe move up the festival to June so it’s not so close to the Irish Festival in late July.

Leaving there we headed to the cinema to see Pixar’s latest, “Incredibles 2.” We both thought it was hilarious, and Andrew particularly liked the ferocious raccoon fighting baby Jack Jack. I liked Jack Jack. He’s the funniest animated baby I’ve ever seen (I think they said he had like 17 powers). I felt for the father trying to run the household while his wife was away fighting crime in the big city. I can’t imagine taking care of three kids on your own, let alone three kids all with special powers (in addition to normal kid annoyances). 

Have a great week everyone!