Adventures in Columbus

Brucie,

Last weekend I went to Columbus. Of course, the "official" reason for me going was for a work meeting on Monday, but I definetely got some maxin' and relaxin' done as well. Since we both wish we lived there, I thought I would share the relevant parts of my trip.

On Sunday morning, I went to Wildflower Cafe for brunch with Josh (not pictured). Delicious!

Josh got the grossest things on the menu, aka french toast and sausage (not pictured). After brunch, we went our separate ways and I decided to go to the Park of Roses.

I love going to that park. There are all sorts of picnic areas, and creek beds that you're not supposed to wade in (because of the sewage), and big gigantic fields where people bring their dogs to play frisbee. One of the best parts about that park is the walking/bike trails. Most of the trails in the city run through the park of roses. This part of the trail makes me feel like a ring wraith is about to come around the corner.

Bagginssssssssssss!!!!!!!! Except with pavement.

There is also this field where they just plant wildflowers and let it all go to town. I like walking through there because there's all kinds of birds. The birds didn't want their picture taken. I walked around here with my shoes off, and some guy with a dog laughed at me.

Whatever, guy.

So...obviously, in a park called the "park of roses," there are bound to be some roses, right? Well, the embarassing truth is, I didn't know where the helk the roses were. I've been to that park hundreds of times and wandered around on the bike trails, but I never figured it out. I had even been to a wedding in a gazebo IN the rose garden, but I still had no idea where it all was. (Hey! It's a big park, okay?) I decided that this was the weekend to figure it all out.

It turns out I was neglecting this huuuuuge part of the park. Like, a third of the park. And it's all right up next to the field house where the bathrooms are. (For future reference) You just kind of turn a corner and walk through a big clump of trees, and......presto! You are in this stately, neatly manicured formal rose garden. I walked around and just smelled and looked at the different kinds. There are roses named after Carey Grant and Elizabeth Taylor. I felt like the by-god queen of England.

Oh! And I found that gazebo I went to one time for that wedding. Which is good, because I was starting to think I'd made it all up or something...like there was no rose garden really.

Besides roses, there were all these little gardens on the side full of other stuff. My favorite part was the herb garden. It was all split up into culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, fragrant herbs, etc.

Herbs!

Also, there was like a gazebo every 10 feet in there. My favorite one was this narrow, iron gazebo that was way up high, and you used a spiral staircase to get up there. It looked like if Edward Gorey had a gazebo, this would be it.

I'm sorry, that is SO not a good picture.

Anyway, here is the view from the gorey gazebo. I imagine that one out of three couples who get engaged do so at the top of this gazebo.

Why.....yes, Bradford, yes! A thousand times yes!!!!

So, that was my Sunday. After I got home, I started working on a sweater from Fitted Knits for my maw. Her birthday's coming up in....about a month, jesus christ!

This is a really bad picture, and I don't remember what the name of the sweater is, so moving on.....

I also decided I needed a "between projects" kind of big, over-arching project to work on. I mostly decided this because I'm tired of knitting cotton dishrags. I've decided to make the Lizard Ridge blanket from last year's fall Knitty. I love it! It's made out of Noro Kureyon, but you can just buy a skein at a time to make a square at a time. That's the plan, anyway.

I kind of like how it's all waffly before it's blocked.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you in a month! Yaaaaay! This fall is going to be totally awesome, just wait and see.

Love,

Brax