Apple Butter Festival

Ohio comings and goings......

The past couple of years I have been trying to concentrate on Ohio sight seeing, such as the giant ears of corn in dublin last Christmas, the Train Museum in Worthington a couple of weeks ago, and the Italian Festival last weekend. Today it was the Apple Butter festival sans Mark.  As you get older, our parents take more and more of our time requiring simple tasks to be done, just the nature of the beast.  So this weekend Mark had to head into Steubenville to help his mom with cleaning and simply visiting, and I headed to the festival with neighbors Kelly and Rob, better known simply as THE ROBS.

Childhood comes back as fresh slices of bread with a heaping of applebutter poured on is inhaled, listening to bluegrass music and realizing that over 150 years ago, my great-great-great grandfather became the first mayor of Groveport (location of festival) and he may have walked where I was sitting enjoying my day.  In fact, I can guarantee it.

Below are pictures of the festival.  Didn't take a lot, but oh well.  Little irritated that I forgot my selfie stick after I had asked and asked for it for my birthday!

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart" William Wordsworth

Life hack

I have become hooked on Tiphero.com! Need a recipe for ground beef? Tiphero!  Need a reminder on how to make meatloaf balls?  Tiphero! Need a solution for an all natural oven cleaner? Tiphero!  So, I was perusing one day and landed on a stream of life hacks and it caught my attention.  Did you know that you can use a paper clip on a zipper that keeps wandering south?  I was so excited to learn this because it just so happens that I have a pair of "not jeans" jeans and the zipper is on its last leg.  Every time I bend over, it slides down (belly and belly belly get in the way). SSoooooo, yesterday I chose a pretty green paper clip from my desk drawer at work, slid it into the hole on my zipper and hooked it over the button on my not jean jeans.  I had been feeling rather smug all day.  No need to change out the zipper and I don't need to trash the not jeans either. All was as it should be until the two diuretics kicked in....but no problem, I just unhooked everything and did my business.  All was well until I went to pull the zipper back up.  Do you know what it feels like to have your hoochie coochie stab by a paper clip?  It freaking hurts, let me tell you. Oh, for fashion's sake, don't tuck your shirt in, and make certain it covers the paper clip.

Not jeans jeans

Running Bucket list

When one hits 50ish, you realize that you really don't have that much longer on earth. It's unsettling to know that most of your life has passed.  At the very least, only 1/2 of your life has passed, but at most 2/3 of it has just gone....  Yes, I know, we don't know when the end will be here, but I'm going by averages: neither of my parents got out of their 70s, so  I want to squeeze as much into this life as I can.  So many things I want to see, taste, and try that there are times when I panic just a little thinking all I want to accomplish. Thing is, one's bucket list evolves as you get older.  Some things become less important and others become a must.  Right now, my list seems rather trivial especially for someone in her mid 50s, where is the depth that should be there?  hhhmmmm, oh well, as I drink my flavored water (grape) and I ponder what I shall put on my list, I shrug.....maybe when I grow up, it will have more umph but for right now.....

Running bucket list:

Italy and Germany summer of '19 with Lori and Paul

Napa Valley (but now have to wait for it to bounce back from the fire)

England with Mark

Visit all lower 48 states

Hawaii

Retire by age 63

Get back to Australia

Niagara Falls '18?

Find a profitable home for my Coke machine

Visit Mackinac Island

See the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fl.

Pay off the house in 2035

Visit a real ghost town

Vacation on Bora Bora

Spend the weekend at Gervasi Winery

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Looking out at Bondi Beach, NSW Australia Chuck on lf and Mark on rt.

Mid life, middle class, mid-west = middle lane

What is "life" in the middle lane?  It's being middle class in your mid-life with a touch of crisis.  It's knowing that hopefully in less than ten years, retirement will be what you enjoy, and triple checking all your savings,investments, and other various little ducks so that you can have the one that you want.  I used to chuckle at a friend who was doing that same thing at the age I am now....she has EVERY right to chuckle at me.  NOW, I get it!  It's also realizing that you may have at best 25 years of good life ahead and trying to squeeze everything into life that you have always wanted.  However, I have an insatiable need to travel and explore and unless I knock over a bank, (this is where the middle class comes in) I'm just not certain how I will accomplish all that is on the bucket list.  So hold onto your middle (I sadly have two of those middle guts), and come explore life in the middle lane with Mark, Bastone, and ME!