Out and about

It's coffee shop knitting that isn't at Starbucks! I had about ninety minutes between the end of the work day and the start time of 2 Days in Paris, so I bought a coffee at Stauf's and sat outside to knit. We've had wonderful fall-like weather this week, but I've been indoors most of the time. Fresh air and knitting solitude was the right prescription for easing into the weekend after a stress-filled first week of classes.

There was a steady hum of traffic, both pedestrian and vehicle, on Grandview Avenue. A conversation about bicycles and the smell of a passer-by's cigarette caught my attention, but otherwise the goings-on faded into the background as I worked on the scarf.

I'm going to consider this the unofficial first entry in what I hope to make a recurring feature. Periodically I'll write about and share photos of local sights whether remarkable or not. Actually, the more commonplace, the better. If I'm trying to convey what everyday life is like here, the ordinary spots will provide a more accurate reflection than the landmarks.

I saw something similar on another blog some time ago, and I've been thinking about doing it since Donna asked me what Ohio is like. This state is the only one I've called home, so you'd think that would have been an easy question for me to answer. It wasn't and still isn't. Since many of you don't live here, I thought it would be fun to give you some glimpses of the area while I attempt to approach the city with fresh eyes. Many pictures I took in Arkansas were of things locals would see day in and day out, so I'll try to do the same at my home. I encourage you to play along on your blogs every now and then too.

These pictures are from my vantage point outside Stauf's. The photos aren't very exciting--like I said, it's an unofficial start--but perhaps something in them will catch your eye.

Unexciting sounded good to me after too many close calls on the roads. A busted skid was scattered in my lane on the interstate. I was fortunate to be able to get over and avoid it. I had a speed demon driving up my tail pipe in the morning and nearly got sideswiped on the way home tonight.

That was an eventful return trip as I also had a semi in front of me pulling onto the highway shoulder, possibly from a blowout, and needed to jam on the brakes when traffic on the four lane road near my place came to an unforeseen halt. Did my car have a target on it? In a nifty bit of timing, this was also the day I needed to pay my car insurance. The payment was made. I had no accidents. Still, there were too many near misses for me for one day.