OHIO SANS COMPUTER

One view from a week in Ohio spent without a computer.

Whetstone Prairie, Columbus Ohio

I flew to Ohio last week to visit my daughter, Cindy, and her partner Kristy; Ohio creatures visited include Baby Girl, Tatter Tot and Ella Bella. Mighty Mite was reclusive.

Left the lap top at home. Left the Mac Pro at home. Left Face Book and two blogs at home. And I survived nicely, thank you. A short sabbatical, but one that shall be repeated in order to regain a healthy perspective on time and life.

Just weeds. The Whetstone Prairie is a great place to meander along the paths with or without dogs. The initial objections to this uncultivated patch of public land in Columbus have been quieted by the natural beauty of wild things. There is something about such weeds that speaks sweetly of freedom. 

Got to drive Erika's red 1997 Thunderbird (just 17,000 miles on odometer) down to The Quilt Barn in Athens. One of the planned highlights of the trip for the love of my life, Pam, and her Sarasota quilting buddies was this converted dairy barn now housing antique Amish quilts. The quilters all asked for detailed photos of the quilts.

When I met Pam in Athens, the dairy barn provided work and food for inmates at the state mental institution just up the hill. In some ways things have changed during the past forty years.

The mental health institute has moved, but the mentality in the barn has not changed much: NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED. 

Disappointment, YES. 

Did the proprietors worry that the old patterns would be copied and produced by modern American women? No, I believe the NO PHOTOGRAPHY rule was a warped application of the Graven Image law perpetrated by fearful, capitali$t$.

The poorly photographed and printed book sold in the shop does not begin to show the detailed stitching of these Amish quilts.

Despite these demented NO PHOTO prohibition$, we were rewarded by a sky full of beauty on the way back home to Sarasota. The thunderstorm below appeared to be located around Orlando.

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