You can take the girl out of Ohio …

But you can’t take the Ohio out of the girl.

Things I enjoy non-ironically:

Country music, including but not limited to Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, maybe a little Garth Brooks if I’m feeling populist, Merle Haggard and, you know, Willie, Waylon, Kris, Johnny and the rest
Quilts, making of
Quilts, snuggling under
Town fairs, pumpkin patches, and festivals involving produce or Amish activity
Gingham
Beer in cans
Buying beer, in cans, at a gas station
Bonfires
Farmland, pastoral beauty of
Wicker
Sun tea
gently criticizing Michigan drivers for sucking so hard
Monopoly
Getting stuck in traffic behind a tractor

It’s almost September, and I can tell because my bones feel kind of achey and small-towny.

August 25, 2006 | Filed Under blather

Comments

12 Responses to “You can take the girl out of Ohio …”

katie on August 25th, 2006 9:47 pm

haha I was hardcore lurking right now and then you updated so FIRST COMMENT.
ohio is cool. I’m gunna drive soon so I’ll be able to complain about crappy michigan drivers.
LetterB on August 25th, 2006 10:10 pm

Michigan? Try the Kentucky drivers. Signed, Cincinnati teen.
Malnurtured Snay on August 25th, 2006 11:00 pm

Selling beer (in cans or bottles) at gas stations (which they also do on the Eastern Shore, at least in Salisbury and Princess Anne) just strikes me as a really bad idea. Y’know. The whole drunk driving thing. Sends a message.
jess on August 25th, 2006 11:42 pm

I’m off to the cobble hill fair tomorrow. We’ve entered our rooster, our dog, posters, and bicycles in the parade. I can hardly wait!
platypotamus on August 25th, 2006 11:51 pm

damn… no Hank, no Hank III? you’re missing out on all the good country.
maryann on August 26th, 2006 1:58 am

i’m suthurn rural gal, and i can say amen to numbers 3, 9, 11, 13 and 14.

i hope to procure #2 from my great aunt, who’s a quilter from way back when.

however, i can’t really get in on #1. i dibble and dabble, but i’d be a poseur if i said that i’m a country lover. my old editor from a college internship gave me a merl haggard cd as a going away present years ago … it’s still sitting, shrink-wrapped, on my shelf.
candace on August 26th, 2006 10:00 am

Come visit me, then! I’ll give you all the Ohio you could stand right about now!
victoria on August 26th, 2006 10:08 am

you know the time i saw dolly and kenny in concert together is one of my fondest childhood memories. based on this post, i think you’d be mighty happy in texas too. except it is hot always.
mothergoosemouse on August 26th, 2006 6:23 pm

Where in Ohio? I think you’ve told me, but I’ve forgotten. All that gas station beer.
kristalyn on August 27th, 2006 12:22 pm

I’m having hardcore Ohio cravings right now too! My mom just told me it was in the 50s last night and she had to bust out a sweater while they sat on the porch, I’m dreaming of pumpkin patches, hot apple cider, football games and indian corn… I wish we had something even remotely close to fall down here, but uh, we don’t. It’ll be hot until December basically.
wordgirl on August 28th, 2006 10:42 am

Porch swings. Mom & Pop lakeside groceries with slab floors and metal coolers of iced-down coke.
supa on August 29th, 2006 10:50 am

You guys are awesome.

I, on the other hand, suck because I haven’t been able to fully reply to your comments yet.

Here’s a quick go:

K - Awesome. Hope you get your license soon so you can join us in complaining about Michigan Drivers (or Kentucky Drivers if you head down south, like Letter B, who made me laugh with her comment)

MS - There are few places in Ohio where you *can’t* buy beer. The whole state is sending a message, and that message is “We’re so damn boring that you need some fermented libations to see you through.” It’s not a good message, I agree.

J - Fair! Awesome! And i saw from your blog that y’all made off with some trophies! Sweet.

P - We own one Hank III song. I’m not sure how that state of events came to be. Saddening, really

MA - Ironically, I did not come to love country music until I moved to B-more and had been married to my husband for a while, so that though it reminds me of Ohio it’s not because I grew up listening to it.

I grew up listening to Elton John, instead.

C - I would love to come visit you.

V - I would love to come visit you, too. And that concert would make me wet my pants with happiness.

MGM - Northwest.

K - I think we need a reunion. And hot damn I wish it would be fall already.

WG - Oh totally. Lakeside anything, really.