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| Photo courtesy of Courtney Mason Photography |
Eric grew up in a small city in northwest Ohio, went to college at Ohio Northern University for business, and then moved to Columbus to find a job. Currently he works at a law firm, rides his bike to and from work when it's nice, and dreams of starting a business of his own someday.
Lynette grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, went to school at The Ohio State University for special education, found a job and stayed in Columbus. She is a special education teacher, working with children who have moderate and multiple/severe disabilities.
We met in Columbus through mutual friends, and the rest is pretty much history. Fifteen months after dating we were engaged and nine months after that we were married. We both quickly realized that we were a perfect match for each other. Heck, even our dogs matched!
We both knew that we didn't want to live in the city forever. We live in Grandview, which is a nice area in Columbus. It's got a very nice, small town/city feel, but that comes with a price. We were lucky enough to find a cute house full of character to rent that was close to everything, but we knew from the beginning that we 1. probably couldn't afford to buy a house here and 2. wanted more land than what we could find here. Lynette grew up working at a horse barn. She loves horses, and pretty much everything that comes with it (yes, even mucking stalls). Eric always new he wanted some land, but never had any specific plans why. Those plans are now taking hold and ever evolving based on our dreams and goals together.
We hope for this blog to be a place where we can share about our life, our adventures, the things we love, the things that make us upset (hopefully not much of that), and things we learn. One of the big things we'll be talking about is food. We've really started to pay a lot more attention to something we all do 2-3-4-5-6 times a day, and that's eat! We have begun educating ourselves on the food we eat, and what goes into our food. In some cases we have taken steps to produce better (nutritionally, sustainably, and economically) than we can buy. We now make our own butter, bread, and most of our own meals. We've always done a fair amount of cooking, but we are working to be more planned and deliberate about what we make, and what goes in it.
We'll also, on occasion, visit some personal family traditions as well as try to experience the way things "used" to be done. Again, a lot of this will center around food, but even something as simple as doing some of your own repairs, building something instead of buying it, doing something by hand vs. mechanical, etc.
We really hope you enjoy tagging along with us in this journey. It'll hopefully take us from city-folk to country-folk and will most definitely take us to a place of better understanding about the world we live in. We hope this inspires you to eat better, cook more, ask questions, enjoy the simple things, appreciate and experience traditions, hopefully laugh a lot, maybe cry a little, but most of all just have fun in life!
Our companions on this journey are our pets.
From left to right are as follows:
Gracie is a border collie and lab mix. Eric got her in college from a farm with a "free puppy sign" He got her around 5 weeks old in 2002. She's 100% a people lover and loves attention. She also loves food! The things she's eaten will astound you (these aren't all at one time, but different instances): 10 rock hard, stale bagels, half a batch of barely risen cinnamon roll yeast dough that was maybe the size of a volleyball, more trash than a city garbage truck, and basically anything that falls from your hand. She's a great floor cleaner and when necessary can really work you with with her big brown eyes. Sadly Gracie is no longer with us, but will always remain in our memories and with us in spirit. RIP 6/25/02-9/14/11
Webster is a border collie and something (African Wild Dog? Dingo, maybe?) mix. Lynette got him from the Franklin County Dog Shelter when he was 7 months old in 2007. His ears...oh, his ears! I sometimes think he could hear a pin drop on the other side of town with those things! He is completely addicted to tennis balls. If he sees one, his brain goes to a whole other world. Nine out of ten times, he's the fastest dog wherever there is group of dogs. He could run run run, all day long after a ball! Being a former stray, he's come a long way in being comfortable around new people. He warms up quickly once he realizes it's ok for you (as a visitor) to be in the house. We're still amazed at how quickly he has warmed up (sometimes almost instantly as is the case with Eric's Dad) to some people. He's definitely the young energy out of the three!
Cissy is a long haired gray cat with stunning green eyes! Lynette has had her since she was just 4 weeks old, which was in 1997. She's completely and uniquely attached to Lynette. Since we've been together, Cissy has really started to open up and share a lot of her sweetness with Eric. We still have to warn everyone that comes over for the first or even second or third time, not to touch her. She's tricky, that cat. She'll draw you near with those looks of hers and just when you think that she clearly wants you to pet her...WACK! She goes all crazy on you! It took Eric a good year to feel fairly comfortable petting her. Strangely, once we moved into the house, she really started opening up. She stopped hiding all the time when people were over so they actually began to believe that we had a cat. Eric can now pet her AND pick her up almost whenever, but he's still waiting for the day that she will lovingly bite and groom his head, too.
Charlie is the newest addition to the family!
Charlie was born at the barn where Lynette rode, volunteered, and worked throughout high school and college. We were there while her mother, Catfood, was giving birth. The kittens were the first things Eric had seen born. Charlie was the fourth of six kittens born. We picked her out when she was 15 minutes old (Eric suggested it, and Lynette quickly agreed) and brought her home when she was 6 weeks old. She has become a great buddy for Webster and great entertainment through a rough time for us. We love seeing all the silly things her baby brain comes up with. Not coincidentally, she is the reason we have decided that we love our dogs smart and gentle and our cats dumb but sweet. :-)
Charlie is the newest addition to the family!
Charlie was born at the barn where Lynette rode, volunteered, and worked throughout high school and college. We were there while her mother, Catfood, was giving birth. The kittens were the first things Eric had seen born. Charlie was the fourth of six kittens born. We picked her out when she was 15 minutes old (Eric suggested it, and Lynette quickly agreed) and brought her home when she was 6 weeks old. She has become a great buddy for Webster and great entertainment through a rough time for us. We love seeing all the silly things her baby brain comes up with. Not coincidentally, she is the reason we have decided that we love our dogs smart and gentle and our cats dumb but sweet. :-)
That's the crew! Thanks for stopping in, and checking out our blog. We hope you enjoy what you read/see, and feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you think!
-Eric, Lynette, Webster, Cissy, and Charlie!
