So I’m back from visiting my parents in their new house in Columbus. They moved to be closer to the rest of the family, and it’s a nice place. The previous owner obviously loved gardening and didn’t skimp, and the yard is really beautiful. I’m sure I’ll be scavenging bits of plants from their yard during future visits, because that’s just how we do things in the Welsh family.
One of the happy side effects of the move is that I’ll probably never have to see a copy of the Cincinnati Enquirer again. Another is their new proximity to a really great comic shop, the Laughing Ogre.
I’ve been visiting siblings in Columbus for ages, but I’ve never explored the local comic shops. I didn’t see Laughing Ogre at one of its peak moments, as they’re in the middle of a remodeling and have confined themselves to about half of their available space in the interim.
But they still seem to have a great selection, even if it’s temporarily reduced, and the staff couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful. They were in the midst of some serious inventory activity, but they still made a point of asking me if I needed help finding anything and answering questions. It was the first of many visits, and I can’t wait to see the place after they restore things to normal.
Plus, by some miracle, I actually managed to remember which books I’d been meaning to pick up and actually found them! (I never have a problem finding things to buy. I just get distracted by sparkly, shiny things and any pre-existing shopping list tends to fly out of my skull through one of the many convenient holes.)
So I came back with a copy of Amy Unbounded (which is delightful and certainly deserved Laughing Ogre guy’s very strong recommendation), Skinwalker, and a copy of the first issue of Or Else.
And there’s a Trader Joe’s right near my parents’ house. And a Whole Foods! (I’m distressed to find that the Whole Foods clientele in Ohio has the same problem as the shoppers at every other Whole Foods I’ve ever visited – running into people with their carts and similarly violating personal space as they talk on their cellular phones. Yes, they sell great challah and have an impressive selection of cheeses and organic produce, but what about the human cost?)