Take a Memo: Pencils Are Everywhere!

A couple weeks ago, I had a bit of cabin fever.  Even though the winter's been pretty mild by Ohio standards this year, I just needed to get out and I wasn't in the mood to browse around in an antique store.  So I called up my buddy Jim, who I ride motorcycles with during warmer times, and we decided to head over to the Ohio State Fairgrounds to visit the RV and Boat Show they have every year.

Janet's instructions were crystal clear as I left:  "Don't buy a boat."

We arrived right when the show opened, or rather, when the ad said the show was supposed to open.  Turned out that while the ads said the show opened at 11 a.m. on Sunday, it actually didn't start until noon.  So there we were, faced with a quandry.  It costs five bucks to park a the fairgrounds, with no in and out privileges.  Off in the distance, we could see the soft glow of golden arches, but neither one of us felt like making the long, brisk walk for food we didn't really want to eat. 

I suggested that we see what was going on in the other buildings, because it is really rare that there is only one event at the entire fairgrounds.  Just on the other side of 17th Avenue, it looked like there were a lot of cars clustered around one of the buildings, so we decided to head over and see what was going on.

There we encountered the Columbus, Ohio Paper, Postcard and Book Show, which is held but twice a year.  With an hour to kill, we decided to pay the admission price and poke around a bit.  The show was really interesting -- if it's printed on paper, it's probably there somewhere.  My friend Jim, a former Marine, found plenty of military items to keep him interested, and we both found quite a few vintage postcards of Newark and the surrounding areas. 

And of course, where there's paper, there's bound to be . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company