“Right now, because of the time of year, gardening is my
main hobby. I’ve never owned a lawnmower; I just have
flowers, flowers, flower, flowers. It’s like a quilt,
very precise.”
[pets]
Two cats, Yum Yum, 20 (from the
Mikado) and
Muldoon, 11
[last book read]
Cinnamon by Walter Mosley – “I love his work.”
[on the good earth]
Sandy Woolard has always had a connection to the
earth and even in her urban neighborhood of Harrison West with a
modest yard typical of most houses in the area, she has managed
to create her own Eden. “My family has always been big
gardeners. My mom and dad had a vegetable garden,” she says.
Sandy calls her pentant for gardening instinctive. And she honed
her skills by taking a lot of glasses at The Ohio State
University, eventually earning a degree in horticulture. “The
more I learned about it, the more I loved it.”
“The most interesting class was the
basic beginning course, but you have to identify 100 weeds by
their leaves and their seed, and before I took that class, I
would go driving down a road, and I just saw expansive greenery
but after that class, the leaf shapes just popped out at me.”
[on expanding the mind]
Sandy says her experience in academics changed
her life. Bored with her job in Newark, she though changing
locations would cure her ennui. “I ended up feeling like I had
to get an education. I quit my job of 11 years and worked on a
degree at
OSU. I believe in education. I believe it can change the
world,” she says.
Not your typical student, Sandy
says she was older when she started college. “I lived up on
Northwood Avenue for a year in a rooming house. I was like the
den mother because I was older than everybody.”
She changed her degree many times before
choosing horticulture. “I loved the way education opened my
eyes. And with each new course I felt like my eyes were opened
even wider,” she says. “So I graduated with like 4000 hours,”
she laughs. “Okay I am exaggerating a bit.”
[on 2.5 kids, a dog, a station wagon and
moving to Harrison West]
When Sandy decided to
take the plunge and buy a house, she carefully thought about
where she wanted to be. “I was, of course single and I did not
want to move out to the suburbs where everyone was married with
2.5 kids, a dog and a station wagon,” she says. “I thought, ‘I
won’t relate to my neighbors at all.’”
It was the early 80s and
for the first time since the high interest rates during the
Carter years, the state of Ohio, had very low interest rates for
homeowners. Sandy started looking in Victorian Village and the
Harrison West area and found a good deal on a brand new MI home.
“Nowhere else could you buy an MI home and 23 years later it has
quadrupled in value. That’s what has happened to me,” she says.
Sandy enjoys the
business of her neighborhood. “Everyone is building, building,
building. I love when I walk around in the summer time the way
people are painting and adding on. It’s very active area."
[on faces, places, and getting
involved]
Even though she studied
horticulture at
OSU, Sandy has been in sales most of her life. “I love to
interact with people. I don’t like a job where you’re tied to a
desk. So I’ve transferred through several different types of
sales.”
Her experience in
sales introduced her to many people she still knows and
interacts with.
In the mid 90s, Sandy
worked for the city’s visitor’s guide selling coop ads in the
Short North. “I got to know all the people. A lot of them are
still there,” she says. “I mean it was just like it was my own
little town. They knew me and I knew them. I really like that.
That’s what I really like about the
Short
North. A lot of that still exists.”
She strongly supports
the businesses in her area. “I don’t know when I have been in
Macy’s or any big department store because I shop mostly right
here in this area.”
One of her favorite
shops in the nearby
Short North
is Loot.
“The lady who runs it, she and her daughters are just delightful
people, they remember you and I like that.”
[on neighbors in sync and Doo Dah insanity]
Recently Sandy decided to get back into selling
real estate so she can work close to home. With a little more
spare time, she gets involved in upcoming events.
“I’m helping with the
publicity for Victorian Village’s Tour of homes,” she says. And
she is helping out with preparations for the much anticipated
Doo Dah parade. “I helped make the t-shirts for that.” It is
her first year volunteering for Doo Dah duty and she says it has
certainly been fun. “They are a bunch of nuts,” she laughs. “…an
absolute bunch of nuts.”
Sandy looks around at
her neighbors and points out how much pride everyone takes in
their homes. “The section of Harrison West where I live is very
close knit. It’s not competitive, but everyone works in their
yard,” she says. The greenery in the yards is amazing.”
Just recently, one of
the neighbors, who is originally from Maryland, had a clam bake.
“Every year he goes to Maryland and comes back with barrels of
clams that he and his family catch,” Sandy says. Neighbors
gather to partake in the fresh seafood fest. “And coming up in
July the neighborhood has a big picnic.”
Sandy looks forward to
enjoying a summer outdoors in the garden and out and about in
the community participating in the plethora of ongoing events in
and around the neighborhood.
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