I Ran Away

I ran away from home for a few hours Saturday.

Life in the country comes with benefits and inconveniences. One of the benefits is that you’re surrounded by sounds and sights of the forest. One of the inconveniences is that those beautiful trees and their branches sometimes fall and damage power lines.

We’ve had regular wind storms for the last few weeks, causing frequent power outages. We lost power Saturday morning. Then it came back for a while and blew again in the afternoon.

It’s hard to clean, organize or do much of anything in the dark so I sat in a chair near the window to read. And promptly started to fall asleep.

Suddenly, I was irrationally angry to be wasting yet another weekend, sitting in the dark. Hiking wasn’t safe even though I badly wanted to get outside. It was too late in the day to find my way to a city with a museum or something interesting to do. I’m So I messaged my cousin Sherrie and invited her to join me for some treasure hunting and dinner in Athens.

We went to Peddler’s Junction where I found some bargains including this sweet little Dutch Girl, a Madame Alexander doll that is pristine and in her original packaging.

These nesting dolls were a bargain at just $3. I had admired some at a shop in Ligonier, PA two Christmases ago but they were beyond my budget.

Ephemera like these cards are some of my favorite things to collect. These small pieces of art that are easy to display and change out for the season. Plus, storage is easy.

If you look closely at the card on the right, you’ll see feathers on one duck’s tail. The middle piece has a hinging neck while the birthday card on the left has some fun details inside. They just don’t make cards with such care and attention to details today.

Sherrie and I had dinner and hit a couple more stores before calling it a day. Power was restored and life was good again.

Sometimes we need to lean into the obstacles and find ways to work with them. I have spent a lot of time this year happily resting and reading. But sometimes we have to stand up and say “not today” and go look for something else. Yesterday took an unexpectedly fun turn.

I’m glad I shook off the sleep and took charge of my day.

Spread Ideas

Yesterday was sunny and a relatively warm 45 degrees so I seized the opportunity to get some fresh air. My cousin and I met in Athens to walk about five miles on the bike path and through the Ohio University campus.

These banners always catch my eye. “Spread ideas. Not hate.”

Enough said.

It seems a little sad that the world requires a marketing campaign to tell people not to be jerks but it seems this is where we are.

Here’s another one. “Make respect visible.”

It takes so little to be respectful toward yourself and others. Let’s do more of that, shall we?

Ribbet!

Athens, Ohio is a college town full of quirks and culture. Here’s a cute mural from the OU campus. I appreciated the color and whimsy of this unexpected piece of art.

Here’s a close up.

Ribbet!

Rained Out

Last night’s plan was to walk the bike path in Athens with my cousin. Unfortunately, another round of thunderstorms rumbled through the region, dumping buckets of water as colorful lightening streaked across the angry sky.

In short, we didn’t walk. Instead, we put on our walking clothes and went out for Mexican. We had a terrific dinner and a relaxing time catching up. Then we went to the neighborhood big box store “to walk.” This is code for “we looked at plants and hair care products.”

Don’t judge.

The bad news is that today’s plan to show you pictures from the bike path fell through.

It just goes to show that we can plan all we like but there are plenty of obstacles to cause us to slow down or change course – for better or worse.

Did I need the exercise? You betcha. Did I need chips and salsa? Not really.

All the same, it was great fun catching up with another single gal and having someone to laugh with. We should do that more often.

I regret nothing.

Meanwhile, here are pretty flowers to brighten your day.

Happy Thursday, friends. Enjoy!!

Peddler’s Junction

A recent quick trip to Athens afforded me time to stop by the new Peddler’s Junction. This vendor mall opened in the old Elder Beeerman store earlier this month.

They have a nice variety of vendors who sell everything from guitar strings to vintage items to local art. I didn’t buy anything but found some interesting stuff.

These two pieces caught my attention. That’s an early Parkersburg Creamery milk carton and an unusually shaped glass milk bottle from Strongsville, Ohio. I had no earthly reason to own either one so I left them there for a collector to find.

There are a few booths with new decor.

Plus some great vintage stuff like this chair that’s in superb condition.

They do still have some room to grow but already have a nice selection of vendors and I wish them the best. Stop by if you’re in town. Maybe you’ll find a treasure!

Follow them on Facebook by searching Peddler’s Junction Athens.

St. Paul’s Catholic Church

I haven’t forced you to look at any churches or doors for a while. This photo kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The church is St Paul Catholic Church in Athens. In a town with a lot to look at, it’s easily missed even though it is along the beaten path.

The congregation has been around for a long time and was founded by Irish immigrants. There’s even a tie to the communities of Wilkesville and Zaleski which are near to me. They tell the story of that past on their website in case you’re interested in learning more.

It has some gorgeous attention to detail including the doors, stained glass and that small white cross.