First, a little somethin' to spice up your Sunday afternooon, courtesy of the Great Geauga Antique Fair. Mark said that the only thing that could make this photo better is if he was standing next to them. So try and picture it for him.
Yesterday, we once again traveled to Burton, Ohio, home of antiques, Amish and pecan chicken salads. We've been making this trip twice a year for a least six years running, so it's an event that we look forward to in a big way. Unfortunately, the last couple of visits have proven that there isn't much to look forward to any longer.
The change became noticeable during our last visit in September 2007. The amount of vendors and quality of antiques has declined quite a bit, and we came away from the trip pretty much empty handed. Yesterday's visit was even worse. It used to take us approximately two hours to see everything, but this time, we were finished in a half and hour. We probably would have left then, but I was determined to find something. The best I could do was this Pyrex bowl for $5:
Afterwards, we headed over to Belle's to have pecan chicken salad with the homemade muffin. What kind of muffins would we get this time, I wondered. Chocolate chip? Corn? Banana nut? The answer: None of the above. Our salads didn't come with any muffins. I was devastated.
The last blow came when we found out the town's homemade ice cream shop, The Burton Fox Inn, had closed its doors. I always looked forward to eating one of the cones during the trip home. Never again.
In sum, our trip was extremely disappointing. Mark declared that we're not going back again, but we'll wait until September's show to make the final call. The salad is still darn good. Some other notable things seen and heard yesterday:
--As we were driving through Amish farmland, Herbie the Love Bug whizzed passed us.
--Much to Mark's discomfort, we heard David Cook's single "Time of My Life" twice during the trip.
--I missed out on the shot that surely would've have gotten me published in Life magazine (If it still existed - speaking of change). We saw two little blonde Amish girls, one slightly taller than the other, dressed identically in turquoise dresses and white bonnets standing side by side looking down at a new born foal and it's mother. I've seen few things in life that were more perfect.
My story above is only one example of how things I like seem to close / be discontinued / fade away. Another smaller example has to do with scrapbooking. The standard scrapbooking size is 12 x 12. All patterned paper comes in this size, although many people scrap smaller. I've always prefered 8 1/2 x 11 (letter size), because you can feed the sheets through the printer.
My favorite cardstock is made by a company called Die Cuts With a View. Every season, they release a stack of many colors that is exclusive to Joann's. And every season, I would buy the 8 1/2 x 11 version. It was a cheap, easy way to amass a lot of cardstock in many colors.
Much to my dismay, last Christmas DCWV didn't release an 8 1/2 X 11 version, only 12 x 12 and 8 X 8. Spring came, and again, nothing. Yes, you guessed it - I was devastated.
Last evening, I went to Joann's because I needed a square hand punch for a project (Which, of course, they didn't have). I practically wept with joy when I saw this:
My beloved 8 1/2 x 11 stack was back. Maybe there is hope for this world afterall.
P.S. I forgot to mention that the photos in this entry are courtesy of my little Nikon Coolpix S210 that was given to me by my sweet husband as an early birthday gift. Now I can take photos on the road without lugging around my SLR. Hooray!
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