I wonder how other people vacation

Vacation is a time when you’re out of your routine.  You act a bit different, maybe.  Not how you’d act at home.  Some people try new things.  Others relax into old things.  Kids push the limits and bend the rules.   

I am glad that I’m part of a family that talks about how we’re feeling.  It might take us an hour or two of very icy silence, but it comes up and we deal with it.  Disappointments.  Needs not being satisfied.  Upset. 

And, then we start over again and enjoy another part of the day.

Sydney “had to” curry and saddle all but one of the horses yesterday.  She even had time to “french braid” her horses mane.  She and Rob rode.  I quilted.  I think we were all in heaven. 

They came back to the cabin and showered and changed and we headed to Berryville, AR.

WE FOUND AN OLD FASHIONED CAFE FOR LUNCH.  Yes, I put that in capital letters.  If you live in a small town that still has a “meatloaf on Wednesday, Fried chicken on Thursday” menu, then you are lucky. 

The old fashioned cafe’s on the square are something we don’t get in the city and one of the things I miss.  This one was good.  Monday was “ham dinner with mashed potatoes, your choice of brown, white, or chicken gravy and peas or slaw”.  That was the special and it was so salty my tongue swelled up.  But, it was wonderful for a treat.

Then, we stopped at all the antique and thrift shops that were open downtown.  Some were closed on Mondays and we may go back.  Not sure.  I picked up a few things.

One thing I picked up was this. 

I’m not going to tell you how much I paid for it.  Because I am ashamed.  It was too much.  And, before I got to the truck, I knew it was too much.  I knew it was too much as soon as I got it in my hands, which the lady was careful not to let happen before I paid for it.  I have been studying them for a while because most toy machines are chain stitch and this one is lock stitch.  I almost cried when we got back to the cabin and I opened the battery compartment and a spring fell out.  Great.  Something new to work on.  I could have gotten one in the box, with the instructions, and a child’s sewing kit to boot, including shipping, for what I paid for this.  It’s like my brain shut down.  And, if you’ve ever shopped for antiques, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about and may even have something tucked away that was too expensive to toss away and too horrible to let anyone see.  Anyway, it reminded me of how careful I need to be in my bargaining and shopping and it wasn’t enough over spent to actually be worth all this complaining about it.  

This was the only shop that really had many quilts to show. 

That cathedral window?  I think it was like thirteen hundred dollars.  The others were more reasonable, but still in the hundreds.  She also had cut fabric.  Fifty cents for a fat quarter, buy 12, get one free and 2.50 a yard for everything else.  You picked as many non FQ pieces as you wanted, in whatever cuts they were in and she added that up and charged 2.50 for the total number of yards.  

One of her bins of FQ’s was batiks.  That’s when I knew poor Rob and Sydney were going to be waiting a while.

After that, we went to the Cavern and it was a 20 minute wait and $15 each and I kept asking Rob if that’s what we really wanted to do and we ended up not.

And, then we got back to the cabin and went for a swim. 

And, after that, we went to Angler’s for fried seafood dinner.  Sydney got to pick and she picked fish.  So, we had another salty meal. 

After that, we watched a Tyler Perry play on video that Sydney hadn’t seen (Family Reunion, the stage play, not the movie) and played Scrabble.  Bed was a welcome end to the day and I slept like a rock until my phone started beeping to tell me the battery was dead.  At 3:30.  Okay, at 3:30 am, you have my absolute permission to power off without alerting me. 

Have a great day before Independence Day.  We got the news that it is so dry here that they’ve cancelled all the fireworks displays and everything we were going to attend tomorrow night.  Life is like that, eh?  But don’t call it climate change.

Anyway, there’s my negative thought for the day.  I’m off to the lodge to post this and then back here for a bit of quilting and we’re going to the lake.  To the beach.  Taking the dogs. 

Everybody’s having a good time.  Wish you were here.  Wish I could put a quilt retreat together here.  Wouldn’t that be fun.  Rent the whole mountain for a weekend?

Lane