Lovely day to see the sites in Amish Country...

My neighbor Toni and I left at 8:30 this morning - and it was truly a beautiful day to head to Sugarcreek, Walnut Creek, and Berlin, Ohio. The trip up is approximately 1 1/2 hours - but the countryside is gorgeous. The farms, the decorated homes are all just great to see. The closer you get to Sugarcreek, you might see the buggies and beautifully maintained farms.



We managed to trudge through quite a few shops and garnered some interesting trinkets we cannot get here at home. I was particularly looking for lace mantel scarves...which are practically unheard of in this area. I do not have any fireplaces or mantels, but I LOVE shelves and have 2 - 5 foot shelves where I display either my snowman or Santa collections. So our first stop was at Broad Run, which has a tremendous selection of lace curtains, table scarves, runners and MANTEL scarves. I found a beautifully designed "heirloom" scarf and will have it on the shelf probably after Halloween (I have a black lace - with spiders scarf). Thegrandson was less than impressed with that purchase.

Skeleton keys are a big thing now and I found one large and one medium key tied together with ribbon that look great hanging from the peg on one of my shelves. The largest place we went was the Holmes County Flea Market, which is two stories of various vendors and merchandise. One has to be prepared to do a lot of walking to see it all. I found a gorgeous heart shaped wreath of orange and gold berries for the front door. We definitely saw a large quantity of the same or similar merchandise at most of the places - but the best part is - it is not here at home!

Most of our shopping was done after a great lunch of homemade cooking (the name will come to me - but a family style Amish restaurant.) Not the Der Dutchman - you know - the other one...hahaha!

Our trip ended when I limped in the door at 6:30 pm. My back, legs and all body parts are crying out in pain - but it was all worth the fun!

Watching the Political Forum on CNN now, so I may be heading to bed quite soon. More later...g'night!

Everyone just GROW UP...

I have said it before, this election for our next administration has gone on way too long. Almost 2 years, if not longer, is definitely dragging things out. But now we get into the mud and childish claims.

The McCain/Palin ticket has been traversing the Midwest and the speeches ARE THE SAME! Palin is so repetitious we can all recite her lines verbatim. McCain does not shoot well from the hip, therefore, his remarks are always the same. He introduces the issues and goes no further. We need substance and details, not rhetoric.

This latest "lipstick" issue is a little overboard for me. The remark was taken out of context by the McCain people (see the ENTIRE video) and those who missed the speech, have no idea that he was referring to the failed policies of the Bush Administration. McCain made a speech May 2, 2008, and in referencing "Hillary's failed health care plan", he directly used the same remark. Now that was a more personal attack, since he had implicitly referred to Mrs. Clinton. But that is neither here nor there, I see no hostile insult in the statement at all. One must also know that Torie Clarke, a former McCain adviser, wrote a book called "Lipstick on a Pig: Winning the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game."

The McCain team is flooding the airwaves, through all media, that they demand an apology - as this was directed at Palin. C'mon - get a grip! Act like mature thinking adults and get on to business. Issues and facts need to be addressed - but as we can see - this election is turning into a game of personalities. Again, as I said before, Sarah Palin better grow thicker skin - she chose to play with the big dogs, she better be able to fight with them too. No whining or hiding behind McCain's media advisers.

Wow - 2 6.0+ earthquakes today - wonder if all those atoms or protons colliding did a little damage. (Can you tell I'm not a scientist?)

I'm taking a break tomorrow - my neighbor and I are going to Amish country for a little shopping. I can't really afford it, but may see something neat and interesting. I haven't been there since I last went with my late best friend Jean. Thedaughter has 2 days off in a row, so I am taking advantage of the time.

Everyone play nice - and I will be back - maybe sooner than later - one never knows! TTFN!