Life is funny, I was going to take a quick trip to help my mom with a garage sale as she prepares to move to Colorado to be closer to my sister (it was way too hard for us to keep track of her active 87 year old lifestyle from far away - so now she is going to be near my sister - thank god!) It's not the first garage sale our family has been through - that was back in 1984 - but still lot's of my childhood memories and things from my past. Boxes of notes passed between me and my friends in grade-school, drawings I made in art classes and things I haven't looked at since I left them behind.
Since my mom is downsizing quite a bit she is also getting rid of her umpteenth set of Swedish crystal, pottery sets from her hometown in Sweden made by Nitsjo - our family favorite, we have pots and sets for glogg and just about anything else. You'd have thought we lit the entire house with candles we had so many... even after I made my pick (most of it) there was still a large table full of candles and candle holders - we were giving them away at the end of the sale! Copper pots and cooking utensils, my dads tools and I could just go on. So in the end what I thought I was going to ship back to myself in Rhode Island, I packed a SUV rental full of these memories and useful items and drove them back to Rhode Island. Some items will be on my 'Flea Market' in the shop coming up soon here when I get the time to go through it all.
It was a trip down memory lane, I am lucky my mom has her head on straight and she was totally ready to just let it go and live smaller. I on the other hand still want to hold onto every detail of my youth and each piece I touched brought back a delightful memory of our childhood. It's not that I want to hang onto it, I want to share with my kids how delightful and full of love each piece is and the story that it all brings together. I'm well aware that things were not perfect, but we tend to dwell on how perfect it was not and forget that there really was so much that was... perfect. Remember those trolls, we got them in a Scandinavian gift shop "up North" near our cabin in Garrison, MN on Lake Mille Lacs a log cabin in the middle of nowhere... she still had them! I was happy to find so many things I had forgot about and my mom and I laughed together about all of the 'stuff' and how my husband was going to kill me when I got home with it all packed up in the car.
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| I saw a lot of this... open fields |
The trip took me 21 hours in total, I stopped at midnight and woke up at 8am to get back into the car and drive some more! So there was not a lot of sightseeing but I am here to say that Minnesota and Wisconsin are beautiful! I had an eyeful of lush and green, farms, deer, cows and even buffalo. Nothing against it but I don't think I need to get to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio anytime soon although I follow a couple of people from Ohio on Instagram and I know it's an interesting place! New York State is where it got pretty again and I knew the only 'stop' that I wanted to make was in Albany, NY at the Empire Plaza and that did not let me down! Since I have been home I have been talking about it and I have not met a single person who knew about this plaza, it's the most peaceful, beautiful place I have seen since we used to lay in the middle of the World Trade center, on the benches surrounding the fountain and just bask in the silence. The Empire Plaza has that same stillness just like being in a different time. The sheer size is just a boggle to the mind, it's GIANT the towers are so large and cantilever in a way that makes them balletic.
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| Empire Plaza in Albany |
I will be taking the family back to Albany and the Empire Plaza, I can't imagine NOT having them see it - it's a natural feeling/man-made wonder. On the same vein as Brasilia... I think the trip would be to Albany, then Herkimer to look for gems and do some camping and then down to Hudson again. There is something peaceful about taking a road trip alone, I completely enjoyed it. I got the new Krista Tippet book 'Becoming Wise' on tape and listened to that much of the way - fantastic book! (another blogs worth) - there was something I loved about driving across the country and listening to her voice much of the time that just made me feel Wise and Peaceful!
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| a truck full of onions |
Thank you Enterprise Car Rental for offering such a reasonable rate to pick up and drop off in another location. It's nice to know that there is a company out there that can fathom the 'road trip' and facilitate a trip like that and encourage people to get out there and see our great country.
Follow me on Instagram where you will see more photos and more stories of my travels and the shop - at nonchalantmom
