Tuesday...Road Trip

After a rainy night, we awoke to a cloudy, cool day, which was fine for a trip south to the capital city, where I was scheduled to meet a 2 p.m. appointment with my dental surgeon. Since we had to be in the capital city anyway, we decided to make it a play day, as well, and left home around 8 a.m. in order to arrive at one of the museums when it opened.







The drive down was very pleasant. On the way we enjoyed the hills dotted with trees tinged in autumn colors and adorned with cotton ball puffs of fog. In a field, a white egret gracefully took wing, and a pair of wild turkeys hunted for food in someone's yard.





An audiobook on CDs...Sidney Shelton's "Are You Afraid of the Dark"... kept us entertained as we rode.




At the first museum, we toured four exhibits, including one displaying toys of yesteryear, which included many that we or our children played with, like Tiddledy Winks, toy soldiers, dolls, and rocking horses. It's said that rocking horses have been around since Egyptian times. The wooden one on display dates back to the 19th century.




Information at this exhibit stated that there has never been a child who did not have toys. This is so because even impoverished children manage to make toys from whatever is at hand. The doll exhibit, for instance, showed examples ranging from those made of rags and corn cobs, to finer ceramic and bisque ones.




Another exhibit features original music manuscripts, including penciled editing, of such great composers as George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim.




One of the other two exhibits centered on seating furniture...popular couch and chair styles over the years, while an upstairs exhibit featured two diverse artists, one working in Chinese ink and mixed media, the other using items like window frames, screening, and old metal signs to make statements.




By the time we'd toured these exhibits, it was time for lunch. So we drove a couple of blocks to a bookstore/art gallery/cafe combination, where we ordered sandwiches and soup. Mother and I opted for turkey club sandwiches on sourdough bread, and Hubbie got ham and Swiss cheese on sourdough bread. I ordered a small bowl of tomato Florentine soup (meaning it had spinach in it), which was delicious. Mother and Hubbie sampled it and liked it, too.




This unique business is fun to visit. The first floor of the business houses not only the small cafe, but a collection of books discarded from the adjacent public library that are for sale at very reasonable prices. The book collection is big enough that there are several shelves of them in the basement level, too. Also for sale are older issues gardening and birding magazines, and music CDs, along with other, new, gift items. I bought two "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books..."Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul," and "Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul." I'll add these to several other Chicken Soup books I've collected, including "..for the Dog and Cat Lover's Soul," ...for the Golden Soul," ...for the Writer's Soul,"..."for the Lover's Soul," and..."for the Scrapbooker's Soul."




After lunch, we visited the two upper levels. One level exhibited the works of children around the states...ages ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade. I just love looking at children's art. Kids are so uninhibited and free in their expression. There were some quite remarkable examples in this exhibit.




The other level featured handmade jewelry and pottery, some of which was exquisite but very expensive.




From this exhibit, we traveled to the other side of the city for my dental appointment. All was well with my teeth, so I wasn't there very long. In giving my hygienist the information about my heart episode, though, I learned that both he and the dentist have also had stent implant procedures. The hygienist suffered from a blood clot that caused his attack. He had classic symptoms of shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, and a pain in his left arm that "felt like it was in a vise," he said.




Before coming home yesterday afternoon, we stopped by a discount warehouse store to pick up groceries and incidentals. When I'm in the area of that store, I like to load up on fruits...today, we got plums, apples, two varieties of grapes, and bananas, as well as a large container of grape tomatoes (I love them). Among other things, I also picked up a package of three ink jet cartridges, in anticipation of the price going up on them in these hard economic times.




We were on the road back home by 4 p.m. On the way, nature provided another spectacular view...a gorgeous rainbow arced across the sky against the clouds. It has been a long time since we've seen a full rainbow like that.




For supper tonight, we had leftover vegetable-pasta soup and bran muffins. Later, Hubbie and I ended the evening watching the presidential election debate.