Thank heavens after yesterday the weather was gorgeous when we started out around 10:30. It was sunny and breezy, with a brilliant blue sky overhead. Lauren drove past farms laden with pumpkins and sunflowers and trees just starting to turn leaves red, gold, and sunshine yellow. It was a gorgeous day for a drive into upstate New York to check out flea markets.
Our first stop of the day was a large flea market in New Lebanon, just over the board. I've visited this place before with Lauren...and to our disappointment, it wasn't nearly as busy as usual. There were some booths selling mostly junk (and political t-shirts), but not as many, and nothing of interest in the main building. I didn't get anything, but Lauren picked up one of those t-shirts for her dad.
We did better at other sales down the road. A smaller flea market was being held about a block away. Once again, I saw nothing of interest, but Lauren picked up Piglet and vintage M&M Christmas ornaments and a small figure of Daffy Duck dressed as the Easter bunny.
We both did much better at a nearby thrift shop. It was a lot like a smaller, one-floor version of the Barrington Antique Center, lots of items in tiny rooms, but far better-organized. Things were arranged by items in nice shelves, rather than thrown in helter-skelter. The first things we found after the main room were two large shelves of DVDs and CDs and two more of books. I didn't see any books I liked, but I did find Greta Garbo's first comedy Ninotchka and the original Time Life Treasury of Christmas set (with an extra bonus CD). Lauren picked up a pile of country-western and classic CDs for herself and her parents and a cute purple vest for herself.
After leaving the thrift shop, Lauren drove us back into Massachusetts to just outside of the Berkshire Mall. There's a mini-golf course and driving range that she and her family have been playing at since she was a kid. It's a lovely little course, with the usual wooden house and windmill, bear statues, and rotating rainbow paddle traps. We had a great time, not only playing, but watching an adorable little boy and his grandparents playing ahead of us. They were so funny! The boy was so enthusiastic. He reminded me of Keefe when we used to play each other at the long-gone mini golf course next to the ice cream parlor in North Cape May in the 90's.
I won the game, incidentally, but only by two points. It was close. We both had problems on some traps. I hit my ball into a bush on the very first course, and Lauren got hers caught in a small water trap twice on a course
We wandered around in a couple of stores for the next hour or so. Target is pretty much the only thing at the Berkshire Mall that's still open, so we went there next. They were just putting out their Halloween things. Shelves were laden with candy, princess and Avengers costumes, Pillsbury Funfetti cake mixes, and stuffed dinosaurs dressed as vampires. They weren't busy, but we didn't end up buying anything.
Lauren took us back towards the area with the shopping centers we checked out yesterday. This time, we went across the street to a smaller center that features the area's only Game Stop. Lauren looked over PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Switch games, and I looked over Wii, but once again, we walked out with nothing. I just bought a Snickers bar at Big Lots.
The Millers were working on dinner when we rolled in. After we showed them our purchases, Lauren played something on her Nintendo Switch, and I gave Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn a shot on her Nintendo DS. The "extra" are hats that Kirby can grab that will give him special abilities, like use a sword or make yarn balls without grabbing an enemy. I got most of the way through Grass Land before dinner was called.
Dinner was a feast! Mrs. Miller made crispy tuna croquettes with tater tots, rolls, and amazing glazed carrots sauteed in real maple syrup. Lauren had cookie dough ice cream for dessert. I've had tons of ice cream lately and opted for a super-sweet watermelon fruit bar. Mrs. Miller did the same, only hers was peach.
We watched a couple of first season episodes of I Love Lucy while we ate. Lucy goes on "The Diet" when she needs to slim down in order to fit into a size 12 costume and do a dance with Ricky. She does everything possible to lose that weight, from running around the building to eating nothing but celery. It does slim her down, but it also leaves her with no energy. She joins the act anyway, to Ricky's surprise.
I'm not the only one who gets into her mystery novels. "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Kill Her" when he jokes about killing her after she loses her murder novel out the window. She takes his joking seriously, especially after she overhears him talking about what she thinks is a plot to murder her and Ethel reads her cards and claims she's going to die. She does everything she can to hold him off.
She enters "The Quiz Show" in order to win money for household expenses. This radio game show makes female contestants do humiliating things on the air...like claiming another man is your first husband. Not only is Ricky understandably upset, but the stranger Lucy says is her first husband isn't who she thinks he is.
We played games after dinner. I won Roll With It! again by a large margin. Mr. Miller won Uno again, though this time Mrs. Miller and Lauren won rounds as well. (I'm really rusty on that one.) I did manage to win Sorry!. Mr. Miller came in second, followed by Lauren.
Lauren and I are now downstairs, chatting and enjoying skating videos and Match Game on YouTube. We were going to go to the Big E tomorrow, but the weather sounds iffy. We're going to stay inside and go to the Holyoke Mall in Springfield instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment