>>>>

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Of Road Trips and Stormy Days -



Pink Dogwoods in Marion, Virginia!

After our little breakfast club meet and greet on Thursday morning  - and being as I was already “part way” to Marion and wanting to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, and the fact that I was OUT of some groceries and some store somewhere (which is always at least 1/2 hour drive away in any direction) was going to need to be my destination, I trundled on down the road to not-quite-near-by Marion.

I’d heard good things about Marion!  There is an antique mall in Marion!  But they don’t open until 11am, so the groceries were retrieved and while waiting for 11am to roll around I took a stroll around.


Smyth County Courthouse, 1834.


My inner history buff was in high form on this lovely morning!


Walking up Main Street.  Municipal Building.


Old stately homes – large lots.

Spring has definitely arrived!


Holy moly!

This one needs its Christmas decor removed.

Did I mention it’s nearly the end of APRIL!

But what a lovely home -


Oh, what is THIS?!


Marion Junior College, 1873.

A little googling found that Marion College was a Lutheran junior women's college that operated in Marion, Virginia, from 1873 to 1967.


A vintage post card of Marion Junior College.

Really, online information about this college is just about zero.  NOTHING.  But what a beautiful building. 


It now houses the Blue Ridge Job Corp Center.

Oh, if these walls could talk!

By the time I had walked up the street and back it was time for me to go exploring at the antique mall -


Room after room after room!

The upstairs used to be a boarding house!


Holy mother of yoyos!


Too rich for my blood!

But I can say when it comes to yoyos, the smaller they are the more I like them.


Lifted a lid to discover!

It stayed behind – I have one very similar.

Okay, more than one. 


Oooh!  So much to look at!

It was about this time that my phone rang – the contractor for the cabin counter tops on the line letting me know that he was an hour out, and was running EARLY.

And he called me to let me know!!!

This is a different contractor than the thermostat guy from the day before – and a breath of fresh air.  I grabbed up my goodies, paid for my purchases and headed out to meet him.  We were coming from opposite directions but should both reach the cabin at the same time barring any slow-downs.


This, my friends is an Appalachian Traffic Jam!

Double yellow line all the way

No way to pass.

Let’s just breathe and lumber along, shall we?

I did reach the cabin about 10 minutes ahead of counter top guy.  SO excited to have the 20 year old blue Formica GONE.  That should happen in the next several weeks.  He was just here to measure and make templates for sink placement, etc.

After he left – Sadie and I headed over to the Inn to unload the day’s treasures.



After that call it only took 10 minutes to gather up these beauties!

22 fluted luncheon plates – $1.00 each and then 30% off.

How could I not?

They are like a set I remember my Grannie having.

The pressed glass relish dish is shaped like a jalapeno right down to it’s curled stem.  I thought it would be cute by the machine holding notions or something.  I couldn’t leave it behind.  It just called to me.

The oil lamp will be placed in a corner somewhere in the Inn.  The pottery mixing bowl is here at the cabin after finding it too tall to go on top of the kitchen cabinets at the Inn. The little refrigerator dish was also on sale – I have two lids at home needing replacement bottoms.  This was so inexpensive I bought it.  Which means – I STILL have two lids at home needing bottoms.  Oh well!

The milk glass candy dish was just precious. Not sure what’s going in that or where it will land yet, but it made me happy.

And Sadie is looking at me like “More stuff, mom?  Really?”

And while I’ve got you here – I loaded the dishes in the dishwasher at the retreat to clean them before putting away.


IKEA Dishwasher.

I can’t figure it out.


Even with the manual!

I can’t get the blue lights to change from where they are.  I somehow have the sequence wrong.  And I know I have to shut the door within 3 seconds of choosing my options or the machine won’t run.  

Whose big idea is it to make it so you can’t push buttons on the OUTSIDE of a dishwasher after closing?  I’m frustrated with this thing.

If you have this dishwasher, or can tell me how to work it, please leave me instructions in the comments below.  I’ve even searched for a YouTube video, no such luck. 

Yesterday’s storm system was a doozy.  I have never SEEN rain pour like this.

Martha texted just before we were to meet at Toni’s and said “Girls, I think we need to cancel.  We are under Tornado Watch.”  I checked my weather app and sure enough.  Oh my goodness.

I’m glad we begged off, because within 20 minutes the downpour was so fierce I could hardly hear myself think. Click to Play:



Poor Sadie.  She just doesn’t handle storms well.

I put her bed under my sewing table, and turned the music in the studio up louder which helped a bit while I declared yesterday a "Studio Day."  No amount of thunder shirts or calming treats will help her.  She is just old and anxious.  And I don’t want to seriously drug her out.  The best I can do for her is to hold her and sooth her and treat her as gently as possible.

In between downpours we’d go out and examine the yard for debris and give her the opportunity to stretch her legs before the next round started again.


Last night’s round of hand quilting as the rain continued.

This morning I’ve got some evidence of blue sky through remaining clouds.  More rain is expected and we will be out of here and headed home as soon as this posts and I get done around the cabin the “last minute” stuff that happens before leaving.  Easter will be spent at home with Jeff as The Hubster still has one more week in China to go.

Off to Texas on Monday!


Quiltville Quote of the Day.

Vintage tree quilt found in Alabama.

Getting knocked down and turned around in life is a given.

We can choose to pick ourselves back up, turn ourselves right and move forward.

Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!


21 comments:

  1. I have an oil lamp, and had to use it a few weeks ago, when the power went out. I'm glad it had oil in it, and a new wick. We used that oil lamp to find the candles. My dog finally got over storm scares when she went deaf. Now she doesn't hear the storms anymore, and just sleeps thru them. Of course, she also doesn't come when called anymore, either. Oh well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Lady also had a terrible terrible time with storms. Once she went deaf most of that disappeared, but she still could sense somehow that they were coming. The funny thing was that her brother had ZERO reaction to storms! His calming presence never worked on her though!
    I love to see the things you are finding at antique stores; they will really add to the ambiance at the Inn.

    ReplyDelete
  3. we had tornado warning here in frederick, md as well...that NEVER happens in maine!!! and a cute little universal...the first machine i owned was a portable universal that the ex bought for me...

    ReplyDelete
  4. My Mom has a dishwasher similar to that. Owners put it in when her old one went out in duplex. She doesn't use it either as she can't figure it out. I ran it the other day, but have no clue what I did to get it going. Good lucK! What beautiful places you find to see and visit. I can't wait until I can do that type of stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Know you have many many suggestions for calming dogs during storm, but I read this one this morning. Might be worth a try. Rub the dog with a dryer sheet to cut down on static electricity.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not sure on your brand but daughter has a whirlpool brand with the controls on top of door like yours. She had to hit the start button 2 times then close door immediately. It is so quiet you can’t hear it! Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. yes, i have to hit my buttons 2 times also - perhaps that the trick, Bonnie? lol, good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL I spent almost an hour trying to figure out how to use the buttonhole attachment on my electronic machine last night. It ended up a Duhhh moment! All the instructions were there, just not registering until I re-read the instructions a 100 times. RE the dishwasher: I would assume that you would have to clear the control lock before you can change anything. Hard to tell what it says under the words control lock, but one looks like "clear". Are you missing the top part of the button between that light and the cancel button? Maybe that is why it won't change, as it can't "read" your request. When all else fails, call the customer service number for help. Hope your's is easier than mine was!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Bonnie, I recently stayed a month in a condo with a spqaning new dishwasher similar to yours. It was a Samsung and took me forever to "almost" figure it out. I finally was able to find a similar one on Youtube (Samsung Bosch) and was able to use it. If yours works the way mine did, hit cancel, then gently tap the type load you'd like to use. I stuck to Normal Load, then touched Sanitzie, and didn't bother with Safety Locking and it started. Good luck....L)

    ReplyDelete
  10. aww poor sadie, please look on youtube for relaxation music for dogs.. tons of music that really helped ours.. i hope this helps

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks to me as though the "control lock" is engaged (light is lit). When that is engaged all of the buttons are disabled. It is intended to stop unintended use of the dishwasher, what ever that means. Can the control lock be disengaged to allow you to use the other buttons on the control panel?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Poor Sadie. My late Zena, had the same problem, we tried everything and really not much helped. The only thing that helped a little, was to put cotton balls in her ears, turn up the TV or music loud and if it was nighttime, turn on the outside lights and the inside lights, so she couldn't see the lighting. As she got older, she lost her hearing and it was much better.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh , my goodness. We moved to a home with a newer dish washer and sometimes I can't get it to work, and sometimes, when it does work, after a load I can not get it to quit beeping! My husband unplugs it, cause he can't stand the beeping, and sometimes it works ok after I plug it back in. It is a Maytag. It has the controls on the top of the door like yours. Soo frustrating!

    ReplyDelete
  14. You must have had the storms that we had earlier. We also had a tornado watch, warning, etc. What a mess.
    Love your knew dishes - especially the dish you described as a jalapeno. I have some just like that that my grandmother gave me. She received those from her aunt after she married my grandpa. They sure hold up well! We use them at Christmas and Easter. Look closely - ours has a small Star of David on the bottom.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have a similar dishwasher and I have to hold the cancel button down for three seconds before it will let me cycle through the wash options. Then I hit cancel again to start. Crazy I know. 😛
    June

    ReplyDelete
  16. You pack more living in a day than I do in a week. You are amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. My dishwasher is not IKEA, but looks similar to yours..... is there a reset button or cancel? Push those and then try to push the selections you want. Hope that helps. You might even press more than once.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My son has a Bosch with controls like that and I couldn't get it to go. I finally figured out that it HAD to have rinse aid in it's little cup in order to work. Since I didn't have any I poured water in it and it started-----smart machine not so smart! Happy Easter to everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh do so love the little square dish - I wonder what it used to hold - sweets or trinkets?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Bonnie, I LOVE your posts! I live in Vermont, but spent a few years in North Georgia. My sister is in Signal Mtn. and would like me to move closer. I was looking at Marion as a target point, and couldn't believe you highlighted it in your post! Also, excited your inn is so close. It may only be a dream of an older, single, country girl (and did I say a scrap hoarder?), but I would welcome advice from anyone out there about the area, just in case I can make it happen. Happy Easter! Dianne

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy Easter Bonnie! I'm sitting here in sunny Glendale, Arizona and I LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing your rain! Thanks for that!

    ReplyDelete

If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.

Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.

Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)