I don’t know who needs to hear this but car show season will soon be upon us. With it will come tail fins, hood ornaments and opportunities to make new friends who are excited to talk about their classic cars. Not to mention all the photo ops!
Sit tight friends. It will be here soon.
Meanwhile, here’s a beaut I photographed in Boyne City, Michigan last year. We were on our way somewhere else but you can bet I slammed on the brakes at the sight of a park full of cars.
The fact it all took place on a lake was even better. Atmosphere counts for a lot! Here’s another shot with the water.
The transition from winter into spring is both quiet and fierce. As flowers gently push through the earth, the wind forces its way through the pines. The brilliant blue sky is accented by leisurely wbarren trees and clouds while last year’s lifeless grass seems to grow tall and green overnight.
I tend to walk around the yard more than normal, looking for clues as to how the season progresses. Yesterday I found this daffodil growing from last summer’s brush pile.
It was likely mixed in with debris and weeds cleared from a nearby flower bed last year, mistaken for a near invasive species that I worked hard to eradicate.
Imagine being that poor flower, uprooted from home and thrown into the trash because of a serious case of mistaken identity.
Yet it grows.
In fact, it reached through a tangle of debris to create a new home for itself and grow into a beautiful flower.
It gives new and literal meaning to the phrase “bloom where you are planted.”
It’s also a gentle reminder that someone else’s poor choice to mistreat you or to toss you aside should not determine your future. Define your own future. Thrive just to spite them. Make your surroundings better because you can.
Daffodils are the perfect harbingers of Spring. These brilliant yellow flowers pop against the fog like tiny balls of sunshine on the grayest of days.
They are a reminder to appreciate the smallest changes and, as they sway in the wind, reminders of how important it is to bend in difficult conditions rather than break with rigidity.
They offer so many life lessons and I am grateful for each and every one.
Yesterday was grocery day which means it was also clean out the fridge day. Since the time change has screwed up my internal clock and I’ve already had four other ridiculously early mornings this week, I saw no reason to break my streak. So I got up early to do this and a few other things before heading into work.
There were bits and pieces of leftovers from meals and snacks so I decided to make this my breakfast. A few roasted potatoes, a serving of steamed broccoli, some delicious tuna noodle casserole and one lonely boiled egg made for an unusual combination but a tasty one that meant there would be no prepared food headed to the trash can this time.
I have long been flexible about meals and the idea of viewing certain foods as “breakfast foods” versus food for other times of the day isn’t really my thing. Yet, I had a conversation earlier this week where there was one very nice person who acted like eating breakfast for dinner was an alien and unacceptable concept. She was adamant that eggs and pancakes are breakfast foods and not to be seen any other time of day.
I was perplexed because there are plenty of nights I literally wouldn’t eat if not for a humble plate of scrambled eggs and fruit.
You know me – down the rabbit hole I went.
The people who tell us that breakfast should consist of Cheerios, eggs and Pop Tarts are the same people trying to sell us Cheerios, eggs and Pop Tarts. They have spent decades paying smart, rich marketing people to sell us a bill of goods. What did people eat before they had Kellogg telling us what to eat?
They ate what they had and when they wanted.
Honestly, most common American breakfast foods are heavily processed and packed full of sugar, artificial colors and preservatives that keep us craving more sugar and junk for the entire rest of the day. They’re not good for you at all. Check out the sugar content of most popular yogurt brands and tell me they shouldn’t be dessert rather than a meal.
But I digress.
Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea. Leftovers for breakfast is a great idea too.
That whole conversation was a little unsettling because it made me think about how limiting it is to be so set in our own ways. It’s a trap most of us can fall into but flexibility and a willingness to think outside the box are keys to happiness. Trying new things ranks high on that list too.
Whether it’s an egg sandwich for dinner, broccoli for breakfast or some outlandish thing you think you don’t want to try, maybe it’s time to loosen up and give it a chance. After all, what’s the harm?
The glass industry has long been an important part of Ohio’s economy. In Lancaster, you will find the Ohio Glass Museum which celebrates the glass industry and the pieces that make our world more beautiful and functional every day.
While their mission is to tell the story of Ohio’s glass industry, their current focus is on Lancaster’s famed Anchor Hocking Glass Company. There’s an impressive exhibit that runs through this August.
We were fortunate to have a really great tour guide, a fellow who once worked as the head of new products for Anchor Hocking. He told us the story of how the company came to be with tremendous reverence for founder I.J. Collins who most people in town just called Mister Collins. He told us a little about his own career traveling to far flung places across the country and the globe. He talked about the impact this company had in Lancaster and how it survived the Depression years.
They have some gorgeous pieces of Anchor Hocking glass including some that I grew up with and a few things I didn’t even know existed. Honestly though, the best part to me was our tour guide’s storytelling style and knowledge. He had a lot to say about Mister Collins, a small town boy from Maryland who learned and developed a passion for glass making around the turn of the 20th century. He ended up opening his own factory in Lancaster in 1905 after the local factory he worked for closed. Mister Collins kept that business going through the Depression, selling his goods for cheap just to keep his workers employed. He focused on developing the colored glass that would be known as Depression glass. It’s still highly collectible and a favorite among glass lovers.
Mister Collins rebuilt his factory in less than six months after a terrible fire leveled the first. When his glass jars didn’t sell, he started using them to bottle mustard that did sell. He was the first to approach baby food companies and suggest they bottle rather than can baby food. He then purchased another factory that made caps for his bottles. The man was smart and savvy and he clearly loved his job..
Our tour guide said that Lancaster didn’t feel the Depression to the extent other places did. That’s because Mister Collins kept his people working and money continued to be exchanged in the city. Our guide referred to the city being under a literal and figurative glass dome that shielded them from the horrors and hardships of those terrible years.
When I asked about his favorite piece, he showed us something he helped to develop. It’s pictured here.
Allow more time than you think you need. This isn’t a large museum but they have packed in a lot of things to admire. By the time we bought tickets, did the tour and watched a glass blowing demonstration, we were there for close to two hours.
Admission is just six bucks. There are other museums and nice shops for your entertainment in downtown Lancaster. Maria’s Mexican Restaurant, just up the street from the museum, is located in the old Elks Lodge, a gorgeous 1919 era stone building with beautiful windows and fantastic atmosphere. The food is good and the prices are decent too.
Want to learn more about the Ohio Glass Museum? Click here.
You’ll find Maria’s Mexican restaurant at this link.
After a long winter of staying home followed by a few misadventures, it felt positively glorious to drive in the sunshine last night. While I was on a familiar road, I took a detour for a closer look at a couple of places I have driven by plenty of times but never stopped to photograph.
This old farm is one of them.
It reminded me of this quote by naturalist and writer Henry Beston:
An old farm is always more than the people under its roof. It is the past as well as the present, and vanished generations have built themselves into it as well as left their footsteps in the worn woodwork of the stair.
Don’t you wonder who left their footprints behind here? Old homes are not just wood and windows. The earth beneath our feet isn’t just dirt. A farm isn’t just a place to grow corn.
This place was once a home for someone, maybe for generations of a single family. While many people would claim it’s in the middle of nowhere, this farm was once the middle of everything to the people who labored sunrise to sundown just to make ends meet. To you, it’s just dirt. To the farmer who worked this land, it was pure potential.
What we look at determines what we see. What we plant determines what we harvest. What do you see around you? What seeds are you planting in this life? What goodness will you harvest from this life of yours?
