This locally owned shoe store is packed with all kinds of quality and interesting shoes. While I wasn’t in the market for shoes, I was smitten with the outside of their building. The colors! The sign! Oh my!
Plus, if you look closely, you’ll notice dust flying in the distance. A crew was mixing cement for a sidewalk repair and causing all kinds of mess on this tree-lined street.
It’s basically the best depiction of a Pittsburgh neighborhood I can give you!
Have a great day, friends!
This sign was on a Pepsi machine in a medical office corridor last week. I had to giggle and feel empathy for the author.
Can you read it?
To whom it may concern, Could you please refill with DIET PEPSI- PLEASE? Thank you!
Personally, I prefer Diet Coke but completely understand the desperation one feels when your delightfully fizzy drink of choice isn’t available.
Here’s hoping someone noticed and took heed. On a related note, we call it pop here in southern Ohio. Do you call it pop or soda or do you prefer the southern tradition of calling it all Coke?
We spent a day wandering around historic Bedford, Pennsylvania, ambling down the street and browsing little shops.
They have found a nice, balanced way of living so that their history is ever present but so that it doesn’t feel stuffy or outdated. Downtown shops are packed with interesting merchandise and there’s a lovely park that honors their veterans of 20th century wars. Ample parking, plenty of street signage, and locals who seem to appreciate their visitors make this town more enjoyable to navigate than most.
We shopped for antiques, gourmet food, books and more. We admired ghost murals and sampled candy. We chatted with one particular shop owner whose store was so welcoming I hated to leave.
And we began to imagine how beautiful it would be to visit during the holiday season. It came as no surprise to either of us when we started planning a return trip.
A nearby covered bridge and church spires that soar to the heavens are pretty as a postcard. A meal at the nearby Jean Bonnet Tavern will make you wonder if you aren’t a well fed time traveler.
Bedford is ready for visitors and welcomes you. I’m so very grateful for the opportunity to experience it first hand and look forward to the day I return.
Creepy or cute? It’s a fine line. I found these dolls in a shop in Bedford, Pennsylvania and really couldn’t decide.
You can be the judge!
I’m home after a few days of adventures with my Pittsburgh pal. She gives me the insider tour of her city and, this time, we also took a day trip over to historic Bedford, Pennsylvania.
This was my first real adventure of the year and it didn’t come a moment too soon. I was feeling restless, deprived, and yearning for something more interesting than my own four walls. I have a good life but it’s better when I step away occasionally to see what else the world has to offer.
We did a book crawl, ate at a historic tavern, and looked at art and historic buildings. We shopped, contemplated the sacrifices made by our veterans, and browsed a middle eastern food market near her home.
It is never lost on me how different her life is from mine because of where we live.
There are about three dozen independent bookstores in the Pittsburgh area. There are radio stations that play more than top forty country and pop music. I listened to some jazz radio while in the area and was sad to lose the station as I traveled away from the city. There are markets and restaurants that cater to ethnic cuisines and her very nice neighborhood of tree lined streets is filled with people who have come from afar. There are more jobs, more money, more educational opportunities, more museums, more of everything really.
The contrast between urban and rural is surprising sometimes.
Yet, where I live is beautiful. We have a shared sense of community that comes from everyone attending the same high school, shopping at the same grocery store, and being so small we tend to know each other.
Where I live in the country, there are no sidewalks or streetlights. There’s also no traffic unless you count school buses, farm equipment, and the occasional road construction.
I can hear a variety of birds and frogs in my yard and my closest neighbors are far enough away I don’t really hear them.
Quality of life is awfully good in many ways here but it’s also nice to leave and to have different experiences.
At one point, I stood before a mirror in the ladies room at Bedford Candy. My hair was a mess and I had the wild eyed look of someone who was so busy running around and looking at stuff that time didn’t matter.
It’s true, I spent almost the entire trip without any idea what day it was or what time it was. I was in my element and didn’t give a gosh darn what the clock said.
I have missed that version of myself. Planning and schedules have nearly crowded her out.
Yet, all good things must end. I’m home safe. The people in my life are thrilled to have me back. My little house panther couldn’t be happier. I keep catching him staring at me like he just wants to make sure I’m really here.
I am really here, a country mouse tucked away in my country house with a few stories to share and a mess to clean up. Not only do I need to unpack, there are groceries and fun purchases that still need to be put away today.
For now though, I can take my time, enjoy my little cat’s company, and savor the memories of experiences that helped me remember who I am.