Then there are the weeks where the bad overshadows the good so much, the thankfuls are hidden from you. That's when you pull out thankfuls like Diet Coke and indoor plumbing and electric pencil sharpeners.
Then there is this week. Nothing horrible, but a little bit of a Sad Sack cloud hanging over my head and a stuffy nose and cough that may be allergies or may be a cold named Melinda.
That's when you play fast and loose with the rules of the TToT (some might call it cheating, but not me, or at least, not now). Here is my Ten Things of Thankful, told mostly in pictures.
Saturday, my husband and I drove an hour north to the little town where my parents live (they spend part of their time there, part at the lake house). If you want a taste of REALLY small town, midwestern life, this is your place. The reason for our trip was to attend a fundraiser that my husband needed to go to for work.
In a big city, you wouldn't get much turn out for a little fundraiser dubbed "Octoberfest" and held in a vacant lot near the square. In a town of less than 8,000 nestled among soybean fields and pasture land, this was an Event. And it's what small town America is all about: fellowship and simple fun mixed with good food. I'm thankful ten times over (see how I did that?) that I live in the heart of America.
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| You've gotta have a petting zoo. |
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| My parents, visiting a booth. |
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| Alpaca butts. Just because. |
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| Local singers on a stage made from a flat bed trailer. |
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| Tables for eating chili from the chili contest or just resting. Need a place to sit? Find an empty chair and sit down. It doesn't matter if others are already seated at the table; the more, the merrier! |
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| 4-H representing. |
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| Men coming to the rescue of an older woman on a scooter who got stuck in a rut in the ground. |
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| Pig farmers. Correction: REAL pig farmers. |
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| Kettle corn. |
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| Sun tea on top of the Red Cross funnel cake trailer. |
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| The courthouse peeping over the buildings. |
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| The guy who made balloon animals was very popular. |
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| A rare picture with my husband, who is camera shy. |
See? Thankfuls don't have to be laid out in a list!
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Camera shy, but very cute all the same. Lovely weather for your outing. What is that building behind the soundstage? The brick work is impressive. (Can you tell I am married to a mason?) Can't say I every had real kettle corn. Around here, after the season is over each small shore town has a seafood festival for local celebration. (Of course the tourists come) Anyway, have a good week.
ReplyDeleteI'd tell him you said so, but he doesn't even know I put the pic on the blog! :) That building is just some old storefront. Lots or brick buildings in the town, though. I don't love kettle corn. I either want it just salty and buttery or REALLY sweet, like caramel corn, and kettle corn has very little sugar on it. This little fair did not attract tourists, although people come from all over the area for Bushwhacker Days in June :)
Deletesurely meeting the approval of those Seven Guard Virgins! (I agree, part of the fun and part of what allows me to participate in this here bloghop here is that the Rules on how a TToT post must be written are totally strictly enforced… in concordance with that little ole Secret Book of Rules (aka the Book of Secret Rules).
ReplyDeletenice photos… so, they like don't get mad when you sit at table with strangers? (you surely must of been in heaven… like an all you can eat smorgasbord*
looks like decent weather, too
* scotts, of course…. not that there's anything wrong with being a scott!
It's such a small town thing to join others at a table at something like this, isn't it? You should venture west some time...
DeleteI love small town festivities! We lived in a small town in Washington for a few years, and one of the cherished memories from that time was the annual Egg Days. Thousands of people would descend upon the town for a parade that was about 2 blocks long (because that's about how many blocks downtown consisted of), and then they walked over to the local elementary school for free egg salad sandwiches. My kids still talk about wanting to return to celebrate Egg Days. It sounds like your Octoberfest was a similar event. Glad you had fun!
ReplyDeleteEgg Day! How funny! There are Apple Butter Days not to far from here. In the fall, there are festivals in every town around here.
DeleteAw Dyanne, thank you! It is nice to know that I'm not alone in knowing what or how to write some weeks.
ReplyDeleteI did end up passing this week. I was going to do a pictorial list too as I had hoped to go hiking but that didn't happen and I was left with things like diet coke and indoor plumbing!
Your list is awesome. Appreciate for the simple, special things and alpaca butts!!
My posts usually go better when I take notes throughout the week, because sitting there on the weekend and looking back without notes makes some of those thankfuls hard to see!
DeleteThose were some pretty awesome alpaca butts, weren't they?
I've never seen your husband!!! Oh, it looks like such a fun festival! That size is good; not so overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is elusive. It really wasn't that fun as far as festivals go; it was just a fundraiser for United Way, but the people watching was spectacular!
DeleteIt looks like you had a great day with fantastic weather. Fall weather always makes for great pictures.
ReplyDeleteMy crappy iphone camera didn't do that blue sky justice.
DeleteChristina inspired my post this week, too. And, as usual when I don't feel like doing the TToT, I found that there was so much to appreciate. And I so needed to get closer to that positive mindset. Still do.
ReplyDeleteSeveral TToTs with photos this week, I noticed, and several where the writer was in a bit of a rough spot.
Have I ever told you how glad I am that you brought me in here? Cuz I am. Hope you're doing OK. XO
Every time I want to skip the TToT, I remind myself that I have never missed one, and it's going to have to be something bigger than ennui to get me to do so :)
DeleteI'm glad you came here, Lisa! SOOO glad!
Love the small town fair... Awesome ttot...feel better...xo me
ReplyDeleteThere weren't any chickens, but there were rabbits. And a donkey. And ALPACA BUTTS.
DeleteWell, you don't look sick in the pictures Dyanne. You look great! Hope you're feeling better.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing via pictures. They're worth a thousand words :)
Give me small town any day :D
Awww, thanks, Denise!
DeleteI love all the photos. I had to laugh when I saw the alpacas. If you need photos of the other ends, I have them. I never thought to take photos of the behinds. :-) Small town events are so fun.
ReplyDeleteThey presented themselves posterior first, so what are you gonna do?
DeleteOh! This is where Lizzi went when she was with you right? So cool to have another point of context with your life! And I love love the photos. I hope you're feeling much much better (and completely reasonable that you'd be feeling sad sack-ish when ill). Alpaca! Cool!!
ReplyDeleteShe didn't go here, she went to Branson with me to the lake house. I WISH I could have brought her here on our Tour de Missouri!
DeleteThe pictures are wonderful ... it is a lovely small town... I hope you have a good week!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marisa!
DeleteCheers for small towns and town squares.
ReplyDelete:-)
Ah, thankful, ten times over. Love it. Thanks for adding the captions after the pictures.
It's all such a middle America thing.
DeleteThank you for liking my ten times over! I was pretty proud of that! :)
You gotta know this looks like home to me! Yeah Midwestern small towns!
ReplyDeleteWe know our small town festivities, don't we?
DeleteSo many times, I do things and think to myself "I wish Lizzi could experience THIS."
ReplyDelete