Troll Toll

What a wonderful day. Sometimes it is nice to just do things on a whim (something that is quite hard for me!). Today Jared and I headed out into the world, intent on finding something to do... we stopped at an auction (one of our favorite pastimes), but the furniture was dingy and beat up, and neither of us saw much of anything that we were interested in. So we headed to the feed store and got the essentials for horses: shavings and fly spray. And some chicken feed for my flock.

We then headed into the great town of Reisterstown, which reminds me of Boulder, Colorado (& even Carrboro, NC) on a small scale- a lot of random hippie stores, thrift shops, mom and pop food places, psychics, that sort of thing. I wonder if every state has a town like that?
Jared needed to pick up his last check from the job he recently left, so we ended up having lunch there as well and talking extensively with his old boss. She is a vivacious italian woman who kept proclaiming that Jared would come back to her "family" soon enough. Who knows? He is very good at keeping his doors and bridges unburnt. Anyway, a couple of the thrift shops were closed, so we headed to the Goodwill there, which is like the cadillac of Goodwill- everything is shiny, clean and in great condition. Not only that, but their prices are fantastic. I got two gorgeous shirts for school for $3.50 each, and my addiction... books. I got ten of them... in my defense they were .50 cents each (!) or 10 for $4.00. You can't beat that. I just bought four the other day for $5 after a discount (store credit) at my local used book store. So you can say I'm stocked up!

Jer and I then stopped at a local produce market and got tons of food... artichokes, avocados, nectarines, cherries, grapes, tomatoes, kiwis, onions, peppers, strawberries, cantelope... oh. yeah. This place has the best fruit and veggies at the cheapest prices around. Further adventuring, we decided to make the trip to visit his grandmother and grandfather. His grandfather has been doing  poorly healthwise, but you wouldn't know it to talk to the handsome old devil. I quite enjoy his company, and his grandmother is a hoot as well. We visited with them for a good hour or more, and then headed to Jared's aunt and uncle's house down the road. They have four girls from 5 to about 11 or 12, and they are the most well-behaved kids I have met. If I could guarantee my kids would turn out like that, I would actually want children! We had a wonderful visit, and stayed through dinner and a couple hours afterwards. The second youngest girl, Morgan, just followed me around the entire time, and the others soon joined in- Jared's aunt joked that I should walk in circles around the house and see if they would follow me! It took them out of her hair for a little bit, and I certainly didn't mind playing with them and having them demonstrate their skills with various musical instruments and toys. The youngest put a crown on me and proclaimed me a troll... so I chased her around tickling her and telling her I was exacting my 'Troll Toll.'

Anyway, it was a really nice way to spend the day- just hand in hand with Jared and enjoying our random stops and detours. I loved visiting with his family- I feel as if they are my own at this point. Today through Wednesday I am off and just spending the time with him before we both go back to school and get incredibly busy with life again- there are too few days and opportunities to do this sort of thing, and I never take our time together for granted. Thursday and Friday I am riding along with Doc again, so I should have some more good vet stories! Then Saturday is Jared's family's picnic, and Sunday they (and we) are headed to Hershey park for the day. It should be a fun last week before band camp starts on Monday!

~Melissa~