easter weekend with Welf
This weekend, welfy and I made the trip to Western PA to visit with her Mom and see some of her old friends in the area. I had to work late on Thursday night, so we left Kentucky around 10pm that night and got here around 5am on Friday morning. After sleeping-in, we drove out to Rogers, OH to large flea market there occurs there every Friday. It's one of the largest, active flea markets I've ever been to.
Welf found a used book vendor to occupy a good deal of her time. Across aisle from it was a booth specializing in reclaimed work attire, socks, and work gloves.
Their prices on basic work gloves weren't much better than what I can find in truck stops, but I decided it might be worth exploring their work wear. A lot of the pants I currently use for working in are old pants of my brother in-law that I had quickly cut down with a pair of scissors. some of them I cut too short and all of them are getting frayed since hemming them was more effort than I was willing to put into the task. A lot of the shirts I use for work are some reclaimed work shirt that Welf had picked-up for me from an Army/Navy surplus store a couple of years ago. After doing flatbed work in them for the past year, most of them are falling apart and/or so stained from grease and sweat that they're not very suitable to wear any more.
They had their work wear cinched up in bundles according to size with flat prices for them. I got a half dozen beige work shirts (complete with on old Lincoln-Mercury label still on the front of them) for $10 and a bundle of 4 dark blue work pants for $8. We stopped at a sandwich shop on the way home and I had the best lamb sandwich I've ever had in my life.
That evening, we attended the Tenebrae service at Welf's childhood church. Back at the house, we watched Plan 9 From Outer Space with her Mon and step-dad while munching on popcorn and drinking wine.
On Saturday, we got up early and Welf's step-dad made us pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then the two of us headed for Hermitage, PA to Kraynaks. For all the major holidays, they do a huge season-appropriate display and Welf had been itching to see one and have me experience it for the first time. On the way, we stopped in New Wilmington at the Cheese House. It's an old roller skating rink that's been converted into an outlet for cheese and other local specialties, particularly Italian and Amish foods. Welf stocked-up on some birch beer and we got some cheese curds and an assortment bag of cheese cubes, then continued on to Kraynaks.
Kraynaks is basically a home & garden-slash-hobby store, so we milled around in the toy/game section for most of our visit, where Welf eventually bought some jigsaw puzzles for us to do back home. Otherwise, we just played with things and browsed through the board games.
The holiday display was certainly something to behold. There were multiple installations with themes. There were obvious ones like easter bunnies.
There was one setup to look like a huge game of Candyland.
There was also one with a Sesame Street theme.
The amusing thing is that, in nearly every single one there were things that just didn't belong or were random additions to fill space. There was one with an outer space theme that had some sort of moonscape scene with aliens, flying saucers, and the "Purple People Eater" song playing... but for some inexplicable reason Dora The Explorer was in it. In the Sesame Street one, I'm sure I saw a couple of Alvin's chipmunk brothers as well as these cute pigs with Kermit riding on Thomas the Tank Engine in the background.
In addition to the music, many of them featured simple animatronics, as you can see in the following video.
My favorite part though was the military serviceman kneeling in front of an angel. Four banners were hung on the wall representing the four branches of the armed service, while "God Bless America" blared over the speakers.
After Kraynaks, Welf and I went into Sharon, PA to Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch where we both filled up on chicken wings. Afterwards, we went to an old-school department store still in operation called The Winner. It was filled with crystal chandeliers and there was a grand piano on the first floor being played by an elderly gentleman in a tuxedo.
There was a brick sidewalk which skirted the southern side of The Winner that overlooked the river. There was some great bridge graffiti assuring us that Dan still loved Roxanne.
There was also a viking riding a horse brandishing The Club. I guess horse theft is a serious problem in downtown Sharon.
I got a ride and had fun fondling the viking...
... but things got a little carried away.
Then we went to Daffin's, a local chocolatier and candy retailer. We loaded up on chocolate and drove back to the house. We lounged about with our laptops for a bit, indulging in the chocolates we had just bought then headed right back out to meetup with Jane and Greg, (aka ladydreamfire and over_unity).
The girls decided they wanted to go to the mall... back in Hermitage. So off we went. The women folk spent their time trying on things and spending entirely too much money. Greg and I considered some fashion jewelry for ourselves.
We decided to leave the women to their retail therapy and went next door to Game Stop and browsed the titles. I'm not much of a gamer, but I figure since I'm home now, I might as well try to get some use out of my PS2 that's hardly been used for the past 4 years. I really enjoyed the PC version of Splinter Cell when I played it many years ago, and I ran across one its sequels for a reasonable $8.
The girls finally decided they had bought enough at that store and seemed happy about it.
The second store that the ladies decided to visit, I bought something for myself.
While I might not be the one who will wear it, it's definitely for me.
Later that night, Welf went to visit one of her dearest friends. She needed some girl-time to dish girl-stuff so I stayed behind. I watched the first half of the Duke/West Virginia game with my step-father in-law before he went to bed. I then spent 45 minutes chatting with my mother in-law in the kitchen while she snacked on some peanuts and I had a couple of glasses of wine and some of the Cheese House assortment. When she went to bed I looked back in on the game and saw that Duke was running away with it. I goofed around online until she got back then we retired to the bedroom where I finished composing this entry.
Tomorrow is the big Easter dinner and the trip back home. It has been a lot of fun and we're leaving entirely too soon.
Welf found a used book vendor to occupy a good deal of her time. Across aisle from it was a booth specializing in reclaimed work attire, socks, and work gloves.
Their prices on basic work gloves weren't much better than what I can find in truck stops, but I decided it might be worth exploring their work wear. A lot of the pants I currently use for working in are old pants of my brother in-law that I had quickly cut down with a pair of scissors. some of them I cut too short and all of them are getting frayed since hemming them was more effort than I was willing to put into the task. A lot of the shirts I use for work are some reclaimed work shirt that Welf had picked-up for me from an Army/Navy surplus store a couple of years ago. After doing flatbed work in them for the past year, most of them are falling apart and/or so stained from grease and sweat that they're not very suitable to wear any more.
They had their work wear cinched up in bundles according to size with flat prices for them. I got a half dozen beige work shirts (complete with on old Lincoln-Mercury label still on the front of them) for $10 and a bundle of 4 dark blue work pants for $8. We stopped at a sandwich shop on the way home and I had the best lamb sandwich I've ever had in my life.
That evening, we attended the Tenebrae service at Welf's childhood church. Back at the house, we watched Plan 9 From Outer Space with her Mon and step-dad while munching on popcorn and drinking wine.
On Saturday, we got up early and Welf's step-dad made us pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then the two of us headed for Hermitage, PA to Kraynaks. For all the major holidays, they do a huge season-appropriate display and Welf had been itching to see one and have me experience it for the first time. On the way, we stopped in New Wilmington at the Cheese House. It's an old roller skating rink that's been converted into an outlet for cheese and other local specialties, particularly Italian and Amish foods. Welf stocked-up on some birch beer and we got some cheese curds and an assortment bag of cheese cubes, then continued on to Kraynaks.
Kraynaks is basically a home & garden-slash-hobby store, so we milled around in the toy/game section for most of our visit, where Welf eventually bought some jigsaw puzzles for us to do back home. Otherwise, we just played with things and browsed through the board games.
The holiday display was certainly something to behold. There were multiple installations with themes. There were obvious ones like easter bunnies.
There was one setup to look like a huge game of Candyland.
There was also one with a Sesame Street theme.
The amusing thing is that, in nearly every single one there were things that just didn't belong or were random additions to fill space. There was one with an outer space theme that had some sort of moonscape scene with aliens, flying saucers, and the "Purple People Eater" song playing... but for some inexplicable reason Dora The Explorer was in it. In the Sesame Street one, I'm sure I saw a couple of Alvin's chipmunk brothers as well as these cute pigs with Kermit riding on Thomas the Tank Engine in the background.
In addition to the music, many of them featured simple animatronics, as you can see in the following video.
Click to viewMy favorite part though was the military serviceman kneeling in front of an angel. Four banners were hung on the wall representing the four branches of the armed service, while "God Bless America" blared over the speakers.
After Kraynaks, Welf and I went into Sharon, PA to Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch where we both filled up on chicken wings. Afterwards, we went to an old-school department store still in operation called The Winner. It was filled with crystal chandeliers and there was a grand piano on the first floor being played by an elderly gentleman in a tuxedo.
There was a brick sidewalk which skirted the southern side of The Winner that overlooked the river. There was some great bridge graffiti assuring us that Dan still loved Roxanne.
There was also a viking riding a horse brandishing The Club. I guess horse theft is a serious problem in downtown Sharon.
I got a ride and had fun fondling the viking...
... but things got a little carried away.
Then we went to Daffin's, a local chocolatier and candy retailer. We loaded up on chocolate and drove back to the house. We lounged about with our laptops for a bit, indulging in the chocolates we had just bought then headed right back out to meetup with Jane and Greg, (aka ladydreamfire and over_unity).
The girls decided they wanted to go to the mall... back in Hermitage. So off we went. The women folk spent their time trying on things and spending entirely too much money. Greg and I considered some fashion jewelry for ourselves.
We decided to leave the women to their retail therapy and went next door to Game Stop and browsed the titles. I'm not much of a gamer, but I figure since I'm home now, I might as well try to get some use out of my PS2 that's hardly been used for the past 4 years. I really enjoyed the PC version of Splinter Cell when I played it many years ago, and I ran across one its sequels for a reasonable $8.
The girls finally decided they had bought enough at that store and seemed happy about it.
The second store that the ladies decided to visit, I bought something for myself.
While I might not be the one who will wear it, it's definitely for me.
Later that night, Welf went to visit one of her dearest friends. She needed some girl-time to dish girl-stuff so I stayed behind. I watched the first half of the Duke/West Virginia game with my step-father in-law before he went to bed. I then spent 45 minutes chatting with my mother in-law in the kitchen while she snacked on some peanuts and I had a couple of glasses of wine and some of the Cheese House assortment. When she went to bed I looked back in on the game and saw that Duke was running away with it. I goofed around online until she got back then we retired to the bedroom where I finished composing this entry.
Tomorrow is the big Easter dinner and the trip back home. It has been a lot of fun and we're leaving entirely too soon.