Unexpected
Bounty
“I'm
glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by
it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.”
Edna
St. Vincent Millay
My
friend, Suzan, and I took a little excursion to Leeds, AL yesterday.
She had never visited the Bama Flea and Antique Mall or eaten ribs at
Rusty's Bar-B-Q. We spent a couple of hours pawing through rusty old
tools and empty birdcages, World War II ammo boxes, vintage Koolade
dispensers—the old metal barrel ones we knew as children. She found
a fetching shirt that was tagged “communist block” apparel
(whatever that means). There was a tall, chrome, free-standing, hand-crank juicer
that, in the old days, drug stores used to make lemonade. Had I been
a richer woman, I would have bought it, but alas...
When
we left the Flea, I thought to take the back way to Rusty's and so
tooled along a known road until we came to a train parked across it
and cars lined up for two blocks, waiting. We waited too, for at
least 15 minutes until ambulance and firetruck arrival made it clear
something unfortunate had happened and the train would not be moving
any time soon. I allowed as to how I knew all the back roads, and who
could possibly get lost in tiny little Leeds. Suzan tried to use
common sense to tell me which way to go, but I was my usual
headstrong self. Half an hour later, we were still taking turns that
should have put us right, but instead, led only to dead ends. By now,
we were not in the finest part of Leeds and, seemingly, nowhere near
Rusty's. Finally, an exasperated Suzan pulled out her I-phone and
its GPS found the way out.
In
the process of all that twisting and turning, I discovered a little
farmer's market which I'm quite excited about. Getting lost now and
then is not half bad—who knows what you might discover in uncharted
territory. Now, if I can only find my way back to that farm stand...
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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