Thankful Sunday-June 12, 2022

 I am thankful for a fun day with the family.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's always fun when Ward and I can get together with both Wally and Theo like we did yesterday. We had a rare day where none of us were working, so Theo, Ward, and I piled in the car to go to Wally's. The conversation on the way was interesting as Theo, the one with the economics degree, explained the impact of the many variables affecting today's inflation worries. This is something I have no background in, so I always find it interesting-especially when someone explains it to me, and I don't have to sort through a lot of reading to get the same information. 

We met briefly at Wally's apartment before heading out and got to see the tomato he's growing on his balcony, from which he's already eaten two tomatoes. We have a few blossoms on our plants, but are a long way away from getting fruit. However, good things come to those who wait, right? 

Wally knows I enjoy seeing other libraries, and he has wanted to show me his local one for a while, so that's where we headed next. As the males in the family browsed their favorite sections, I checked out how they had things organized and the displays they had. I sometimes pick up tips when visiting other libraries that I can take back to work. This time I saw a small sign I might use.

A surprising number of people think they
shouldn't take a book from a display. But, of course, that's what we want.

After perusing the library, we headed across the street for lunch. It had been raining all morning, but never hard enough that an umbrella or raincoat didn't keep us protected. It was nice to be in an area where we could walk from one place to another and do it in the rain. The lunch spot was a New York-style pizza place with reasonable prices, especially considering what food costs these days. I got a gigantic piece of supreme pizza for $5. It was big enough that I had it for both lunch and dinner. However, if I go with full disclosure, I also had some cookies to supplement the pizza. The meal of champions - pizza and cookies. :)

Then we went into Baltimore to visit the Second Chance store - a building thrift store on steroids. Theo had never been there, so the rest of us thought he needed to see it. Just like my first visit, I flitted from one thing to the next amazed and awed by the amount and variety in the store. We were there to look for bar stools for the new kitchen. However, despite the vast amount of merchandise, we did not find any that would work for us. But it was fun looking. I was about halfway through my visit before I remembered to take pictures. A few of them are at the bottom of this post.

When we were tired of Second Chance, we took Wally back to his apartment and headed home. But the fun wasn't over yet. We stopped at Aldi's along the way to pick up a few groceries. Then, finally, we returned to fussy cats who wanted to be petted, and all was right with the world.

So there you have it. Our fun day: an economics lesson, a visit to a library, a big slice of pizza, shopping in a giant thrift store, and a stop at Aldi's. Sometimes it's the little things. In fact, it is usually the little things, especially when you get to enjoy them with family.

A few things for sale at Second Chance.

F is for Furniture and More

 You may remember that we had difficulty finding a place to donate old items from our kitchen because they were considered too old even though they worked well. It was disappointing, but I understood that the thrift stores we tried couldn't afford to fill their space with things that wouldn't sell. Then our contractor mentioned Second Chance in Baltimore which takes building materials, appliances, etc. and suggested we check them out. A quick call confirmed that they would accept our items for donation, so one Saturday, when Wally was visiting, he and Ward took a van full of things there. They came back with great tales of how it was much more than a thrift store. It was like a Habitat for Humanity Restore on steroids. I was fascinated by what they had seen and said I wanted to see it sometime. However, it's about an hour away in a place we don't go to, so I didn't know when that would happen. But we made it happen last weekend. 

After our afternoon with Wally, Ward and I ventured into Baltimore to go to the Second Chance Store. The Second Chance organization was started in 2001 to provide job training and jobs for people in need. As part of that, one of the things the organization does is to dismantle buildings, including mansions, which gives them quite a variety of items to sell in the store.

The store takes up an entire city block in the old warehouse district, and there are fascinating things to see everywhere you look. If it's ever been in or around a building, you could find it there. We saw conference room tables, hotel couches, stone fireplaces, antique doorknobs, lumber, tiles, paving stones, kitchens, appliances, etc. And what made it so interesting was that there were grand things that had been rescued from mansions among the mundane. When I walked in the door, I was like a ping-pong ball bouncing from one amazing thing to the next. I was too busy finding new things to examine that I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few that I did take.

You can't see from this distance, but the entire front of the building was lined with building stones, bricks, outdoor sculptures, and more.

In the vast area, we actually found one of the things we donated,
this light fixture from our dining room, now office. 

Our light was quite the contrast to these solid mahogany carved doors that were priced at $17,500. There were so many beautiful doors that had been recovered from some fancy houses.

Or how about some friezes for your building?

I had to get a picture of this left-handed school desk among the sea of right-handed ones because it took me back to my school days. As a left-hander, I appreciated having a desk like this anytime I could because they were few and far between.

We will definitely be returning to Second Chance sometime, and I will try to get more pictures of its wares then.

But wait, there's more!

F is for Food photos.

In my D post, I mentioned that I didn't get pictures of Wally and Ward's meals. Well, they hadn't loaded yet, so I found them later. So for the sake of completeness, here are more food photos. :)

Ward had a steak with grilled Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes, topped with onion rings.

Wally had shepherd's pie.