Another great Outing

Rain, with a little annoying snow/sleet mix, was no deterrent to our trip to Red Wing. Lots of laughs as Meredith took us on the road less traveled. There are reasons for that - the road less traveled and the laughter. No such thing as a dreary day when you are traveling with good friends. Sadly, no blast of color either for the fall color drive. Not exactly no color, I should explain, but much subdued and a bit dull for fall. The weather has conspired to keep it so.

Nothing dull about this group, however. We were so delighted to find great purchase opportunities in the shops. Personally, I was especially surprised to see someone offering old black and white snapshots of unknown people probably long dead and forgotten on sale for 75 Cents to a dollar. The shot that really got me was a 4x6 offering of a nondescript area of an unidentified rural yard with a bedraggled tree and some unproductive ground. Could have had that gem for $1.00. All I could think of were the hundreds of dollars I threw away when I cleaned out the old photos from my mother's basement, attic and assorted closets. Who knew? Of course, offering them for sale doesn't insure that someone will buy them.

I passed up the chance to purchase a stylish deviled egg platter with some nice decoration and a wavy plate design for either $99 or, if you want bragging rights on how to foolishly spend money, for $179 (same plate, different dealers). There are literally thousands of treasures available for sale. All that's needed is money and a large place to put everything. Since I had neither, I came home still solvent.

Our biggest laugh came in the Ladies' room. You know those wonderful motion activated paper towel dispensers that, if you're at all like me, you've never been able to figure out how to consistently activate. How many times have you waved your wet, but clean sanitized hands, wildly in front of them, only to have them stare out at you blankly and refuse to spit out a towel. I've learned the key, and Ruth Mary and I shared our knowledge during the day, passing on to other women this very helpful information. If you're really nice to me, I might disclose the secret to you too. I hesitate to just broadcast it, however, because someone might tell the dispenser makers that we're on to them, and then we'll have to deal with the frustration all over again before we figure them out.