JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL
I never really go to yard/estate sales out this way though I don't know why.  I went the other day to one up the street. They had a ton of Bob Ross art stuff.  I bought a couple nice brushes for a $1 a piece and this guy to add to my collection of religious figures.  I knew when I looked it up it was going to be expensive... I ran out of there like I stole the thing. I did a little investigating and found one on Ebay for $85.00! Not bad for 5 bucks.

You say POTATO - I say POTATO SOUP...

It was a potato soup kind of day when we were just up at Penn State...it was just starting to become sweater weather.  My favorite time of year.  No one at The Deli knows about the Dessert Bar.  Though some of these kids probably weren't even born then. Sometimes I think it was a figment of my imagination.  I have to try to find my college pics and see if I have any photos of it.  I think it was $5 or something and they had a whole table of desserts. Was it just on Sundays?  I can't remember.

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
I am stressing a lot over storage... I don't have any time to get over there and I really need to try to get it down to one unit.  The price went up significantly and I'm paying just under $400 a month to house who knows what in these two garages.  I have things from here and things from the house and a few bins of Glo's stuff... I have no idea what was brought over.  I never really went through anything after that traumatic day when I found my wedding dress stuffed in a bin..  Anyway, I wonder where our pressed pennies are? We had a little folder for them. Who got them?   I was looking through an old jewelry box I have here and found this random one inside and it made me think about them...

FUNNY BUNNY
Every so often the Lily Bud rediscovers RoseBud's bunny in the bottom drawer of the dresser in my room.  She will sit there - just staring... eventually scratching the dresser to try to get to it.

Lily doesn't really have a special toy like RoseBud did.  Bunny and Spider were RB's faves.  Lily is very fond of her sushi toys I got for her Geisha Girl costume photos and a little Martha Stewart chick which was actually the last thing David brought her.  Those are the toys she takes out herself when she hunts in her bins to play.  I bought her her own bunny a couple years ago but she never got into it.  I'll take RoseBud's out from time to time but as soon as she gets too rough with it it goes back into the drawer and the cycle begins again.

SUNSHINE AND RAIN

My mother died twenty years ago today.

Twenty years.

She loved going up to Penn State.  We always joked that the the Ebensburg Burger King was the Point of No Return... exactly half way, at the time, between home and State College. She and my Dad would assess the weather and if it was too bad they would turn back.  More often than not - they would keep going.

I've made that trip more than I thought I would in the past few years... moving Lizzie in and out and bringing Katherine back and forth a zillion times. We were back up there today.

Every time - it feels like home.

There's something about the air there. I don't know.  It's filled with promise and adventure and nostalgia... and the sweet smell of CCPeppers on your fingers.

Over the years, I've come to order a Coast to Coast instead of my usual Philly.  I've tried mayo on a Philly and it's just not the same so I get a Coast to Coast and take most of the lettuce and tomato off - it's something about the ratio, I guess, of ingredients... sorry, my thoughts are wandering. ;-)

Anyway, this isn't really about cheesesteaks or dead mothers, though they do play a big, big part in my life.

Other Joe and I had a little heart to heart in the car this morning about rekindling relationships, when we got there we would silently acknowledge the sadness in the room and reminisced about Tracy Chapman songs... he said that whenever there's an adult in the room and Fast Cars comes on they always tell him a story.

I told him mine.

When we were coming back without Katherine but with bags of her stuff in the car I said to Chrissy that I kind of got the best of both worlds... I went through all the college kid stuff but didn't have to pay the tuition bill. ;-)

This was hanging in the bedroom from a movie I completely forgot about until I saw the poster.

Every time I would walk in and out of the bedroom I would see that tag line and wonder - does walking away from everything and erasing your past really give you what you are looking for?

Is it possible to reawaken to your life without getting rid of and abandoning everything that surrounds you?

Like your spouse...

... or your dog...

...  or your family...

... or your bills...

... or your job...

... or your home...

Following your true path isn't abandoning and throwing away all that is around you. Growth and enlightenment doesn't come from running away or erasing everything to have a spotless mind.

When you think about it, I guess life really is about cheesesteaks and dead mothers for a lot of people.  I'll be honest, I do sometimes wish I could forget everything but, truth is, I know I wouldn't like it very much. I usually just wish the one that one that was with me through it all (the sunshine and the rain) was still there. That may be silly to some, after all this time, but it's true. For now, I just have to figure out a way to be happy in this in-between place.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
That was one of my favorite Robin Williams movies though there are so many more. Seems the most relevant now too.  Some may not know that Robin Williams was a pug dad... I'm sure Leonard Bean will miss him just like so many others.  Rest in peace.

SEE YOU LATER, LILY DALE
What a trip!

Thank you Jan and Jay for your hospitality. Sorry if we were a little too loud every night when we would come back from our adventures and go to our rooms.  We couldn't help but question...

...What Would Jesus Do?

Obviously, the answer was stay up all night and make bracelets!

This turned out to be quite the trip - starting off with Lizzie getting a speeding ticket and ending with her and Kate waiting for hours for AAA on their way back home because of a tire blow out.  None of us got any messages from anyone, at least not at the public services, but there was lots of love and light and laughter.  I did kind of hope that I would see all kinds of dead people everywhere just walking around and enjoying the summer night... I do believe they were there, though, and hope they were having as much fun as we were.

I didn't see one ghost kid frolicking about either.

Though my phone just magically turned on by itself and started playing one of my old meditations. That was kind of weird.

All in all it was a really fun girls weekend. I think we'll be back.

PET CEMETERY

Beloved pets...

Some of my favorites... 

THE FAIRY TRAIL (more adventures in Lily Dale)

Fairies, Fairies everywhere...

... thank you for showing us your home.

We do...

Hello Gnome... 

Lizzie was telling us about the gnome liberation movement... if you see one being held captive, please refer to this.

A FEW THINGS WE ATE IN LILY DALE
You know I'm still trying to figure out what was on the T & A sandwich I loved in North Carolina... For the life of me, I can't remember what the place was called. I bet I have a menu somewhere... anyway - this was different but reminded me of it.

We had the garlic soup, too, at Monika's Delites..

But really - It's all about the pancakes at The Sunflower Cafe...

And - yes - we found chocolate cake.

MESSAGE SERVICES
We went to the stump...

I felt a little weird there... like I was being pushed down in my seat... and I got freaked out by a falling leaf that was giving me a funny look. He totally was staring at me. Totally.

As soon as I got to the Forest Temple I felt like I was there before... I don't know if it was in another life or what but I swear I've been there.

Katherine and I both felt like we were in an episode of HBO's The Leftovers when we walked into the Healing Temple and saw all the white garbed healers waiting to reiki the hell out of everyone. That sounds funny. ;-)  Chrissy liked it - the rest of us were unimpressed, though I never was a reiki girl.

Sitting in circle for the meditation the next morning was way better for me - even though some asshole didn't want Mr. Perkins, the cat, to come in and join us.

And give us a gift shop and we are there at least once a day... maybe twice... actually - I think one day we were there three times!

LILY DALE CONTINUED
(Back posting August)

Yay!  We made it to Jan and Jay's...

I, of course, talked about how someone was going to come in and shoot me in the guest house.  My parents and I stayed in a similar place near Niagara Falls once in the 1970s when the Son of Sam was on a rampage and my mother had us all paranoid that we were going to be killed and I still haven't gotten over it!  Chrissy, either trying to be helpful and work out my fears or being a little bitch, proceeded to go "bang bang."  You decide. I'm going with the bitch thing. ;-)

We went right to a message service... no one wanted to talk to us, though.

We walked around and got familiar with some of the residents there...

They had black squirrels!  The only other time I saw black squirrels was when David and I were in Toronto.

I brought my little lunch box with me...

I couldn't find the Nsync Uno cards - I don't even know if I got them from the house so I filled it with some other cards and fun stuff...

The girls were loving my Goddess cards and all doing a great job at giving readings... before we left, they even got their own sets there. Love.

We were having some major fun in the room, drinking wine and being a little too loud. Lizzie did have to yell at me and Chrissy for telling one too many dick jokes. It got bad. Partly because of this picture of a barn I took on our drive to The Dale.

Yeah, I know.  I missed the barn.  :-)  Chrissy was driving too fast and she did go a little too far with an inappropriate hay balls comment!  Just saying.

More tomorrow - I'm going to bed.

ADVENTURES IN LILY DALE

(Back posting August...)

Well we finally made it!  We've been planning this damn trip for years and could never carve out some time to go.  We made reservations in March of this year and just said we have to make it work... and we did. Wahoo.

Tea, coffee and my fave car snacks in position... we're good to go!

Oh wait - one more thing... it's not a road trip unless Chrissy gets a TripTik!

Not even an hour into the ride Lizzie got a speeding ticket.  Poor thing was only trying to keep up with her Mother. It totally should have been us!

We got a little sidetracked when sleeping beauty finally came out of  her slumber in the back seat and had to go pee on the side of the road.  We figured we got the speeding ticket out of the way so we might as well go for a disorderly conduct charge for public urination.

Anyway, all's well that ends well and we finally made it.  Welcome to Lily Dale.