Hello, Country Life!

We've had a busy day today, mostly full of leisurely stuff. I got up at the normal hour and rode my bike to Chauncey or so and back, then to my Pilates class, and then Steven cooked lunch. We both have garlic breath from hell, thanks to his sesame noodles.

Next, we went to White's Mill on the Hocking River, which is a garden center in an old converted grist mill that Melanie told us about. Steven was entralled with the tiny chick pullets for sale there. It is a great place for us to get garden supplies, tools, etc... and maybe even Ms. Gormes Science Diet. It is a beautiful place, and one of the dozens of hubs of this community, I could tell in our short visit.

Then we went to Our Gang Antiques on the way to Pomeroy, on Carole's recommendation. It is only about 4 miles south of Athens, and on the way there, there are several breathtaking, sweeping vistas of the Ohio hills. We both noticed how not a single man-made anything was visible anywhere. No power lines, no roofs, no big box retail chain, none of the ugliness that i'd just taken for granted living in Atlanta. Anyhoo, Steven bought a couple pieces of china at Our Gang for flower arrangements, and we got a cedar chest, since my Mom and BC finally took theirs that had been at our house in Atlanta for many months. We got attached to it. Chests are wonderful. You can throw a whole pile of crap in it for a really quick cleanup. And then you can sit on it to put on your shoes. Anyhow, Our Gang was a great place, we met the proprietress (Susan), her husband (who is the manager of the Athens Kroger), and her Mom (who lives in a 95 year old Sear's Kit house not far from us on the east side).

After that, we headed over to Stewart to see the GlassHouseWorks studio and garden place, but we detoured on the way to do a drive by of our friend Robin's place, which used to be the Athen's favorite BIG CHIMNEY. We've been dying to see it, since we never made it out there before it closed forever recently. Well, sure enough, Robin was sitting on her terrace with a whole bunch of people, and would not just let us drive by without stopping. I am LOVING this small town stuff. Robin is just the friendliest person, and has made us aware of our sometimes calcified Big City roots that sometimes might cause us to otherwise keep to ourselves. I certainly think cities can isolate people from one another unnaturally, although we had the opposite experience with many wonderful neighbors on Braithwood Road in Atlanta. But meeting Robin has reminded us both that we all, no matter how different we may seem, have so much in common, and that it is so easy to make new friends. So, we met her various friends and family, her husband Matt, and her big fluffy doggie. Matt is the new Executive Chef at OU, and he still prepares lots of things for the Athens Farmer's Market every Saturday. Today when we met him, he was preparing for some catering gig tomorrow...what a gigantic fabulous kitchen he has. And what a fabulous place they have. There are the ruins of a coal mine there, with a giant chimney that once burned coal to fuel the company town with power (hence the name BIG CHIMNEY). It seems they own most of what was once the company town, including the ruins, a big old log cabin (which we didn't get to see, yet) which is now a bed & breakfast, the old company store... and both their mothers live there with them in various buildings. Check out their website: http://www.bigchimney.com/index.html Robin's Mom, Mary Dewey, is an artist, she does these great bas-relief stylized cat scuptures that are sold from coast to coast. Robin is a total sweetheart, we have really enjoyed our brief bits of time with her. And what a great alternative they have in life, to the bogus "professional" world of phony 9 to 5ers (pardon me for being so Holden Caulfield). They have a really relaxed, down-to-earth thing going on out there at Big Chimney.

Finally, we made it to GlassHouseWorks, and what a paradise. They have plants and all kinds of gardeney objets d'art, in a beautiful setting that reminded me of a slightly more devil-may-care-about-maintenance Ryan Gainey garden. If you click on the title of this post, it will link you to their extensive website, which even includes a bunch of Mary Dewey's pieces that they sell.

I haven't told you guys that last week i got stuck behind a tractor on my way home from work. It was a situation in which it was impossible to pass. I've never enjoyed driving 5 miles an hour for 15 minutes or so in my entire life. And day before yesterday, a loose steer in the road leading to our office created a little bit of mayhem for the comings and goings of staff and vendors around lunctime. I felt a pang of remorse that I'd brought my lunch and hadn't gotten to be involved in the drama. And today's little adventures... geez i feel like i am turning into an old man or something, loving all this small town hippie life stuff in which I seem to find myself. I really had no idea that life here would be so much different from Atlanta. Wacky as it is, my Green Acres premonition seems to be completely coming to pass. Now if i can just climb a telephone pole to make a call... and if Mr. Haney shows up with a pig in the back of the truck, i'm gonna fall out.

I'm watching Steven make a new little Bonsai garden with some nice plants we got in Stewart.