John and I have been busy doing nothing important, but we have been busy. We have been puttering when we can in the garden planting and doing some tidying up. We had three days of dramatic weather with thunder, lightning and heavy, heavy rain. John loves the drama of Eastern storms after living in CA all his life. The sky gets dark and ominous, maybe even looks a bit yellow or greenish. Often we will get a big burst of wind and then the rain comes down. Our tender spring flowers have been beaten down and sit in soggy beds. Valiantly they struggle to lift their heads when the sun shines through which it does part of the day, but not long enough to dry everything out.
Medina Town Square
Today we had errands to run which took us down to Medina about an hour away. Medina is one of those wonderful old towns with interesting architecture surrounding a village green with flowers and benches. They sure knew how to build towns a hundred plus years ago. Each building, mostly brick, has it's own distinct personality. The streets radiating out from the town square have lovely, well maintained old homes with front porches and big shade trees. Medina seems to be hanging in there, too. We did not notice any empty storefronts in spite of the recession and the fairly new shopping center with all the big box stores on the town border. People were walking in pairs and threes chatting on the sidewalks and sitting on the benches reading or just admiring the small town ambiance. It is a real town, not a tourist place. It appeared to me that the town was built to attract interaction with the houses (and those big welcoming porches) fairly close to the sidewalks. The sign as you enter town states that it was founded in 1816 as part of the Western Connecticut Reserve. In the mid 1800s it became known as the center for beehive manufacturing. In fact the first manufacturer was A.I. Root who made beehives originally, but remains a viable company today manufacturing candles.
Just outside the town, the area reverts back to rural America with small farms, beautiful old barns and winding, tree shaded streets. We love the barns, some still in use and some leaning and deteriorating, gracefully giving up their useful life. I keep forgetting to bring my camera on these errand outings. The photo above is from the Medina website. I have been married to John long enough to know that we will avoid the freeways and major highways on purpose. He prefers to explore and take a different route every time we go anyplace. Our hour drive home took us almost two hours due to many serendipitous turns and new (to us) roads.
I told you we have been busy doing nothing, but enjoying our days immensely.
Been there and love that! Medina has a wonderful art in the park at the town square in
the summer. Fantastic!
AI Root has a discount showroom. Did you check it out?
Pam
Posted by: Pam | Monday, 01 June 2009 at 08:42 PM
Love your stories!
Posted by: Rachel Greig | Tuesday, 02 June 2009 at 08:59 AM
Well, I guess John got enough storming last night to keep him happy with "eastern storms." At least it wasn't a tornado! I love your description of the Medina square. It's a model more towns around here should copy.
Posted by: Gayle Pritchard | Tuesday, 02 June 2009 at 10:43 AM
Ive only recently started reading your blog and was excited to see you ar ein Medina. I am in Mansfield...small world huh. Plus I have to admit that I am a ROOT candle junkie! Love love love them! They are the only candles I will buy.
Posted by: SequoiaLynn | Tuesday, 02 June 2009 at 12:40 PM
Your buddy has sold Hummer...
Posted by: luftmensch | Tuesday, 02 June 2009 at 04:31 PM
I smiled while reading this post. It reminded me of my Dad. No matter where we went, he would always ask, "Do you want to take the long way home?"
Posted by: Randi | Wednesday, 03 June 2009 at 12:24 PM
You sure are taking me down memory lane!
Posted by: SuZeQ | Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 08:53 AM