Things that made me happy edition.
The malls I spent my time in as a kid look nothing like they did back them. Brick and mortar stores and malls are vanishing faster than squeaky toys in a dog park, and in one case, one of them has been leveled to the ground. In its place they are building an open-air shopping experience, which if we were in a warmer area would be great, but when the weather turns cold and dismal, it lacks a lot of appeal for me. Monday the Hubs and I went to check out what's been done so far since the leveling and I have to say, I'm kind of impressed. No, I won't enjoy schlepping my things through snow and rain (I get enough of that at work), but the layout and mix of retail stores is quite good. The restaurants range from low to high end, and the whole plaza is easily walkable unlike some of the other openair establishments done over the last few years.
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When I was little it was a huge treat for us to go to a local dairy farm a few towns over and get ice cream. It was the best around, and with their expansion to our town 30 years ago, it has long become my kids favorite place to meet up with friends and wander downtown, sundaes in hand year round. On Tuesday, after 60 years of being in business, they went on the auction block. The high bidder paid 1.7M, a bit over market value, but he just couldn't see it go to condo developers. Turns out, the winner is the owner of another long-established dairy farm in the area, where my kids went many times with their grandparents to indulged in chocolate milk and sweet treats in the summer. It's crazy how something so simple can make me so happy. And if they take over the existing lease downtown as well, we just may take advantage of their delivery service for weekly glass bottles of chocolate milk. It. Is. that. Good.
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The correct hose & attachment arrived for the toilet yesterday, free of charge.
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The heat and rain has subsided at least for a while. The windows in the house can be open all day. The nights are getting crisper.
Fall is coming.
Hooray for finding joys.
ReplyDeleteLife is good when we are happy and thankfully I am happy most of the time
ReplyDeleteHow nice to know that fall is coming. If I could have a good bottle of chocolate milk delivered, I would definitely do so. I haven't been to a mall in years. The last one I visited has become a rather frightening place that has to be closed down at times because of groups of young people getting into trouble.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
It's honestly delicious. Must be because of the 4% milk fat. And I don't even care. It's SO good! We have a two-story mall about 45 minutes from us, and while it's beautiful, you definitely have to time it out. WAY too many gang issues.
DeleteOur open air mall is quite nice. It's not so walkable now since they've expanded though. They used to have a free trolley service around Christmas. I don't know if they do that anymore. We also have two old-fashioned malls - the one was taken over by a local university (who knows what they are doing with it) and the other one is in a seedy part of town.
ReplyDeleteIt pleases me to no end that someone bought the farm to save it from being turned into condos. I took a long drive around the county today to save my sanity. I am horrified at how many new, very high-end developments are popping up out here. Pretty soon there won't be any fields or farms left out here.
The other mall I spent a huge hunk of my childhood in was partially demolished five years ago and they put up three high end apartment buildings. Which I could tolerate if they were reasonable, 1bedrooms rent for go for $3500.
DeleteThose would make me very happy, too!
ReplyDeleteI spent the most happy years of my childhood alone in the prairie fields, the sand dunes, and down in the wild patch of woods by the man-made lake--both close to my house. They began to bulldoze and build on the fields by the time I was ten. Even built a raised walkway along the lake. Sanitized that, too. Long gone. Still missed. Lovely memories of the waving tall-grass, red-winged blackbirds, mallards, skinks, killdeer, muskrats, salamanders...so many critters.
They call it progress.
For some, I guess.
And then, another heat-dome arrives...
ReplyDeleteYup. So gross outside right now. But it will turn just as soon as I get used to it, and I'll be busting out the hoodies.
DeleteI miss how Malls once we're... they're leveling most here too and building open air concepts but in Downtown Phoenix that's ridiculous. It's hotter every year and urban issues make that concept unsafe due to crime and extreme heat. The simple things are the best and most memorable. We still have triple digits...so Youngest is ASU bound... Mesa is a Fun College City. A Niece left Massachusetts for Oklahoma due to affordability... Dawn the Bohemian
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