Small town Reverie
Ah, the happiness of simplicity, the simplicity of a small town! We've been watching old episodes of "Twilight Zone" this evening and perhaps they have influenced my perception a bit, tho I think not, just my musing philosophical attitude toward the delightful aspects of this evening's activities. But JR and I just felt such simple, childlike delight in tonight's unplanned, serendipitous activities.
This July 3rd Friday evening, we set out to try a small family restaurant in our new small town. We had a tasty Italian meal that completely filled us, then instead of climbing back into the car, we gave in to an urge to take a short walk across a nearby pasture, following a dirt road toward an old wooden gate. We crossed a small creek into another empty pasture before turning back. The 88 degree day had cooled to 68, and our long sleeved shirts felt good as we walked along the creek. As we started back toward the parking lot, we were amused to watch some members of a large family group who had also been eating in the restaurant, playing chase or tag, simply frolicking with one another in the half empty parking lot, burning off excess energy in the last of the daylight, while others of the adults finished some friendly conversation. How charming and foreign this seemed to us metropolitan transplants.
Not wanting to go home yet on such a lovely evening, we drove into the small downtown area seeking unfamiliar landmarks which were part of the directions I had been given by someone at the chamber of commerce indicating where the fireworks would be held tomorrow night. Unable to locate them, we ended up asking a local policeman sitting in his car in a small shopping parking lot. From his directions, we identified the park where tomorrow's fireworks would take place. We just rambled around exploring until dusk passed into darkness, then headed in the direction of home via the grocery store to purchase the hamburger meat we had promised to bring to the family cookout. In the store, JR discovered some new Starbuck's ice creams "on sale" so we picked up a couple of those to take home and try.
Returning to our vehicle, still in the parking lot, we could hear and see fireworks going off, nearby, between where we were and our neighborhood, on our way home. Right along the main route through town, right near the Harley Davidson shop and a used car dealership, there was the obligatory fire truck and lots of cars!! We might not have heard anything about these fireworks but lots of people had! Some people even had lawn chairs. But most had just pulled their cars off the road, on both sides of the road, into the available parking lots---of closed-for- the-evening businesses, of abandoned businesses, even in among the used cars for sale. Some people were sitting on the ground, others on the hoods of their cars, others were standing around, but most were simply sitting in their cars, with the windows open, just enjoying the show.
We pulled our little pick-up off the road into the car lot driveway, rolled down the windows, and parked, with all the others. The show was colorful and fast paced. Because it seemed appropriate to the whole "back to childhood" experience, I suggested we try the new ice cream. So after some digging around, I located the plastic spoon JR keeps in the pocket of the car door and wiped it clean with a napkin also kept there. Then, we two 60 year olds climbed up on top of the truck bed cover and watched the fireworks while eating yummy ice cream from the carton with a shared plastic spoon, while we giggled delightedly. "Sippin' cider through a straw.." updated to 2009.
We love our retired life in our small mountain town.
This July 3rd Friday evening, we set out to try a small family restaurant in our new small town. We had a tasty Italian meal that completely filled us, then instead of climbing back into the car, we gave in to an urge to take a short walk across a nearby pasture, following a dirt road toward an old wooden gate. We crossed a small creek into another empty pasture before turning back. The 88 degree day had cooled to 68, and our long sleeved shirts felt good as we walked along the creek. As we started back toward the parking lot, we were amused to watch some members of a large family group who had also been eating in the restaurant, playing chase or tag, simply frolicking with one another in the half empty parking lot, burning off excess energy in the last of the daylight, while others of the adults finished some friendly conversation. How charming and foreign this seemed to us metropolitan transplants.
Not wanting to go home yet on such a lovely evening, we drove into the small downtown area seeking unfamiliar landmarks which were part of the directions I had been given by someone at the chamber of commerce indicating where the fireworks would be held tomorrow night. Unable to locate them, we ended up asking a local policeman sitting in his car in a small shopping parking lot. From his directions, we identified the park where tomorrow's fireworks would take place. We just rambled around exploring until dusk passed into darkness, then headed in the direction of home via the grocery store to purchase the hamburger meat we had promised to bring to the family cookout. In the store, JR discovered some new Starbuck's ice creams "on sale" so we picked up a couple of those to take home and try.
Returning to our vehicle, still in the parking lot, we could hear and see fireworks going off, nearby, between where we were and our neighborhood, on our way home. Right along the main route through town, right near the Harley Davidson shop and a used car dealership, there was the obligatory fire truck and lots of cars!! We might not have heard anything about these fireworks but lots of people had! Some people even had lawn chairs. But most had just pulled their cars off the road, on both sides of the road, into the available parking lots---of closed-for- the-evening businesses, of abandoned businesses, even in among the used cars for sale. Some people were sitting on the ground, others on the hoods of their cars, others were standing around, but most were simply sitting in their cars, with the windows open, just enjoying the show.
We pulled our little pick-up off the road into the car lot driveway, rolled down the windows, and parked, with all the others. The show was colorful and fast paced. Because it seemed appropriate to the whole "back to childhood" experience, I suggested we try the new ice cream. So after some digging around, I located the plastic spoon JR keeps in the pocket of the car door and wiped it clean with a napkin also kept there. Then, we two 60 year olds climbed up on top of the truck bed cover and watched the fireworks while eating yummy ice cream from the carton with a shared plastic spoon, while we giggled delightedly. "Sippin' cider through a straw.." updated to 2009.
We love our retired life in our small mountain town.
Labels: retired, simple pleasures, small towns
posted by sundaycynce at 7:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home