This post was originally a part of the "extraOrdinary" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which
was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024.
_______________________________________________ Every first Saturday of November, the little town of Harrisville, Ohio hosts a craft show.
Mom and I, manning our first Harrisville Craft Show Table in 2016
Mom, with that first table in 2016.
I remember going to this craft show since I was about six years old. (That first time I remember getting wooden fridge magnets, shaped like a dinosaur and Elmo.) We haven't been there every year, but Mom sure tries to get there every time it comes around.
A flyer I made for Mom's first table.
For the past four years, since 2016, Mom has had tables at the craft show. The second year I had a Pampered Chef table as well, but the last two years I have displayed my photography.
My Pampered Chef table at the Harrisville Craft Show 2017.
Mom's table. 2017.
Mom's table has always been information on Young Living Essential Oils. (We take our Essential Oils very seriously.) She has set up some really cool displays featuring the essential oils, the diffusers, infused products and informational resources.
Photography table in November 2018.
The first time I set up a table for my photos, I displayed canvas prints that I had purchased as Christmas gifts and collected emails for a photography newsletter. I also donated a framed photo for the door prize drawings and raffled off another framed photo at my table for $1 a ticket. I can't remember who won the raffle, but I do remember they picked up the photo at Wendy's one night when I was working.
Mom's table, 2018.
The table I set up for Mom, 2019.
This year, I took the prints that I had entered in the Clark Library Photo Contest and put them up for sale. The plot twist this year was that Mom was away at a Young Living rally in Michigan and I was manning both of our tables. I was quite nervous to be running both tables by myself, if I'm completely honest. But everything went fairly smoothly.
My most recent table. November 2019.
The craft show has a lot of interesting things like wood carvings, wreaths and Mom's favorite - decorative snowmen. If you like crafts, it's definitely worth stopping in to browse for a while. They serve some good food next door every year as well. Check out the Harrisville Craft Show at the Volunteer Fire Department in Harrisville Ohio, the first Saturday in November from 9am to 3pm.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. Today's selection, "Borrow (One Day at a Time)" by Josh Wilson, was one that I discovered on the radio on my way to church one night in November 2019.
This post was originally a part of the "extraOrdinary" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which
was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024.
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Some of the beautiful fall foliage.
Amid the busyness of working on preparing blogs and videos in October 2019, as well as dealing with the recent lack of internet and a furnace, Mom and I took a break for a few hours on the afternoon of the 19th.
Mom wanted to visit "Christmas in the Woods" a festival in Columbiana, Ohio. Obviously Christmas-themed, they have live music, arts and crafts, delicious food and kettle corn.
The Christmas festival is held on the Shaker Woods grounds, which also hosts a festival during the summer. The craftspeople selling their wares are dressed in period clothing, like the Shakers of old.
Here you can see a few of the small buildings that house vendors.
The vendor's stalls are permanent wooden buildings. A larger building houses the kettle corn and donuts operation, in which Shaker Woods' signature recipes are prepared. (Unfortunately, I neglected to photograph this building.)
I really enjoyed "Christmas in the Woods," though it was extremely crowded the day I went, as the weather was absolutely perfect for a walk in the woods. (Mid-60's temperatures on October 19th? I'll take it!)
It was a great experience, the sort of thing one can only find out here in the midwest. I highly recommend it for people who like craft shows or walks in the woods. :)
Be sure to visit the Shaker Woods website for information on future events: http://www.shakerwoods.com
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. This song was one I used to listen to, and I randomly remembered it while driving back from Christmas in the Woods.
So, it's amazing how time flies by. A remark I make often, but it holds true every time.
Our beautiful park, Sally Buffalo in Cadiz, OH
I began drafting this post during the first hours of April, the title, "Marches On" to be a sort of pun on March having just passed. Now, a whole three weeks later, I realized that I never completed or posted it.
Primarily, I have been occupied with my job at Shurfast Food Mart and helping care for my little brother, but I have managed to fit in some of my trademark adventures a long the way. I have been sorting through my photos and videos for material for this blog and my YouTube channel, and also filmed some brand new material at a Cabela's store in West Virginia and the Railroad Depot in my hometown of Dennison, Ohio.
My buddy Scout and I at work.
More on those adventures in due time.
I am also working on creating a podcast and one YouTube series in particular, a sort of show-and-tell series I'm calling "Supercool." I am going to be reaching out to some people to see if I can get a different guest for each video in the series, as I think that would be fun to do.
With a trip to New York City in January and a few days in Boston back in March, my travels are off to a good start in 2019 - though I have a lot more places to visit before my planned move to Sydney, Australia in 2020. Working one job with inconsistent hours has made traveling a little more difficult than when I was working two jobs; I've planned and postponed 3 trips so far this year, Los Angeles and Fort Myers Beach being destinations I wish to revisit and Halifax, Nova Scotia being a new place I'd like to explore; these things will come in due time, I suppose.
Beautiful Boston Public Library Courtyard
My next adventure in Los Angeles looks to be going ahead soon; I plan to fly out in time for The Voice finale next month, if I can procure some tickets when they become available. I am also hoping to take one of my coworkers with me on this outing, as I usually travel alone and (as much as I enjoy the whole lone ranger thing) I want to change things up a little for my 3rd year of traveling, especially because I plan to move so far away next year.
As for the whole moving to Australia thing, since I've not yet covered that out here: I visited Sydney in December for the first time and rather liked it, my cousin has been living down there for 11 years now; and having come from the same area I currently live in, she is now an Australian citizen. I am planning to get a working holiday visa and go down and stay with her for a year and really get to experience Australia. My cousin works in traffic control and I will most likely work for her. I am super excited about this opportunity.
Beautiful Australian coastline.
On a less sunny note, things have not been easy recently. It would feel wrong for me not to mention some of the less pleasant things that have been happening as of late. We are trying to get my little brother the mental help he needs and some days it is difficult. Some days it seems like it is completely impossible. I'm not yet ready to explain all of that out here, but eventually I will.
Yesterday, Easter Sunday, I lost a dear friend when Danny Manbeck passed and additionally my grandmother went into the ICU after a terrible fall from her hospital bed. It's been a lot to process and it hasn't really hit yet. Please keep everyone in your prayers, whether you know us personally or not, as we need all the prayers we can get!
I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
Hey everyone and welcome to my blog, it's so hard to believe it's 2019 now!
My year got off to a great start, exploring New York City. I stayed in a nice hotel next to LaGuardia Airport (though I flew into JFK) called Aloft. I didn't watch the ball drop in Times Square, opting to watch it on TV in my hotel because it was already so crowded and the weather was bad.
My favorite selfie so far this year!
Spent the next few days walking around seeing the sights from Central Park to Brooklyn Bridge. It was around 40 degrees, but I was freezing. Probably just colder being near the water.
Brooklyn Bridge
On the 4th, I flew home and then worked an afternoon shift at Shurfast (having quit Wendy's at the end of November, Shurfast is my only job right now). Worked some midnight shifts later in the week.
Back at work!
I've got a lot of stuff I'm working on, a lot of unfinished projects from 2018, so watch this space.
