200,000 Well-behaved People Rally for Sanity

Mr. Man and I flew to Washington, DC on Friday night to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.  We got up early on Saturday morning and walked to the Farragut North Metro Station.  Waiting on the platform we were surprised by the small number of people waiting for the train, but when it rolled in, it was tightly packed. We barely managed to squeeze on. Getting off at the Chinatown station to change to the green line we waited in a long line of people to get up the escalator. The air was charged. People were smiling and laughing, anxious and excited to get to the rally. We jumped on another crowded train to the Archives Station and walked up 7th Street with hundreds of others, picking up stickers, cones, and towels from volunteers along the way. 





Arriving at the Mall around 9:15am, we immediately made our way toward the stage.  It was packed and moving was slow.  The closer we got, the tighter it became.  At times, we were literally walking shoulder-to-shoulder, squeezing through any opening we could find.  Finally finding a spot on the right side of the stage about 100 yards back with a large screen just ahead, we settled in. 

It was quiet considering the number of people; everyone peacefully waiting for the rally to begin. We talked with others about where they were from and made friends with those immediately around us, and passed the time looking at the signs and the costumes.  By 11:00am they were no longer allowing anyone to enter the front section where we were as it had reached capacity.

The show was, at times, slow but it didn’t matter; we were there.  I thought Colbert in particular was over the top at times, he was almost a caricature of his character.  Myth Busters’ Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage took the stage early on and had the crowd do the wave, beginning at the front of the stage and ending in the back, wherever that was.  It was an incredible sight! When they had us do it again, just women, followed by just men, they timed it; it took almost a full minute to reach the back.

Sam Waterson read a poem by Colbert, "Are You Sure?".  The highlight was when Yusuf Islam (you may remember him as Cat Stevens) took the stage to sing “Peace Train.” He was interrupted by Colbert who then introduced Ozzy Osbourne. There was a roar from the crowd at the opening notes to “Crazy Train.” The interruptions went back and forth until the duo left the stage. From off stage we heard a voice, "love" it said.  It was the lead singer of the O’Jays, who took the stage to sing “Love Train.”

We were also treated to performances by John Legend and the Roots, who actually got the show started, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), and Tony Bennett who closed the show with “America the Beautiful.”

The day was inspiring and as I listened to Jon Stewart’s closing speech, I was grateful to have experienced it. I am still awed by the knowledge that 200,000+ people—young, old and middle-aged; black, white and brown; Christians, Jews and Muslims—can come together and stand shoulder-to-shoulder without anger, or judgment, or as Stewart would say “douchiness.”

Tour of Homes

Study

It has been over two weeks since the Tour of Homes, and with preparing for the Open Studio, there hasn't been much time to write about it. We spent eight weeks getting the house in order (this was the best reason to justify doing a lot of things we've put off over the years).  Armed with paint and paint brushes, I refreshed all the trim in the house and painted four rooms.  And that bookcase that's been waiting to be "finished" for 10 years? Done.  I even managed to talk Mr. Man into buying a couple of rugs, something we had been putting off until our aging pets were gone.


The last week before the tour was spent cleaning and staging (never thought I'd use that word outside of talking about HGTV). My house hasn't been this clean in a long time. And of course with the Open Studio following two weeks later, we managed to keep it that way.


McCoy & Niloak pottery on dining room mantel

Although we didn't officially keep count, there were approximately 200 people through the house over the course of the weekend.  My brother, Troy drove over from Columbus and spent the day greeting people on the porch, checking tickets, and directing them on what not to miss.  He did a really great job of plugging the art in the central hallway as this is now my gallery.  I hung around inside, answering questions and inviting those who seemed interested to the Open Studio.

Central Hallway/Gallery

One of the tour participants, a slightly frumpy, socially awkward gentleman, questioned my use of three colors in the dining room; when I explained that the lighter (third) color between the picture molding and the crown molding helped draw the eye upward to the height of the ceiling, he obnoxiously told me it wasn't necessary.  I bit my tongue and sent him outside to see the chickens and let Mr. Man deal with him.

Den

Almost everyone went out back to see the chickens, even on Sunday when it rained all day—Mr. Man had a large umbrella on the back steps so that those who wanted to visit the coop could do so without getting wet. 

Penny, Letty, Matilda & Buffy

Mr. Man spent most of the weekend in the backyard talking about the chickens, patio, and landscaping.

Back patio

While our volunteers manned the front porch and back of the house directing people upstairs.


Guestroom

 All in all it was a great experience, but not one I'm looking to repeat anytime soon. In all honesty, by Sunday afternoon I just wanted all those people out of my house.

 

Preparing for the Grant Park Tour of Homes

When first asked to be on the tour of homes, you feel honored; you love your house, and while it’s not a “show place” as some homes on the tour tend to be, it’s comfortable, eclectic, and beautifully lived in. And, you think, what a good reason to get a couple of projects done around the house. Great, we're in!

Then reality sinks in; strangers will be traipsing through your home, looking at it with fresh eyes. You start to look at your house a little more critically and soon realize there is a lot that goes unnoticed during the day-to-day routine of life. Where did that crack come from? When was the last time the baseboards were cleaned? How many years (yes, I said years) has that bookcase gone unstained? Before you know it, what started out as a simple “freshening up” turns into patching, repairing, painting, sewing, and spending, spending, spending.

When your husband tells you he has to go to South Africa for a week, you file it in the back of your head and think about how you’ll be able to work into the night without having to stop to make dinner (not that you’ve made dinner lately, being too tired from working on projects all day). Or perhaps you’ll go ahead and push yourself past the point of reason and paint the dining room and study while he’s out of town. Realizing you have only four weekends before the tour, you sit down with the calendar to plan out what still needs to be done—since someone has to work, Mr. Man is only available to help on the weekends, so you save certain “manly” projects for him (like pouring concrete foundations for the rain barrel stands)—when it hits you that his trip to South Africa begins on a weekend!

So, you find yourself sweating in the 90+ degrees of a humid August Saturday afternoon, planting, raking, and mulching the garden when your glasses break. Not the a-screw-fell-out, easily fixed kind of broken, but the I-need-new-frames kind of broken. Every time you bend over they fall off, missing one arm as they are. Normally, you’d be thrilled to get a new, funky pair of glasses, but who has the time; not to mention the money considering you’ve bought enough chalk, spackle, sandpaper, paint and paint brushes to single-handedly raise the price of Home Depot stock.

Sometimes things are not as easy as they sound.

Treasure Hunting

For the last couple of years, I've kicked around the idea of checking out the World's Longest Yard Sale that starts in Gadsden, Alabama and follows Highway 127 up to Ohio. It is reported to have 5,000 vendors, selling just about anything you can image; clothes, toys, books, guns, furniture or even an old plow. I've always been a fan of flea markets and antique stores, and try to make it out to Scott's Antique Market several times a year. I don't always have anything "special" I'm looking for, just unique, interesting pieces. So I decided this was the year to see what all the hype is about....

Thursday, August 5th
My mom, brother Troy, and I loaded up the car and headed for Gadsden where the Yard Sale begins on Lookout Mountain. Making our way north toward Chattanooga, the road was littered with family yard sales as well as flea-market-like, multi-vendor sales. At times driving was slowed by heavy traffic, with cars lining both sides of the road announcing “good” stopping points. I found a cool sugar sack at one stop, a wonderful old kerosene lamp at another, as well as a beautiful McCoy vase and three small paintings from a Mentone artist named Andrea Boudin, who was invited to paint an ornament for the White House Christmas Tree under the last administration. She paints most of her pieces with her fingers and uses a two-haired paint brush for detail work. I would share her website with you, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have one. If you've never been to Mentone, it is a small, quaint mountain town with antique shops, an Inn and restaurant, and mountain cabin rentals.

We especially enjoyed the beautiful drive through the mountains, stopping a couple of times to just appreciate the view. We ate a late lunch at a small, home-cooking restaurant where we ordered the special of pot roast, potatoes, green beans and carrots for $4.95! The food was good, but it seems they don't have no-smoking-in-restaurants laws in Alabama and in the adjoining booth sat two older gentlemen, one of whom smoked the entire time we were eating.

We stayed at the Ramada Limited in Chattanooga, tired from our day and the heat. It was expensive for what you get; rooms with exterior entry, tiny bathrooms, poor air conditioning, and a complimentary breakfast that is less than appetizing. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Yard Sale Tip #1: Book hotel rooms early, they fill up fast. One gentleman trying to find a room in Chattanooga had been to 6 hotels looking for a place to spend the night.

Friday, August 6th
We drove through Tennessee on our way to Harrodsburg, Kentucky and made several stops at large, multi-vendor sites were we spent time wandering from booth to booth looking for a "find." For my mother this translates into finding a piece of McCoy pottery, that she doesn't already have in her collection, at less than market value.
We quickly realized we made a mistake in not renting a trailer (a must for next year) for transporting larger items as there were lovely dressers, chairs and armoires at great prices. Our space was limited in the Prius even though we all packed lightly for the trip. I found two lidded baskets and we packed some of the more delicate items in them.

It also didn’t take long to realize a redneck is a redneck, whether you are in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee or Kentucky. I overheard a shorn-headed, large fella telling his companions, two of which were teen-aged boys, “that there’s a queer” and turned to see they were looking at Troy. I was offended and protective and walked over to join my brother, keeping my eye on them the entire time. Luckily we didn’t cross paths with them again. There were lots of McCain/Palin or old "W" bumper stickers. We were in conservative country. Wonder what they thought of my Obama sticker?

The rolling hills and lush countryside of Tennessee are beautiful and dotted with cattle and horses or crops of corn. The vendors are friendly and curious about where others are from, and you can easily get caught up in a conversation that's hard to break away from. Highway 127 travels through Signal Mountain and crosses Cumberland Lake at the Wolf Creek Dam shortly after you cross into Kentucky with its horse farms and crops of chartreuse colored tobacco (look for this in a painting soon).

I underestimated the amount of time that it would take us to reach Harrodsburg and we wound up about two hours from our hotel when folks started closing up for the night, not getting into Harrodsburg until around 9:30 p.m. We quickly found the Days Inn, which was somewhat better than the Ramada (although we had the same difficulties with the air conditioners). I managed to find a lovely piece of stained glass and a Niloak vase, both for great prices, and felt it had been a successful day.

Yard Sale Tip #2: It can be very hot; bring lots of water, sunscreen and a hat.

Saturday, August 7th
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and found a little diner for a breakfast buffet and then hit the road heading north toward Ohio. We decided to make the most of the time we had left and only stopped at the larger, flea-market-like sales. We were all a little tired and learned that we can go for miles without saying a word; driving from sale to sale in comfortable silence.

Ohio was pretty disappointing with few vendors along the route—we'll bypass Ohio next year and concentrate on Tennessee and Kentucky. We made it to Eaton and cut over to Dayton where we stayed at the Courtyard; the nicest and least expensive hotel of the weekend.

I bought an old wooden chair (child sized), a cast iron skillet, another McCoy vase, and a really cool iron cobbler’s stand/shoe form. Troy found some of the glassware he loves, and mom wound up with a couple of really unique pieces of McCoy to add to her collection. All in all a great trip.

Yard Sale Tip #3: Use the clean restrooms whenever you can and pack sanitizer, seat covers, toilet paper, and wet wipes for when you can't.

Sunday, August 8th
Sunday morning we jumped on 75 South and headed for home. I’d made a 10-hour playlist before I left home with music I thought my mother would enjoy—Sinatra, Etta James, Duke Ellington, Ella Fritzgerald, Elvis, Johnny Cash; you get the picture. We couldn’t wait to get out of Ohio, and were happy when we reached Kentucky and her lovely vistas. We made great time and were in Knoxville, Tennessee (shout out to my Bush Brothers' friends) in time for lunch and were back in Atlanta by 5:00 p.m.