Sunshine makes me happy.

It rained hard last night - we were lulled asleep by the falling rain and could hear our neighbors snoring happily while they slept. I think that the walls of these apartments are paper thin.
This morning we got up early and found that the rain had stopped and the road was dry and it was a good day to do some exploring.
The handyman came and installed the toilet roll holder and towel rack and then we left to explore some areas.  First we went to the major shopping center to find Kohl's and we did.  It is hard to describe Kohl's - it is sort of "high end shabby chic"  I say that because they offer name brand items but each item is (according to their price tag) heavily discounted - hence the shabby chic description (from me).  Another thing that earns the tag shabby chic is that they do not have many of the same item.  If you need size 14 they may only have sizes 2-6 and then 16-22W of that item.  Or they may only have one of that particular item.  Last Christmas I compared prices and found that even though they said that they were having a PRE CHRISTMAS  DEEP DISCOUNT SALE, the same item in Wal Mart was $2 to $3 cheaper.  I guess if you are led to believe you are getting a bargain, you believe it and you go away happy.
We went next door to DICK'S sporting goods store.  Bill was looking at Winter Boots to walk through the snow with here.  I was amazed at the snow shoes they have on sale and the rubber contraptions they put on over your shoes that have spikes on them to prevent slipping on the ice.  We don't have those things in Arizona - but they might be a good idea to have there because that is when most of the quilters I know have slipped and fallen and broken their hips while trying to navigate Ice in the winter.  This past February was a good example of broken bones due to falls on ice.
We drove to Freeport to visit LLBean country.  It is a maze of outlet stores and the LLBean Flagship store is there and it is reputed to be open 24/7.  I don't think I will be making a point to test that out by going at 2am to buy something.  I needed a coat so we shopped the Outlet Store for LLBean to see what they had.  Found a winter coat and some shirts etc. and left.  A friend here said to shop the Outlet Store first because the prices are lower.  That they are!!! some prices are a good 50% lower and some are only 25% lower etc.  It appears that the majority of items in the Outlet store are returns.  That is ok with me.  Saw a toiletries organizer like the one that Sara and Jacob have/had and bought it.  They asked if I wanted to have it monogrammed and that sounded like a good idea then the sales clerk said, "Well, that will be $8 or you can open a credit card account with us, have the monogramming for free and get 10% off your bill here and at any of the LLBean stores in the complex, including the Outlet store.   Well, I thought about getting one more credit card.....and I did not like the idea too much, but that does not mean you have to use the thing.............and we have some of those.  So we decided to accept the offer and as a result we were given over $20 off our purchases for the day.  Pretty nice but now we have one more credit card on its way to our home.  But, the longer we stay here, the likelihood of us going back to LLBean is pretty good and they do give 10% off if you charge things. I guess they still make a killing on the sale of the items and 10% is chicken feed if they can get you to spend many more $$.  They said it would take about 30 minutes to monogram the bag for me.
We had a Pina Colada from Orange Julius.  This is the first time Bill has had this flavor drink and I think he is now converted from  Orange flavor Orange Julius to Pina Colada.
While I was waiting for him to come back with the drinks, I was people watching.  A grandma and her 7yr old grandson came into the area and plopped down on the easy chairs there.  She says that to get him to go shopping she has to buy him some sort of bribe and this time it was a high end Hot Chocolate from the little bistro in the building.  My eye caught sight of a purple shawl draped around the shoulders of a middle aged black lady.  She and her friend were loaded down with packages from various stores and they were sitting down on the bench across the street from where I was.  I watch people a lot and find myself wondering what kinds of challenges they have in their lives?  What kinds of things do they have in common with each other and how are they handling these things today?  The common ground I have with them is that of being human and female.  Perhaps they have children and they are struggling with what those children have done or not done. Perhaps they are widows and are out shopping together to have company to shop with.  The list is endless of what might be going on in their lives.  One thing for sure we had in common, they, as well as myself, were tired of traipsing around the stores and we needed to sit down.   Age will do that to you.
We went back to the rear of the store and picked up the cosmetic organizer and it looks wonderful.  Decided to go back home and on the way, Bill wanted to visit Reny's store.  Now, that is a store you really should visit.  It is OLD, quaint, stuffed to the rafters with merchandise and you can find just about anything your heart desires.  For instance, I have been searching stores in Az and Washington, and also Nebraska for a seasoning put out by Tones.  It is called Citrus Blend and was originally put out by Durkee but I received an email stating that Tones would be putting it out from now on.  I have searched every specialty store for this item to no avail and many of the stores have not even heard of it.  I walked into Reny's and my tired eyes rested on the spice assortment to find MANY containers of Citrus Blend.  I have traveled over 3,000 miles to Maine to walk into this store and find it - and it was the last place I would expect to find such an item.  Reny's has the molded tin ceilings that belong to the historic buildings of long ago.  There are still a few to be seen in Prescott so I know that I am looking at.  The store has been retrofitted with a fire extinguishing system of sprayers and it also has been retrofitted to heat the building.  The main entrance does not even hint at the amount of stuff or the nooks and crannies of this  store.  There is the main floor, then one can go from one section to another which look like they were at one time other stores that they just took over and so for almost a block, you can walk from one department to another and then even go upstairs and find all kinds of goodies there.  It looks like they bought other stores out and then cut a hole in the wall and you can go almost a block just staying inside the store.  The catch is, there is only one door leading in and one cash register by it for you to exit.  Not like Walmart where you have to remember which door you parked your car by so that you do not have to walk a whole block to put your stuff in the car because you did not pay attention to which door you came in with.  Bill bought a pair of shoes at Reny's to wear in the snow.
The Kennebec river runs through this town and I went down and took some pictures of the shoreline.  It is a pretty sight and I will attach pictures for you to see.

 After the heavy rain, many of the leaves have dropped off.  These are of the last hold outs.  Although I notice that many of the Oaks have not changed yet and neither have many of the maples...........so I am waiting for them to change.

 

 The white building is at the entrance of Freeport.  the above picture is of the restaurant where we had lunch.  I had Lobster roll and Bill had to have a hamburger because they were out of crab rolls.  We had decided that this was probably our only chance to have such wonderful food so we splurged.  For the rest of our mission we will probably only have enough to eat Subway!

 Two pictures of Freeport as we entered.

 The Outlet stores at Freeport.

 Below is the LLBean Flagship store.  Very large and filled to overflowing with stuff.

 Bill Markham at the top of the stairs of LLBean flagship store.

 Two pictures of the Kennebec River on our way to visit Reny's store.

We started back home and in the next town, we turned off the main road to go see the church building where we will be meeting for the next 6 months or so.  It looks to be a big building and has a spire that is in keeping with the other churches around here and looks rather New England style and fits well with its surroundings.