The 40th Circle Time: The Show and Tell Weekly Thread
Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Join several dozen bloggers weekly to show off an item, tell a story, and get the attention of the class. In other words, this is Show and Tell 2.0. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you have never posted before and just found out about Show and Tell for the first time today. So yank out a photo of the worst bridesmaid’s dress you ever wore and tell us the story; show off the homemade soup you cooked last night; or tell us all about the scarf you made for your first knitting project. Details on how to participate are located at the bottom of this post.
Let’s begin.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the mystery gift I received in the mail. Last weekend, we threw it in my purse and hit the road. Before we departed for Shepherdstown, I gleefully left a status message on Facebook crowing about going out for afternoon tea. That didn’t happen.
You see, I really missed the point of the book which was to travel outside my personal norm and not pack expectations. And while I claimed I didn’t have any plans in place once we got to Shepherdstown, the truth was that I assumed we’d have a light lunch at the Thai place and then go down to the river for a bit and then end the outing with tea and cakes. But when we got to the town, almost every business was closed because it was a holiday. The one coffee shop that was open didn’t have anything I wanted to eat. I ended up trying not to cry because we rarely get out there and we finally had this chance and the trip was ruined.
Sadly eating a chocolate croissant at the coffee shop when my heart was really set on tea and cakes
I left Josh and the twins in the coffee shop and went over to the public library where I googled surrounding towns and jotted down some directions.
Before we left, we tried to get down to the river, but a few wrong turns brought us to this bizarre little memorial for the inventor of the steamboat. While looking at this view of the river…
We found this tiny path behind the memorial. We decided to see where it led. At the end there was a message.
Not entirely sure what it means, but as we stood there, Josh reminded me that so few people in the world know about this tiny spray painted sign and that was surely more special than tea and cakes.
Also, mysteriously spray painted on an adjacent fence were inexplicably the words “Only in America.” It felt like another clue to a puzzle.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Because, I can just sense it.”
We walked through the store and picked up many items and we both kept shaking our heads. Finally, we were about to leave when we both spotted the same box at the same time. We ended up purchasing three of the same item and there is a little story behind that too, but that will have to be a different Show and Tell.
I never got my cup of tea until I got home, though I ended the trip on a much happier note.What are you showing today?
Click here or scroll down to the bottom of this post if this is your first time joining along (hint: link to the permalink for the post, not the main url for your blog and use your blog’s name, not your name). The list is open from now until late Tuesday night and a new one is posted every week.
| 1. Weebles Wobblog 2. The Life of Liv 3. Finntastic Tales 4. Life Induces Thoughts, mostly random 5. Kathy/ angrycanrn 6. Emmy 7. Infertility Podcast & Blog 8. The Steadfast Warrior 9. infertility rocks! 10. Wise Guy |
11. MC 12. Conceive This! 13. Kristin/ Dragondreamer’s Lair 14. Fractured Rainbows 15. Not The Path I Chose 16. The Olsons 17. Dora 18. Amy 19. Raggedy Ann 20. In Due Time |
21. luna 22. I won’t fear love 23. Baby Smiling In Back Seat 24. Our Emotional Journey 25. dreamscometruesometimes 26. A View On My Life 27. Laura Jean |
- If you would like to join circle time and show something to the class, simply post each Saturday night (or earlier in the week or on Monday if you can’t do the weekend), hopefully including a picture if possible, and telling us about your item. It can be anything–a photo from a trip, a picture of the dress you bought this week, a random image from an old yearbook showing a person you miss. It doesn’t need to contain a picture if you can’t get a picture–you can simply tell a story about a single item. The list opens every Saturday night and closes on Tuesday night.
- You must mention Show and Tell and include a link back to this post in your post so people can find the rest of the class. This spreads new readership around through the list. This is now required.
- Label your post “Show and Tell” each week and then come back here and add the permalink for the post via the Mr. Linky feature (not your blog’s main url–use the permalink for your specific Show and Tell post).
- Oh, and then the point is that you click through all of your classmates and see what they are showing this week. And everyone loves a good “ooooh” and “aaaah” and to be queen (or king) of the playground for five minutes so leave them a comment if you can.
- Did you post a link and now it’s missing?: I reserve the right to delete any links that are not leading to a Show and Tell post or are the blogging equivalent of a spitball.
- If you want it…
I’ve now placed a Show and Tell archive on the sidebar that will be updated each week in case you miss it. And click here for the icon code if you wish to have it for your blog. It links to the archives.
0 comments
I can hardly wait to see how the message of “Jar” and “Made in America” are revealed to you.
Sounds like a wonderfully serendipitous adventure. Minus tea.
I can’t really say what I thought it was withouth blushing…After a second look…I’m thinking the first spray painted message is to read JAB not JAR. Perhaps it’s an attempt at a boxing glove???
After missing out on what you initially anticipated for this day, you were to put on the boxing glove and give it a good ol’ fingerboarding punch!
Oh how fun! I love finding little spots that not many people know about. So fun! I can’t wait to hear about the little boxes.
*ICLW*
I’m glad your day ended turned out well despite the rough start!
I’m looking forward to seeing the box for the mystery gifter!
I can’t wait to see what you got! Glad you had a fun trip and got to see some ‘unique’ things!
It sounds like it turned out to be such a great day. I love those kind of days.
Glad that your trip ended on a happier note….Jar and Only in America….hmmm…. clues for thought!
sounds like the lesson of the book could be a gift that keeps on giving. hope you were able to find joy in your day.
Glad the day wasn’t a total bust, even with the lack of tea and all. 🙂
Can’t wait to read the rest of the story. I love that you turned the trip around.
Boy I have expectations all the TIME about what I want to be doing and when (um, I was supposed to have two kids by the time I was 30!). I’m actually jealous of your chocolate croissant, it reminds me of the ones I had in England.
I suppose a lot of time could be spent contemplating that graffiti!
Congrats on reaching 40 circle times!! Love the Princess Leia hair! We should all get together for a high tea – so much fun.
It’s like Alice in Wonderland without the tumble! Or the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or some other trippy Murakami story. What does Jar mean? Or is it Jab? And “Only in America”–love it. These are wonderful clues. Can’t wait to see what you found for the mystery gift giver!
Yay for not letting a few closed stores deter you from having a good time!
I love Berkley Springs, too! Always a stop when we’re traveling to Richmond.
Hmmm. . .can’t wait to hear what those cryptic letters stand for!
Sounds like you had an interesting outing!
How neat to wonder across an unknown place! It almost gives me a surreal feeling reading your post, like I was reading a novel. Thanks for sharing!
Is it too shallow to comment on how cute your hair looks in the Princess Leia like buns? Oh well then, I’m shallow!
Glad you found fun things on the mystery gift quest. What a fun and wonderful thing.
[Ah yes, here from ILCW, although I’ve certainly been to this great blog before!]
Ok, I totally have to know why you bought three…
Josh’s reminder sounds very helpful for a wife who gets her hopes up and doesn’t like to deviate from the plan (being one of those wives myself sometimes, and also having a husband who grounds me with reality).
I love it when you have a mystery post within a post.
How could you ever say “Sadly eating a chocolate croissant….” That seems so wrong to say the words sadly and chocolate in the same sentence!
ICLW
I finally have something I want to show and tell, I can’t wait to do this next week! Or maybe the week after since we might be travelling next weekend. Either way… Love the pictures and story 🙂
What a great adventure. I am waiting to hear about those three boxes…i too love the hair!
After reading this post I decided to show my son and we both agree that the mysterious messages must be clues to some secret treasure. So we’re going to try to help you decipher the JAR. I’ll get back to you soon on that one.
But all in all it sounds like you had a great trip.
Ah. What a great adventure! I love when that is able to happen- a rough start, followed by timid exploration, finished with triumph.
Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Hehe – I’m glad you had a good trip, and you know what? I’m glad it wasn’t the trip you’d planned. That would have defeated the purpose entirely, as you said!
Bea