A Grand Day Out (And Thanks)

 Happy New Year! 

In the waning days of the old year, this happened:

Village Green/Town² finally reached 500 “Likes” on Facebook. 

I remember when reaching this goal was so important to me that I made it the focus of celebrating my birthday. In 2020.

Oof.

And now? I suspect that chasing those numbers was never going to give me the kind of satisfaction that I thought it would. Funny how that works. Defining success as being as cool as the Cool Kids has never worked for me but its appeal somehow lingers.

The real joy I get from the blog comes in learning new things, telling interesting stories, sharing, and connecting. Listening to feedback from readers and engaging in conversations in the comments section on Facebook gives me a better sense of how I’m doing than numbers or clicks. So I want to begin a new year by thanking you for reading. 

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On the day that was so warm - - was it Friday? - - my family decided it would be a good day for an outing to Main Street in Old Ellicott City. We were not alone. We were lucky to find a parking space in the lot near the Little Market Café. Main Street was buzzing. 

I can’t remember the last time I was actually out of my car and walking on those sidewalks. The weather was sunny and beautiful and the mood felt celebratory. It didn’t feel like a post-Christmas let-down but rather the first really warm day of Spring. 

Boo! to climate change but Yay! to a good day for Main Street.

My husband wanted me to see the new toy store: Doc Taylor’s Toy Emporium. He remembers what a huge fan I was of Mumbles and Squeaks. The Toy Emporium is bright and airy with plenty of room for folks to walk around and lots of attractive displays. It didn’t appeal to me the way Mumbles and Squeaks did, though. Perhaps part of their charm was the coziness of it all: small rooms, kooky and creative items squished together, ready to jump off the shelf at your touch.

I’ll definitely go back to the new store, though. It may need time to grow into its greatness.

My daughter took me into Pink Sky, a shop she had discovered earlier with college friends on a fun day out. They carry a variety of things but the big draw for my daughter was the clothing from LA Soul. She bought her favorite fox print dress there.

My husband popped into Stone House Collective to check out the guitars. Apparently there was nothing in the must-buy category as he came away empty-handed. Of course, much of the fun is in noodling around and browsing.

We took a look around the new Backwater Books. I was running out of energy at that point so I didn’t go upstairs. A million thanks for the chair in the main room which allowed me to rummage through my purse for my inhaler while my family explored. My husband and I love bookstores. We’ll definitely be back. 

I got to see the new location of Georgia Grace and my daughter and I peered in the window of the Crazy Mason Milkshake place. She’s itching to have that new-fangled milkshake experience. Me? Not so much. I imagine she’ll be back with college friends this Spring on another day out.

A trip to Main Street would not be complete for me without a glimpse of the famous HoCo Tourism Eggplant. (Sculpture by Jan Kirsh.)  It looked smaller than I remembered. Perhaps that’s just because it looms large in my consciousness.

All in all it was a grand day out.